2nd February is observed as Candlemas, traditionally the date of the Presentation by his parents of the baby Jesus in the Temple, 40 days after his birth. It also can be taken as the close of the liturgical Christmas season.
In some countries, old customs are maintained, including pancake-making, end-of-year payment settlements, children dressing-up, eating honey, and, unsurprisingly, lighting candles (long-burning wicks indicate a good year for beekeepers in Hungary!)
Points to note
Worship at 11am will be led by Rev Andrew Baker will celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion. All are welcome to partake of the Elements in Communion; the bread will be gluten-free and the wine non-alcoholic.
The Service will be followed by lunch together and a time of conversation to which all are warmly invited – soup and hot drinks will be available – if possible, bring food for food yourself and to share.
It has been suggested that, on Sunday 12th January when the Rev Andrew Baker is to lead us in worship in Roseangle, the opportunity be taken to stay for a shared picnic lunch together and time of conversation (ie the ‘Dundee Gathering / congregational meeting’, to be arranged for mid-January). This will give Andrew a better opportunity to meet some in person and for us to talk together about worship & activities in the first part 2025. We can also consider any need to change arrangements for the Local Fellowship ( zoom, monthly Saturdays at 7pm) and other ways of maintaining and deepening our fellowship and spiritual life. It would be encouraging to have a good number of us present on that day if possible, hence my notifying you now. Liz has booked the premises for us for longer than our usual “morning worship use”.
From The Rev Mark Slaney, Chair of Scotland Synod
December 2024
Dear brothers, sisters, siblings in Christ,
‘Hush before the LORD God, for the day of the LORD is near!’
Zephaniah 1 v.7 (Common English Bible)
‘Hush the noise‘ has been the theme of Advent resources for the Methodist Church this year and we’ve been invited to ‘hear the angels love-song and join in.’
I did a quick Google search for ‘John Wesley on silence’ and discovered the following:
‘John Wesley … believed that God waits for people to quiet themselves, as the world is full of noise and activity. Wesley believed that people are often rushed and hurried when they come to God, and that this makes it unlikely that they will hear God’s voice. He also believed that people who are caught up in the noise of the world lose touch with their inner selves.’
And, in contrast:
‘Stillness is not an easy concept in Methodism. John Wesley was distrustful of the ‘doctrine of stillness’ or Quietism, which he encountered in the Fetter Lane Society around 1740. This was the notion put forward by the Moravian preacher, Philip Molther, urging members to wait passively for the gift of faith and to abstain from the means of grace until they had received it … Molther’s view of stillness caused John Wesley to separate from the Fetter Lane Society and, despite some lines in Charles Wesley’s hymns advocating waiting on God, the implicit ecclesiology forming in the 18th century fresh expression of Church called Methodism was activist.’
I pray that you will be blessed with some moments of hush, some hush-time over this Christmas and New Year period. Not just the quiet after the storm in which we might be rested and restored following the extra busyness of the festive season, but also the deeper peace that comes from resting in God and restored by eternal divine love.
There is a stark and empty hush or silence associated with loss and trauma. Such as the absence of a loved one or the shock of terrible news and experience, the destruction after the bombs fall. Whilst this is reality for many of us, it is not the hush that I seek to bless you with.
In my own prayer I am finding that God speaks less and is quiet more. Fr Richard Rohr writes: ‘Silence is the language of God, and the only language deep enough to absorb all the contradictions and failures that we are holding against ourselves. God loves us silently because God has no case to make against us. The silent communion absorbs our self-hatred, as every lover knows.’
This is not absence but rather the promise and presence of Immanuel – God with us.
God is love. You are loved and you are enough.
In his short commentary on Ephesians – ‘Sit Walk Stand’ – Watchman Nee offers us:
‘… Christianity begins not with a big DO, but with a big DONE. Thus, Ephesians opens with the statement that God has ‘blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ’ (1.3) and we are invited at the very outset to sit down and enjoy what God has done for us …’
And this is Good News, isn’t it? ‘Peace on the earth, good will to all, from heaven’s all-gracious King! The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing.’
Happy Christmas and Every Blessing for the New Year.
Yours in Christ,
MarkThe Revd Mark Slaney | Chair Scotland District & Shetland District
01786 445174 [Manse] 07986 950038 [Mobile]
4 The Meadows, Stirling, FK9 5AE
The Methodist Church in Scotland
On 10 December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights was adopted. So, every 10 December we celebrate Human Rights Day. Why should its anniversary matter to us Methodists?
The latest edition of Connexion is now out. Entitled ‘Cutting Edge’, it includes items about a hairdressing salon, a soft play area, work with the Deaf community and many other articles.
