Dec 2020 Congregational Newsletter
Stornoway High Church
A Very Merry Christmas and Seasonal Blessings to the Congregation of Stornoway High Church
CONGREGATIONAL NEWSLETTER: DECEMBER 2020
Stornoway High Church remains open for our midweek service of worship and prayer. All are welcome. Monthly Gaelic services have resumed in the Hall and we opened the Church for a special Christmas service on 20th Dec. Thanks to all who contributed to make that service possible and a special thanks to Juliet Mckenzie who blessed us with her beautiful singing. The success and smooth running of these services has prepared the way for us to reopen for regular Sunday worship when the current level of COVID 19 Tier 3 restrictions are relaxed. Community anxiety levels are also reflected in our cautious approach to reopening. We thank the congregation for their continued patience, understanding and support through these difficult times.
THANKS to you, the congregation, for your continued financial support. We are so encouraged by your generosity, particularly at a time of financial hardship for many. Significant electrical work was required to our sanctuary to ensure compliance with electrical regulations. This work has been completed and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Church of Scotland Trustees for their very generous financial support in meeting 50% of the cost of this work. We are also grateful for the time, effort and prayerful support that has enable us to provide continued services of worship online and in Church. Particular thanks go to Jack and Dougie Wolf for upgrading our media system in the hall which now has direct sound and video from the sanctuary; this allows us to use the hall as an overflow from the Church when required.
We have an ongoing requirement for cleaning and door duty and this will increase when Sunday services are resumed in the Church. If you are able to help out in any of these areas please contact Duncan Macinnes on 07748 332595
WORSHIP RESOURCES Our Sunday and Wednesday Services are livestreamed from the Church. Our worship Services are available on the Stornoway High Church Facebook page, on our Stornoway High Church YouTube channel and on our new website www.stornowayhighchurch.org.uk. You can also dial in by phone (03301 248483) to our live services at 11.00am Sundays and 7.30pm Wednesdays.
PASTORAL CARE Our pastoral Visitation Teams continue to phone the housebound and vulnerable. If you would like a phone call or know of someone in our congregation that would benefit from a call or for any Pastoral issues or concerns, please contact the Minister on 07717 065739.
HIGH CHURCH FOOD BANK Thank you for your generous contributions which allow this service to continue. The best way to support this is through cash donations deposited in our secure mailbox on the outside wall of the small Sanctuary (Goathill Road entrance) or by arrangement through our Treasurer, Mrs Annie Smith, 07972 935105. If you are in need, or if you are aware of others in need, please contact Jann Skelly, 07985 710410, or Fiona Morrison, 07484 844485. Laxdale School have been one of the beneficiaries of this service and a note of thanks has been received from the School. We also thank the Guild for their generous contribution to our food bank.
COMING TO CHURCH A separate note was included in the November Newsletter outlining what to expect when you come back to Church and detailing your responsibilities in complying with the relevant COVID 19 precautions while in the Church building.
JESUS WORDS: Jesus said many things that were recorded in the Gospels. It is worth remembering some of these words of promise and hope.
Jesus heals the sick: ‘Take heart daughter, your faith has healed you’ (Matt 9:22).
Jesus restores sight to the blind: ‘according to your faith will it be done to you’ (Matt 9:29). Jesus forgives: ‘take heart son: your sins are forgiven’ (Matt 9:2)
Jesus gives rest to the weary: ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ (Matt 11:28).
Jesus calms our storms: “Lord save us” was the cry of the disciples. ‘He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. (Matt. 8:26).
Jesus searches for us: ‘For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19:10)
Jesus loves us: to the rich young man who turned away from him, Jesus looked at him and loved him. (Mark 10:21).
Jesus welcomes us all: “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened”. (Matt 7:8)
We may feel sick, spiritually blind, sinful, weary, fearful and lost. In this season of giving and receiving, God has given us Jesus. We all need hope, healing and salvation and it is in Jesus that we receive this.
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”.
A WORD FROM THE MINISTER
A year unlike any we have encountered, a year where our lives have been turned upside down, a year when families and loved ones are separated and continue to be so. As a Church family we have been physically separated for most of the year but those that were able to, gathered in Church on Sunday morning as we came together for our Christmas Family Service. It was emotional but it felt as if we had never been apart and that is perhaps due to the Spiritual bond we have. We look forward to the day in the New Year when we will once again worship our Lord together and proclaim with the Psalmist:
“I joy'd when to the house of God, Go up, they said to me.
Jerusalem, within thy gates our feet shall standing be”.
A WORD FROM THE SESSION CLERK
It has been a challenging and difficult year for all of us and one thing has impressed the Kirk Session more than anything else – the unity, resilience and strong spiritual purpose of our congregation. A strong social media presence and website have been developed with the help of Jack, Dougie, Scott and others and worship has continued online. We love our buildings and how our thirsty souls longed vehmently during 2020 to see God’s courts. Thanks to Duncan and his team, our Church is now in better shape than ever, ready for our return with a cosy new heating system and a bright new lighting system. As a Kirk Session, we thank God daily for Gordon and Diane, praising Him for the Ministry of love and peace that we now enjoy, sitting at home and, hopefully soon, in the building. ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known place”’
A PRAYER FOR OUR PEOPLE:
God of Peace, God of Hope, God of Love, we thank you for your faithfulness to us and that no matter what happens in the physical world, we have a God who loves us and cares for us. A God who promises to be our ever-present help in times of trouble. Our Lord tells us; “In this world you will have trouble” and that is the reality we live in but we pray now that your grace and your love would abide abundantly in the good people of Stornoway High Church, this day and for ever more. Amen
We wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!
Rev Gordon Macleod (Minister)
Mr John Cunningham (Session Clerk)