Dundee Methodist Church

11 March 2012

Next Sunday
18 March 2012
Mothering Sunday

11 am
Worship led by Mrs Jenny Easson

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.

Important plea for help: Hosting of Synod

The Superintendent Minister, Rev Mary Patterson, has sent the following to the Church Stewards, anent our Circuit's hosting of Synod sessions on Friday 27th April in Perth and Saturday 28th April in Dundee:

Dear Church Stewards,

As you will be aware, this Circuit is responsible for hosting District Synod on Saturday 28th April. We meet in Dundee at the Central Baptist Church premises in Ward Road. In order to make sure the day runs smoothly a large number of people are required and I am hoping that between now and nearer the time, you will be able to gather names of folk who will be willing to give a day, or part of a day to helping at Synod.

We require people to greet folks as they arrive at the Church; perhaps some to be at the railway station to guide those arriving by train (we are hoping to have transport there to take them up to the church); one or two hardy folk to steward the car park at Dundee High School; we need people ready to supervise a creche if required; kitchen staff to provide tea / coffee.

Your help in this is vital and Synod can prove to be an enjoyable and interesting day, especially for those who have not been before so please do encourage your congregations to give this serious thought so that we can give a good welcome as a Circuit to the Scotland Synod.

Thank you. Mary

The Dundee Stewards in turn request OUR help!!

Contact Alan, Liz, Chi Tak, Tom, or Jenny to offer or for more details.

Traidcraft

New catalogues are now available. Please feel free to take them away, and ask Margaret to order items you would like.

Ecumenical Lent Groups

During the season of Lent, study groups are meeting as below. A warm welcome is given to everyone to share fellowship and thinking through the group, every week or as other commitments permit.

  • Dundee City Centre Churches: on Tuesday evenings at 7.30pm in Meadowside St Paul's Church Halls using the York Courses, entitled “Handing on the Torch”. This week's study will be led by a representative from the URC.
  • Broughty Ferry Churches Group: on Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm. The Group will meet this week in the New Kirk Halls (St Vincent Street) premises, and be led by Emma McDonald (Probationary Minister, St Luke's & Queen Street) on a “Mothering Sunday” theme. This uses the CTBI material based on a poem of Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, under the title “The Way to Freedom”. This will also be the theme of broadcast services on Sundays & weekdays on BBC Radio 4 and BBC local radio.

Holy Week arrangements

  • City Centre Churches
    • Maundy Thursday Service in the URC Church, Salem Lane (off Constitution Road, north of the inner ring road).
    • We await confirmation of a Good Friday Service in Meadowside St Paul's Church
    • There will be a Walk of Witness in Dundee City Centre on Good Friday morning, coordinated by the Rev Mary Patterson.
    • Easter Sunday: “Resurrection Day” - Caird Hall - 6.30pm
  • Broughty Ferry
    • During Holy Week (from Monday 2 April) there will be Services every day in Broughty Ferry Churches.
    • On Good Friday morning, the Distribution of Hot Cross Buns will take place. There will be no Christian Aid Lunch on Good Friday (6th April).

Celebrate Age Network (CAN): Consultative Conference

“Reshaping Care for Older People - Changing the Way We Care”

This consultative Conference will take place in Central Baptist Church, Ward Road, on Thursday from 1.30pm to 4.30pm. Jenny, Kate and Sue are registered to attend on behalf of Dundee Methodist Church and will give feedback appropriately.

Meetings this week

Date & timeVenueDetails
Tuesday 13th March 2012, 7.30pm Meadowside St Paul's Church Halls City Centre Churches Lent Group using the York Courses, entitled “Handing on the Torch”. This week's study will be led by a representative from the URC.
Wednesday 14th March 2012, 7.30pm New Kirk Halls (St Vincent Street) Broughty Ferry Churches Group Lent meeting led by led by Emma McDonald (Probationary Minister, St Luke's & Queen Street) on a “Mothering Sunday” theme. This uses the CTBI material based on a poem of Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, under the title “The Way to Freedom”. This will also be the theme of broadcast services on Sundays & weekdays on BBC Radio 4 and BBC local radio.
Thursday 15th March 2012, 7.00pm Dundee Methodist Church, small room Pastoral Committee
Friday 16th March 2012, 12 noon - 1 pm YMCA 151 Brook Street, Broughty Ferry (opposite “M&S Food”) (map) Broughty Ferry Churches Group Christian Aid lunch. Soup (choice from 3 or more) is served with bread & cheese, followed by coffee (plus occasional shortbread!) for £2, in support of this ecumenical aid, relief and development charity. A warm welcome is given to all to come and share food and fellowship regularly or from time to time.
Sunday 18th March 2012, 7.30pm Caird Hall, City Square, Dundee Dundee Choral Union Spring Concert. Works are Stanford's “Songs of the Fleet” and Vaughan Williams' “Sea Symphony” - tickets (£13, £5 students / unemployed, accompanied school pupils free) from David, Andy and Denise, or the City Box Office. See poster or www.dundeechoralunion.co.uk for more details.

