THE SOCIETYStirling Methodist Church Newsletter

July 5th 2020Issue 1434

www.stirlingmethodistchurch.org.ukQueen Street, Stirling, FK8 1HL

Sunday Morning Worship 5th July, fellowship and prayers coordinated by David Rogerson, local preacher, with as many of us as possible joining this “Zoom” meeting set up by Jon at 10.30am. To join the meeting use the link https://us04web.zoom.us/j/246326582?pwd=WGpyUGtVTkdtS09BSHJVT0NsZ3RhQT09 with the Meeting ID: 246 326 582 and Password: 949730

The full lectionary readings for this Sunday are:

Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49; Romans 7: 15-25a;

Psalm 45: 10-17; Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30.

Sunday Worship 12th July: Rev. Nik Wooler, will be leading our Zoom service at 10.30am. The same arrangements to join the Zoom service apply.

During the service the sharing of news is valued including requests for our prayer and support.

A collect for this Sunday (from Methodist Worship Book):Servant Lord,grant us both the opportunity and the willto serve you day by day.May all that we do and how we bear each other’s burdensbe our offering of love and serviceto the glory of your name. Amen E-mail from JoanI am writing to thank you and all the other members of Queen Street for the lovely bouquet of flowers you sent me to celebrate my 90th Birthday last Sunday. The flowers are beautiful and they now have pride of place in my sitting room where I can enjoy them to the full.I also want to thank those who sent me Birthday Cards, especially those who wrote encouraging messages on them, which came at a time when I was thoroughly weary of being alone in lockdown isolation. I was absolutely overwhelmed at the number of cards I received, and am only sorry that I will not be able to thank you all individually.I was sorry to miss the Queen Street Zoom service on Sunday morning, but the McCulloch family, - none of whom I had actually seen in the last 3 months - invited me to join their own Zoom meeting, which was rather different. So, we gathered together in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Oxford for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which was great.Isn’t technology wonderful? I look forward to being back with you this Sunday, 5th July.Love and Best Wishes to you all. Joan McCulloch

A reminder the book group is meeting this Monday the 6th at 8pm The book we will be discussing is The Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak Look forward to seeing you all then! Mark https://us04web.zoom.us/j/246326582?pwd=WGpyUGtVTkdtS09BSHJVT0NsZ3RhQT09Meeting ID: 246 326 582 Password: 949730

Pastoral Letter From Our SuperintendentGreetings to you all as we continue to travel in this fifteenth week of living differently in order that all may be safe and well.As I shared last week, none of our Methodist Churches will be opened before the 1st September at the earliest. However, we will be calling meetings to look at how we do move forward to prepare for the time when we can open. We do not want to open our churches, and then due to some misfortune related to Covid-19 have to close them again.In the meantime, have you thought about how we might be better prepared once we are able to open?Some years ago, following a study of churches in the United Methodist Church, Robert Schnase produced a report on what he determined to be the five main factors that made a church vibrant and fruitful. His study/book wasentitled: “Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations” (© 2007 Abingdon Press). Over the next five weeks I will share one of each of these five practices very briefly in the hope that it can get us to discuss, pray and reflect further onhow we might actively and strategically do things better when we can be together.THE PRACTICE OF RADICAL HOSPITALITYChristian hospitality refers to the active desire to invite, welcome, receive and care for the stranger, the newcomer, the person seeking a spiritual home. It could be summed up as an outward focussed love that reachesout to those we do not yet know. Such love motivates us as individuals, and as the church, to be open and adaptable.It means respecting the dignity of others, as we welcome people in God’s name. Hospitality is one of the keys of being a disciple of Jesus; it is also a key quality of the Christian community. Such hospitality offers the invitation to a new life in Jesus, whereby the community illustrates Jesus’ teaching: “not to be served, but to serve.” (Matt. 20:28)Was it not because someone invited you, encouraged you, received you, that helped you to feel welcome in the church – maybe a parent, spouse, friend, minister, or even a stranger! Because of the grace of God, people

may be more ready than we realise to accept the invitation that comes through gracious hospitality. It is grace which brings us in to a relationship with God and each other.Sometimes we forget that the church offers something that people need. For example, we believe people need to know that God loves them, that they are valued and that their life has significance – and that they are notalone. Hospitality is about how we express this hope with clarity.To use the term ‘radical hospitality’ provokes practices that, in a sense, exceed expectations. One of the most encouraging compliments a stranger can make about a church is that the folk are: genuine, caring, welcoming,and desire the best for everyone, no matter what their background, condition or situation.This is but a brief insight into this practice. A church changes its culture oneperson at a time. Radical Hospitality begins with a single heart, a growing openness, and a prayerful desire for the highest good of all, particularly the stranger.Thank you for all that you are doing to show God’s generous hospitality,and for your prayers for the world and one another. Stay well and safe.Grace and peace, Eddie From the Treasurer Many thanks to all have continued their offerings during lockdown either through standing orders or by sending cheques to cover their usual donations by envelope. Some people may have been collecting filled envelopes to hand in when we can again meet for worship. Sadly, this is unlikely to be until after the 1st of September. As the Church year ends on the 31st of August it would be helpful if these envelopes could be opened and a cheque sent to me before the end of the year together with your envelope number as I do not have a record of who has which number.Can I remind everyone that the cost of maintaining the church remains very much the same whether the building is in use or not and that we have reduced income from external groups who have been unable to meet on our premises and urge all envelope users to continue with their offerings. Brian

John Spreading the Gospel – a picture sent by Walter.

