Dear Friends
All our Holy Week plans are set out below.
Don’t forget the clocks are going forwards an hour on Sunday early morning.
Do please also check in with the facebook page www.facebook.com/ccpitsmoor/ and website www.pitsmoor.church/ during the week as things do change!
A little word
let it be with me according to your word. Luke 1.37
Today (thurs) is the Annunciation. Exactly 9 months before Christmas (I love the literalism of the lectionary compilers!) we remember Mary’s angelic visitation as she discovers her truly amazing part in God’s great rescue mission. As we enter Passiontide, we recall the climax of that rescue mission. For both Mary and Jesus their acceptance was not fatalism but a self-denying submission to the will of God. May we have the desire and will to be equally obedient to the call of God.
Things to pray for
- Give thanks for all the ways God involves and includes us in his plans
- For our nation to be a place of welcome for those fleeing persecution
- For international co-operation over vaccine roll outs especially to the developing world
Services
In-Church worship suspended for the foreseeable future
10.30am Morning Worship on Zoom
We are continuing our on-line services. This link will be the same every week.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89030249289?pwd=dTdneVo3L0RreVdSYm15MGF2OHlwQT09
Meeting ID: 890 3024 9289 Passcode: 238289
Alternatively, for audio only, you can phone in to this number: 0203 901 7895, and follow the instructions.
This week’s reading is: Mark 11.1-11
Following on from so much fun in the Scratch Nativity, we are going for a Zoom All Age Worship Palm Sunday, this Sunday! (Zoom only, no Facebook live)
Participation involves a scavenger hunt, some action songs, a craft activity, some prayer, and a little bit of thought and imagination! Please spread the word to all ages, especially the younger ones!
If you would sneakily like to get ahead with your scavenger hunt, please find: A queen’s head; something powerful; something soft and four-legged; something to wave and a coat AND something which Palm Sunday makes you think of!
Holy Week activities
Each day there will be a short reflection on the website/facebook page. Access it at a time that works for you.
Monday Chrism Service 7.30pm – live streamed on the Cathedral facebook and YouTube pages
Maundy Thursday 7pm – a short zoom service (use the same link as Sunday) you might like to eat as we remember the last supper.
Good Friday 12noon-3pm in the Churchyard- a reflective outdoor experience around the garden, cross and tomb. Come at any point and do it at your own pace.
Saturday Easter Eve 8pm – Huw will be doing a very short Easter Vigil and Communion, on Zoom (use the same link as Sunday). Sadly, this means we cannot share bread and wine so Huw will explain how it does work on Zoom. He has suggested that those attending might want to bring something that they have given up for Lent, to enjoy after the service as, technically, with the sundown, this will be the start of Easter. The service will be about 30 minutes, and, at the end, Huw suggests sticking around for a bit to see what chocolate, cake, tipple, or other thing we’re all going to enjoy, once again.
Sunday Easter Day 10.30am – an Easter celebration on Zoom. Submit your photo’s, art, Easter gardens, anything that depicts Easter hope and new life… for our gallery. Email to [email protected] by Saturday (Easter Eve).
Lent Course – continues Wednesday
This year during Lent we are running The Bible Course from Bible Society.
Every Wednesday at 7.30pm
The Zoom link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86379198829?pwd=Wkl3cmhSMVRNWE5yVzd2bWdoVTR4Zz09
Meeting ID: 863 7919 8829
Passcode: 928776
It’s a mix of video, discussion, and readings in the week.
Coffee break continues
Christ Church Coffee break – Monday mornings at 10.00am. Zoom coffee and catch up – about half an hour or so. Bring your favourite hot drink and something to dunk or nibble and join Ruth at 10.00 for a zoom coffee and chat.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82168523735?pwd=SVBER2RhUFN1dnBNa1ZnRzNOakxBZz09
Meeting ID: 821 6852 3735
Passcode: 948578
If joining by phone dial 0131 460 1196 United Kingdom (please be aware this is an Edinburgh area code)
Eco Church (ecochurch.arocha.org.uk)
Congratulations to us!
It is an exciting thing to have been awarded the Bronze Award by A Rocha, whose strap line is ‘Caring for God’s earth,’ and to be going for Silver.
Even more excitement: Great Tits are nesting in one of the bird boxes Mike made and erected (fed by Jemimah who keeps the feeders full – thank you Jemimah!) and Kate and Ali have re-seeded the wild-flower area.
We are hoping, when we can, to get a Church yard team together again, both to think and do. There is also scope for ‘community engagement’ and considering how to encourage us as individuals on our journeys towards care for God’s earth and people so horribly affected by Climate Change. If you feel God’s nudge towards getting involved in any of that, do let Sara know.… the Facebook pages have more details.
Earlier week’s news
Previous editions of this news update are on the website if you can’t find it in your in-box.