Church of the Holy Cross

Transcription

1 Church of the Holy Cross DAVIDSON S MAINS EDINBURGH APRIL 2018 THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH 1

2 Rector The Revd Canon W Douglas Kornahrens, PhD Copy date for the May magazine is 19th April. All material should reach the Editor by then. Magazine Editor Mrs Margaret Deas Website: Registered Charity No SC

3 FROM THE RECTOR Tom and Una Woof It is with thanksgiving to God that we remember our brother Tom. What a gift to this congregation he was. He served in many capacities, but will chiefly be remembered for his having looked after our church hall for over 40 years. Even though we were all aware of his increasing frailty in the last year or so, Tom s death was still somewhat unexpected. Lord, thank you for Tom. May he rest in your light and peace. Amen. As this magazine went to press, we heard of the sudden death of Una Woof. Like Tom, she was an important part of our congregation and will be much missed. I shall say more about her next month. Easter Because Easter will have taken place before this issue of the Holy Cross magazine will have reached many, I wrote about the Resurrection of Jesus in last month s issue. However I think that a few more words are appropriate. I believe I can say that I am somewhat of a disciple of Bishop Tom Wright (or Professor Wright as he is now known), the renowned New Testament scholar. I have read his tour de force, The Resurrection of the Son of God, all 800 pages of it, and was deeply impressed by its depth and breadth of scholarship and personal faith. The message is simple. The Resurrection actually did happen as the Gospels report it. And Jesus death and Resurrection ended the old creation and began the new. I won t attempt to rehearse the arguments here (read the book for all of its size and depth it is accessible to the enquiring reader), but he reaffirms the absolute reality of the physical reality of Jesus bodily being, raised from the dead, and the consequences for everything from individuals to the whole of the universe in relationship to him. Prof Wright has just finished giving the Aberdeen University Gifford Lectures of They are available to watch on YouTube, courtesy of the University. One strand of his lectures (there are eight in all) is to challenge head-on the past 150 years of sceptical biblical criticism that has challenged the veracity of the whole Bible. Once again his lectures are vastly erudite, deeply thought through and brilliantly presented. The point of mentioning these lectures is that he keeps on giving the ordinary Christian a solid, credible intellectual force for believing that what we read in the Bible is authentic and true. During the past 2,000 years Christians have believed in the Resurrection of Jesus, not because someone told them to do so, but because their own faith 3

4 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit testified to the truth that they held. So, as we say during Eastertide, The Lord is risen, He is risen indeed! Try Praying The Try Praying initiative has been around for a number of years (everyone has probably spotted the adverts on the Lothian buses). At the last Vestry meeting we agreed to join in again this year. We have bought a banner to display on our railings (I hope more successfully than last time when it was literally ripped off) and 100 booklets. Try Praying is exactly what it says an initiative to try to get people to pray. David Hill, who started it, gathers stories of answered prayer; there are many. I have invited him to preach at Holy Cross and we have fixed the second Sunday in June. I hope that you can be there. East Window There is exciting news about our East Window depicting the Nativity. I received an out of the blue from a lady who is researching Scottish stained glass. While looking up something else she came across an article in The Scotsman newspaper dated 10th October 1930 about the dedication of our window. (I had the approximate date of dedication wrong on our website.) She told me that our window is by Christopher Webb who was one of the major British stained glass window artists/makers from the 1920s to the 1960s. I found an extensive article about Christopher Webb on the internet. He undertook many significant commissions in cathedrals and public buildings. His signature is a faint drawing of St Christopher in the bottom right-hand corner of his windows. In our window one can see it just to the bottom right of the roundel of St Columba and his monks landing on Iona. Our East Window is a significant stained glass window. Of course everyone has always been able to see how beautifully executed it is, so to find out that its maker is a major artist in that medium, shouldn t really come as a surprise. Deeper Life Bible Church We are happy to welcome the Deeper Life Bible Church as another congregation who are using Holy Cross Church for their worship. Their church was founded and has headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. There are two congregations in Edinburgh, one based at St Nicholas Church of Scotland, Sighthill, and the other now with us. The Pastor is Mr Joseph Osuigwe. Their worship times are Sundays at 1 p.m. and Wednesdays and Fridays at 6.30 p.m. Their coming to us is absolutely Providential. We are applying for grants for funding to undertake very expensive pointing work on the gable walls of the church. Several of the trusts that give larger grants, require that the church 4

