Category: News

Friends,

A very Happy New Year to you and welcome back to the Weekly E Newsletter, the first of 2021. Firstly, confirmation of immediate plans and then a little explanation of next steps. As you know the decision was taken to close the services at St Columba’s to in-person attended worship – Lessons & Carols on Sunday 20^th December was the last service attended, in-person. Since then, our Christmas services have been live-stream/Dial-In only. The Lock Down Working Group met on Monday 4^th January. Our discussions were then swiftly overtaken by the National Lock Down announced that evening. While clarification of what the new regulations would be was sought, the Working Group decided that in the short term we would remain closed on this Sunday, 10^th December i.e., live-stream/Dial-In only.

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Headline: It’s great to see you in church….BUT!

• If you plan to attend any of our Christmas services please pre-register before 1pm, Tuesday 22^nd December.
  Without a booking we cannot guarantee entrance.
• Government advice is to stay local. No unnecessary journeys.
• All services are live-streamed.
• Check seasonal parking restrictions (see below)

Friends,
“Here in Corbridge (Northumberland) we are having Carols by Torchlight outside the local church, at 7pm on Christmas Eve and the walk will do me good!” So writes Irene Wilkinson, Session Clerk at St Andrew’s, Newcastle; proving that while one door closes, a new church yard opens up! All over the country congregations will be making differing arrangements for celebration and worship of Christmas. In Newcastle, the Kirk Session has taken the sensible decision (scattered congregation, tier 3, weather forecast!) not to hold services on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Hopefully, some will join the live-stream services from St Columba’s. In London, also now tier 3, our services can be attended, but as the newsletter headlines declare – please pre-book your place for services up to Sunday 3rd January (booking deadline 1pm, Tuesday 22nd December) & please consider carefully before making journeys – Government advice is to stay local.

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Friends,
As I write, a small but dedicated team is decorating the Christmas tree in the sanctuary. The tree has been designated by Michael Dempsey, our caretaker, “the biggest ever!” The logistics of arranging lights, stars and sparkles are considerable. But when complete, it will provide a lovely glow of beauty and welcome for the third Sunday in Advent (13th December.)

Following on from a safe and happy return of worshippers into the building last Sunday, this week sees the planned return of the choir for the first time since March. And we also welcome families to a Sunday School gathering*. The children will join us at the start of the 11am service, before leaving for their activities. It will be a very happy opportunity to see some church friends after a long break, and just having our young people in the building will be a good sign of life for all of us.

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Friends
Another first for St Columba’s & St Andrew’s, Newcastle in this year of accumulating firsts – the virtual Moderator. In the second of Lucy Llewellyn-inspired, and inspiring, Zoom Coffee Mornings, we were joined by the Rt Revd Dr Martin Fair. He would have been in London all week, in normal times, but this year is the year of Zoom & Teams. He spoke very interestingly about how he has had to reinvent the way of being a Moderator, in a year when he cannot visit anywhere or anybody, in person. He appears to have made the very best of the situation and has combined reaching out to a wide audience, via the internet, as well as offering a pastoral ministry to fellow ministers. Whoever the speaker is, the Virtual Coffee Mornings are proving a lovely way of seeing familiar faces and keeping in touch. Thank you to everyone who has been able to take part. Look out for details about the next occasion (see below.)

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Monday 30th November is St Andrew’s Day, so this week the main message is a big “shout out” to all the congregation and friends of St Andrew’s, Newcastle. You would undoubtedly have been celebrating Scotland’s patron saint this weekend, if circumstances had permitted. However, while that is not possible, you are very much in our collective thoughts and prayers this weekend.

Sunday also marks the start of Advent – the season of four Sundays running up to the celebration of Christmas. Contrary to the often frantic high street preparations for Christmas, Advent aims to clear a space for anticipation, waiting and expectancy. The readings this Sunday will direct us towards a vigil of waiting – wakefulness, watchfulness and worship. To help us in these weeks, there are resources from the Congregational Prayer Group. They suggest a fifteen minute time of quiet reading, prayer and meditation. I hope the words of scripture and poetry will enhance your thoughts. (See end of e-newsletter)