Round The Year at Queen Street – from RuthHaving talked to my friends on the Neighbourhood and World Mission Committee we feel that, once our Church reopens, a Round the Year ( or perhaps the last few years) at Queen Street might be a good way to celebrate being together again, as well as to fundraise for our own charity. Having been on holiday last week with nowhere to go I have managed to assemble photos together in one place so feel confident that a show could go ahead! But if you have any memorable photos from the last couple of years that you would like to share, please email them to me on rer@doctors.net.uk. A few weeks ago, Walter suggested collecting some Lockdown photos to share and inspire each other and I think this is an excellent idea. It has been a strange and difficult time for us all and especially for those who have had to shield. If you have a photo or photos from this time which sums up your experience or which has comforted or inspired you during Lockdown, please send it to me and I can include it in the slide show.

We will try to add these ones to the Church website, too. Of course, we don’t have a date for the event yet, but things are slowly moving in the right direction. Many thanks for your help. Ruth

New President and Vice-President of the Methodist Conference elected and inducted online.The Revd Richard Teal has been elected and inducted as the new President of the Methodist Conference, taking over from the Revd Dr Barbara Glasson. The induction took place on Saturday 27 June at Cliff College in Derbyshire, as part of the Methodist Conference which is, for the first time, taking place online.Richard Teal comes from a farming background, having grown up in the Yorkshire Dales. He has spent the majority of his ministry in rural areas, including 11 years as Chair of the Cumbria District. He is now Superintendent of the Driffield Hornsea Circuit in East Yorkshire.In his Conference address Richard Teal focused on how the last few months of coronavirus and lockdown had affected the Church:“Who would ever have thought a few months ago we would have had to close our doors and lock them, even at Easter! Many of our congregations are feeling totally disorientated, fearful and cut off from the fellowship we enjoy with each other.”Looking ahead at how the world can adapt to the impact of the pandemic, the President said:“Not a return to the same old same old but a church which has the reputation for transformation, for recreation and for empowerment of what we are living through in the present in response to a faithful God who redeems history and promises the brightest of futures.”The President chose the final words of John Wesley as his theme for this year, ’The best of all is, God is with us’.The Vice-President, Carolyn Lawrence, was also elected and inducted this afternoon. A teacher by training, Carolyn was an educational mission partner in Guyana and has worked in a voluntary capacity within the Methodist Church as a preacher and leader. More recently

she has worked with the Global Relationships team of the Methodist Church helping to engage people with our worldwide network of Partner Churches. She is also part of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women. Carolyn spoke of her passion for the world church in her address to the Conference:“One thing that I find awe inspiring about the church is that you can be anywhere in the country or the world and know that you can find family.”“I have had the experience of worshipping with Christians in lots of different places in the world, most recently on my visit to the Methodist Church in Brazil. Here the church is growing at an amazing rate and I was blown away by their passion for God’s word, their commitment to prayer, their systematic and strategic approach to evangelism, theological training and pastoral care and the exuberance and joy of their worship. During the year to come I hope to share some of the key principles of church growth that I have learned from the church in Brazil as I believe they can also be applied to our church here in Britain.”

CALL TO PRAYER: SUNDAY 5th July 2020 Prayer @ 7pm from the church leaders in Scotland.‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’ Matthew 11: 28 (NRSV)These are words of Jesus that we all need to hear. We need to hear these words because they speak into the depths of the experience of so many of us at this time. The words create a picture in the mind’s eye. The picture is of ourselves in the times when we are indeed weary and burdened by the particular loads that we have to bear. Alongside this, the picture is of the One who offers to us rest. The picture is of human need met by divine promise and finds its context in the affirmation that Jesus is the One who knows the Father and holds in God’s trust all that has been committed to him. He holds our lives in his keeping and offers renewal to those who seek

his presence. (Matthew 11: 25-30) Wherever we are and whatever our load, the promise of Jesus is that we will find his renewing presence. We pray:

Lord, we come to you as we areFor we can come no other way.We come acknowledging the burdens we carryAnd trusting in your promise of rest.Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.Lord, we come to you In the sure knowledge that we are not alone.We come in the companyOf all who know the challenge of these days.Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.Lord, we come to youAcknowledging that you have already come to us.We journey to the place where you are to be foundAnd rediscover that you have always been with us.Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.Lord, we come to youAs the One who knows our past and sees our present.Set us free from that which binds us to our pastAnd liberate us to serve you in the present.Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.Lord, we come to youThrough the One who is the same, yesterday, today and forever.May he hold our lives safeAs we embrace the future and the promise of his rest.Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Newsletter. Deadline for inclusion on Sunday is 6pm on Thursday. E-mail ( sarridley@googlemail.com ), letter, phone call or any other method can be used to get items included in the newsletter. Roger