5 submitting an application hosts other congregations (or groups) in its church building for at least 65 days a year. This is a requirement which we now fulfil in abundance! Our friends, the St Mary s Congregation of the Malankara (Malabar) Syrian Orthodox Church, who have worshipped in Holy Cross Church for several years now, used our church this Holy Week just past. They organised for a priest to come from India to observe their full (or almost full) Holy Week schedule of services. With us, Malabar and the Deeper Life Church all using our church in Holy Week, I don t think Holy Cross Church has ever been more well-used for worship over the course of one week! All Nations Jesus told his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to make disciples of all nations (St Mark 13.10; St Luke 24:47; St Matthew 28:19). I am astonished how many nations we have gathered in our small church and in our congregation: there are people from India, Nigeria, Canada, USA, Australia, France, China, Malaysia, South Africa and the UK Have I missed anybody? May everyone have a most blessed Easter. The Lord is Risen! He is risen Indeed! Alleluia! OTHER CONGREGATIONS USING HOLY CROSS St Mary s Congregation of the Malankara (Malabar) Syrian Orthodox Church hold their service in Holy Cross at 9.30 a.m. on the third Saturday of the month. The Deeper Life Bible Church (Nigeria based) meet in Holy Cross on Sundays at 1.00 p.m. and on Wednesday and Friday evenings at 6.30 p.m. 5

6 1st April EASTER DAY 8th April Yvonne Boughton 15th April? 22nd April Irene Marriott 29th April Kate Corliss FLOWERS IN CHURCH Flower Rota The 2017 rota is on the church notice board and still has vacancies later in the year. Please sign up for the Sunday(s) when you would like to do the flowers. There is a selection of vases in the vestry, and Nora Scott will be happy to advise if you have not done it before. FELLOWSHIP LUNCHES No Lunch in April 6th May 3rd June Bread, cheese, paté, salad etc All welcome no need to book Nicole would be grateful for offers of help with the June lunch and for next season. Sunday 1st April Thursday 10th May DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Easter Day Ascension Day 13th to 19th May Christian Aid Week see page 9 Saturday 26th May Summer Fair change of date see page 8 Sunday 24th June Saturday 1st September Saturday 27th October Barbecue Silent Auction Bridge Afternoon Further details will appear in the Sunday sheets and/or future magazines and on the website 6

7 TREASURER S REPORT [Details in printed version] Fabric Fund A Fabric Fund is a requirement in grant applications for the church roof and pointing repairs. The restricted general fund and the Peoples Projects fund have been combined to form this. Donations to the Fund are welcome. Sylvia Vass SERMON QUESTION TIME Discussion of the sermon in the Hall after the a.m. service, for anyone who cares to come, ending no later than p.m. 15th April 20th May 17th June 7

8 IT S THAT TIME AGAIN! Please note that the date for the Summer Fair is not the one given in previous magazines: SATURDAY 26th MAY HOLY CROSS SUMMER FAIR 2 4 p.m. Every year we ask for goods for the Bric-a-Brac stall, and this year I thought I would remind people well in advance. If you are clearing out GOOD QUALITY, saleable items such as you would give to charity shops please will you hold on to them until the Fair. People always want: China plates and dishes, nice glasses and vases, interesting bowls, holiday souvenirs, jewellery, ornaments, pictures, wooden items, knick-knacks, kitchenware (in good condition), new toiletries and other gift items. We can also sell handbags and purses in good condition, clocks, unusual and old items, in fact anything which is still in saleable condition we will make a very good attempt to sell. We are not allowed to sell electrical items, so please do not include these. As much as possible should be brought to the hall the night before the sale so that it can be sorted and priced. If there is anything which you think is special and we should know about please mark it as such (we would hate to sell an original Picasso or a Ming vase for 50p!). When you come to the Fair, you can join the browsers and buy someone else s treasures to take home with you. Any left-over items will be taken to local charity shops or to Fresh Start, if suitable, after the sale, as we have nowhere to store things until the next sale. So, to sum up, if you have any goods which you think others would like to buy, please hang on to them for us. It is barely two months away! There are toy and book stalls too. Again, good quality items are needed. Sally Mair And a plea from the Tombola and Hamper Raffle organisers please check the sell-by dates. If things are out of date we cannot put them on the stall (even if we think they are probably fine). We can spend a lot of time trying to find where the manufacturers have hidden the information! 8

