6 December 2009

We give the assurance of our thoughts and prayers to all who are unwell, awaiting or undergoing treatment, or anxious or grieving for the loss of loved ones.

Flower Rota 2010

It would be appreciated if you are arranging your own Flowers to contact Elaine by Wednesday Evening, otherwise she will assume that they are making arrangements to have them done.

The provisional Flower Rota is on the glass-top Vestibule table; any queries, contact Elaine.

Health and Safety

A Dundee City Council “Health and Safety” official visited Marketgait last Monday morning. A report is now in the hands of both Sandy and David E. He was generally happy with the upkeep of the premises but there are two items which must be reported to you all now. Other matters for action will be reported to Finance & Property, and thence to Church Council.

• “Immediate action is required regarding the access arrangements to the cellar of the property ….. no one is permitted to use the cellar ladders until a more substantial form of access has been put in place.”
• Following his advice, we have now locked the electricity meter cupboard. Keys that were stored in there have been moved. If you require access to either the meter cupboard (there are still some tools in there) or the other two rooms, please ask Church Stewards or F&P people, if you do not know where the keys have been put. We are trying to maintain security; hence we are not publishing their whereabouts.

Chaplains for MHA Auchlochan

The following Chaplaincy posts are being advertised for Auchlochan Retirement Village, Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire: Chaplaincy Team Leader, & Part-Time Chaplains

Further details / application pack: phone 01332 221831; e-mail : spirituality@mha.org.uk; website www.mha.org.uk. Closing date - 4th Jan; interviews - 14th and 15th Jan 2010.

ACTS: Bishop Lesslie Newbigin Centenary Commemoration

On 8th December it will be 100 years since the birth of Lesslie Newbigin, one of Scotland' most famous missionaries and an outstanding figure in the 20th century ecumenical movement. The Centenary is being marked by

• Service of Thanksgiving this evening at 6.30pm in St George’s West Church, 58 Shandwick Place Edinburgh EH2 4RT (map) ; all welcome
• Seminar next Saturday in St John's Episcopal Church Hall, Princes Street (West End), Edinburgh from 10 am to 4 pm: speaker Professor Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, to lead thinking on the influence of Bishop Newbigin's work for us in the 21st century. All welcome, cost £10 (incl lunch) - if you hope to attend, to help catering, please advise Murdoch Mackenzie tel 01631 710550; email mackenziem@ymail.com.

Support other Organisations

Scottish Churches House Prayer Network

Daily prayers are led at 9.00 - 9.15 am, with Network members particularly asked to join, if possible, on Wednesday mornings.

Prayers are invited for those holding meetings for and events in the House this week including Methodists, Wildlife Group (Tuesday), Festive Christmas Dinner (Thursday).

Scottish Bible Society

Our support through the Bible-a-Month Club is invited in December for work in Bangladesh. See noticeboard for more information. Our prayerful attention is drawn this week to

• supporters of work of Bible Society mission, translators in Georgia;
• use of first complete Bible in Azeri, launched in June in Azerbaijan;
• wished-for freedom to import and distribute Scriptures in Central Asia's Turkish languages, in Uzbekistan;
• fresh translations of the new Testament into Shughni and of the Gospels into modern Tajik, in Tajikistan.

Give a Bible for Christmas : see library area noticeboard and envelopes on Vestibule table for details of ways to commemorate Christ's birth by gifting a Bible to someone in need elsewhere in the world.

Forthcoming events

Prayer Points for this week

• The President of Conference at Action for Children 140th Anniversary in Liverpool, Thursday;
• Perth Church Council, tomorrow;
• Schemes and personnel in Birmingham (Methodist Homes);
• UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen (Christian Aid);
• Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BibleLands);
• The Leprosy Mission's partnerships;
• Bible Society work in Bangladesh;
• we pray with and for the peoples of Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal (WCC Prayer Calendar);
• we remember fellow Methodists in Carlisle (Cumbria District) and all in Livingston Ecumenical Parish (Edinburgh & Forth Circuit).

• 29 November 2009
• 13 December 2009

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