Support other Organisations

Scottish Bible Society

Our support through the Bible-a-Month Club is invited in March for work in Papua New Guinea. Our prayerful attention is drawn this week to

  • the need for a distribution vehicle and land for a new Bible house in Mali, where political stability may increase outreach opportunities;
  • new training programmes and translation work envisaged in Colombia;
  • type-setting and distribution of the Piarola New Testament in Venezuela;
  • SBS Board meeting in Edinburgh on Friday.

Forthcoming events

Date & timeVenueDetails
Wednesday 21st March 2012, 7 pm Dundee Methodist Church Circuit Meeting
Thursday 22nd to Saturday 24th March 2012, 7.30pm Gardyne Theatre, Dundee College “Mother of All The Peoples” : a return of the play celebrating the life and work of Mary Slessor. Tickets £12 (£10 concessions) - see noticeboard.
Friday 23rd March 2012, 10am to 4pm Ignatian Spirituality Centre, 35 Scott Street, Glasgow G3 6PE “Without Words; Creative Communication” - a One-Day Workshop run by 'Faith in Older People', seeking to address, from a spiritual perspective, aspects of communication when living and working with people suffering from dementia.
The facilitators will be Kate Allan, a psychologist whose interests include communication creativity and wellbeing in dementia, and John Killick, a writer and champion of the role of art for people with dementia.
Cost £65. Registration via
  • booking form (see Vestibule table);
  • contact Faith in Older People, 21a Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL;
  • email info@fiop.org.uk;
  • tel: 0131 346 7981.
Saturday 24th March 2012, 4pm to 8pm (including meal together) Allan Park South Church, Dumbarton Road, Stirling FK8 2QJ, with further events in Holy Trinity and 'the Smith' The Drummond Trust Stirling Conference: 'Ian Masson Fraser'.
“Ian Fraser is arguably Scotland's greatest living theologian, whose theology is lived out in action, prayer and poetry. This Conference provides a rare opportunity to explore in the round the ways in which Ian's gifts of thought and language have expressed themselves in a unique witness for our times ...” Contributors include Ian himself, Kathy Galloway, Elizabeth Templeton, Tim Duffy, Douglas Galbraith, Alison Jack and Elspeth King.
Cost (incl refreshments & buffet lunch); £10 / £8 concessions. Early booking is advised, contact:
Friday 30th March 2012, 7.30pm Riverside Methodist Church, Blairgowrie/Rattray The Lyric Choir concert. Tickets available (price £5, £4 concessions, £2.50 children) including refreshments.

Prayer Points for this week

  • The President of Conference at the Parliamentary Fellowship, Westminster on Tuesday;
  • Connexional Leadership Forum, Monday-Tuesday; Chairs' Meeting, Tuesday-Wednesday, Methodist Church House;
  • process for nominating the next Chair of District;
  • Class Leaders and Pastoral Visitors in the Circuit's churches;
  • residents and staff in the Newcastle upon Tyne District (Methodist Homes);
  • The Leprosy Mission's work in Bangladesh;
  • Mission Aviation Fellowship's outreach from its bases in Kenya to those starving in the Horn of Africa;
  • March for Justice in India at half-way point (Christian Aid);
  • Diocese of Egypt's work among those left destitute by last year's revolution (BibleLands);
  • Bible Society work in Papua New Guinea;
  • we pray with and for the peoples of Burma and Thailand (WCC Ecumenical Calendar);
  • we remember fellow Methodists in Kingston upon Thames (The London District) and in Findochty (North of Scotland Mission Circuit).