9 CHRISTIAN AID WEEK 13th to 19th MAY Together we re stronger than the storms This year the focus is on displacement, and the stories come from Christian Aid s partner KORAL in Haiti. The people of Haiti have struggled with repeated and often relentless natural disasters, something which not only requires strength and resilience, but also support to put down new roots in safe, durable homes. Vilia s home was destroyed by the earthquake that hit the country in She also lost her mother and other family members in that disaster and became internally displaced within her own country. Christian Aid s partner KORAL built Vilia a safe, stable and strong enough home to stand up to natural disasters. The new house offered a new start for Vilia and her children, but it s done more than that. It s been a safe haven for dozens of people when they needed it most. Last year when Hurricane Matthew hit, Vilia s neighbours quickly realised that her house was the only one in the area sturdy enough to cope with the hurricane. One by one, they sought safety in her house. As the storm and rains raged on, she opened her home to her neighbours. She shared food and a safe shelter to sleep in for several days. 54 people sheltered safely from the hurricane in Vilia s house. Despite the ferocity of the hurricane, her house lost only one roof panel and wasn t damaged in any other way. Many of the other homes in the area were totally destroyed. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, making it much harder for people like Vilia to cope with the relentless earthquakes, storms and hurricanes they endure. Haitians are resilient, but they ve been hit by disaster so many times and each time makes them weaker. Eight years on from the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince in 2010, an estimated 38,000 people are still displaced. Sadly, this story is all too common. A staggering 40 million people globally are internally displaced they ve had to flee their homes but have remained in their own countries. Internally displaced people make up about two thirds of those who are forced from their homes, but unlike refugees we rarely hear about them in the media. What s more, international policy means they are often forgotten or ignored, even though they are incredibly vulnerable. 9

10 As we come together this Christian Aid Week, we ll be fighting for justice for people like Vilia and her neighbours, and the many displaced people around the world. WILL YOU HELP? As usual, the Davidson s Mains churches will be working together, and are hoping to cover the whole of Davidson s Mains, Silverknowes, Hillpark and Barnton Park with the house-to-house collection. Holy Cross is responsible mainly for Silverknowes. To achieve our aim, we need volunteers new ones as well as the faithful regulars. There will be a sign-up sheet in church, or you can speak to me direct. Regular collectors please tell me as soon as possible whether you are available or not this year. New to collecting? Please give it a try. All the materials are supplied. You will have only houses (unless you ask for more) and a full week in which to collect, so it should be possible to fit it into even quite a busy life. THY KINGDOM COME Thy Kingdom Come is an ecumenical global prayer movement throughout the 11 days between Ascension day and Pentecost. This great wave of prayer is for the empowering of the Holy Spirit to enable our effective evangelism and witness. Christian Aid Week falls during this period. Christian Aid has produced an 11-day devotional. There will be a few copies on the bench in church, or you can find it online at caweek.org/devotional. Holy God, In your Kingdom The strong need the weak, The rich are transformed by the poor, The fortunate are welcomed by the homeless. Your Kingdom is built by those who expect their God to come. NEW DATA PROTECTION RULES New rules come into force at the end of May, meaning that people will have to opt in if they wish to hear from Christian Aid by phone or . This will include me phoning to ask you to collect. If you receive communications from the Christian Aid office in London or Edinburgh, please contact them about opting in. I have not yet devised the best way of asking if you are willing to hear from me. (The new rules will still let me back you into a corner at coffee and ask verbally for your help!) Margaret Deas 10

11 SUNDAY SERVICES Holy Communion is celebrated using the Scottish Liturgy in modern English. Each Sunday Holy Communion is said at 8.00 a.m. and sung at a.m. Sunday Club for ages 0 to P6 meets in the Hall during the service. Evening Prayer is said from the Scottish Prayer Book at 5.30 p.m. N.B. There will be no Evening Prayer on Easter Day, 1st April 1st April EASTER DAY Acts Easter Anthems 1 Corinthians John th April EASTER 2 Acts Psalm John John th April EASTER 3 Acts Psalm 4 1 John Luke 24.36b-48 22nd April EASTER 4 Acts Psalm 23 1 John John th April EASTER 5 Acts Psalm John John th May EASTER 6 Acts Psalm 98 1 John John WEEKDAY SERVICES Holy Communion is celebrated most Wednesdays at a.m. with coffee afterwards. Morning Prayer is said on the second Wednesday of the month. Wednesday 4th April The ANNUNCIATION of the Lord (Trans. from Sunday 25th March) Wednesday 25th April St MARK, Evangelist TIME OF INFORMAL PRAYER in the church for about half an hour on Tuesdays at 5.00 p.m. 11

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