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Christ the King Sunday

Friends,

In the Christian calendar, this Sunday is the final fixture of the season; the last Sunday of the Church/liturgical year. Next week the new cycle begins with Advent Sunday. From Advent, through Christmas, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and its fifty days, Ascension and Pentecost – this weekend we complete the circle begun in late November 2019. A great deal has happened, and not happened, since embarking on the now-concluding, Church year. As a judge sums up at the end of trial, once all the evidence is in, we are asked to return a verdict. The verdict of our faith is this: Christ is King. But Christ’s “kingship” is a strange one, very different to many of the images we have of regular kings and queens. Sunday’s gospel reading from Matthew 25 will spell out how the King is most easily discovered in the pauper’s guise. Declaring Christ as King, at the end of the Church’s year, invites us to look back over the last twelve months and assess, where and how, Christ has been present in our own lives, and in the life of the world. And declaring Christ as King, at the beginning of a new Church year, encourages us to find Christ in those we serve (and in ourselves), while also bestowing strength and courage to face all that is yet unknown.

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When I was an Army chaplain one of the regiments I served with had  its own Kirk Session. One of its young elders was an absolutely  fanatical Glasgow Rangers supporter. In a year when Rangers came  second best to city rivals, Celtic, I introduced the hymn, At the name of Jesus  every knee shall bow, by saying that verse three was especially for one of our  elders. Verse three begins – “Humbled for a season….” 
I’m not sure I was forgiven until the following season! 

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Friends,
Once again, all change! Lock down II commenced this week and for the next four Sundays we revert to offering worship, via the live stream and Dial-in only i.e. worshippers cannot attend in person (in the pews.) However, as Lucy communicates on our Social Media – “Although the building might be closed, the church is very much open.”

Worshipping online, staying in contact with friends and neighbours, offering prayers for others and supporting the church financially, are all expressions of continuing faith and church life. Some activities can, and will, continue in our halls – Knightsbridge School use the Lower Hall for recreation, Monday to Friday; Support Groups also continue to meet; and by later this month, we hope that St Columba’s will be operating as a feeding station for homeless guests, three nights each week – via ReStart (Fridays) and GlassDoor (Saturdays & Sundays.) If that hospitality can be achieved and sustained throughout the winter, it would represent a wonderful contribution to some very vulnerable people, in a time of extreme need. Please keep those charities (staff, volunteers and guest) and our own staff in your prayers. And remember, if you feel that you would like attend the Church for private prayer, please get in touch with the office office@stcolumbas.org.uk to organise an appropriate time.

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Friends, 

I was sent these words at the start of this week: 

“Christian faith does not assume a life (or world) of continuous security and  familiarity. It is fed by scriptures that speak of transience, mortality, provisionality,  interruptions and leavings. But, they also whisper that the endings are always  beginnings – the leavings, open a door to arrivals that could not have been  experienced otherwise. In other words, the loss can be seen as a gift – what Walter  Bruggemann calls ‘newness after loss.’ Peter Millar 

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A gentle reminder that the clocks change this weekend, permitting that  extra hour for R & R! As the light shortens most of us feel a shift in the year; and  thoughts of hibernation come to mind. In the media there is much advice on how  to survive the winter in the year of Covid. A warm coat and getting outside for  some fresh air is the oft-repeated advice. In addition to that piece of common  sense, maybe we can add the companionship of our church community and the  strength and belief of our faith. At the heart of our faith is the consolation that we  are not alone, and that we are loved, even when we don’t particularly feel it. At St  Columba’s, Pont Street and St Andrew’s, Newcastle I hope our shared faith will  keep us making the effort to stay in touch and enquire after others. I hope too, our  shared faith will inform the work that is undertaken by staff and volunteers to feed  our homeless guests over the coming weekends of winter or the many alternative  ways that we seek to love God and our neighbour as ourselves. 

Along with the other bits of news, we share for a second week, the message from  the Stewardship Team 

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This week’s message comes from the Stewardship Working Group.

Weathering the storm

We live in strange times. Many people, and many churches, have suffered greatly through the pandemic. While there have been significant bumps in the road for St Columba’s over these last few months, we have been blessed in many ways. Though we have lost around £55K in hall hire bookings since April this year – in an
ordinary year, a considerable source of income for us – a generous legacy we received in 2019 has allowed St Columba’s to weather the storm so far in 2020. Many churches don’t have this level of financial support to fall back on, and we are very grateful to all those who give to St Columba’s in their will.

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Friends, 

The broadcast of the Caledonian Lecture from St Columba’s this week was  definitely a highlight. Mary Miller’s talk on Jane Haining – the “extraordinary life of  an ordinary woman” was profound and moving. It was enhanced by wonderful  Scottish, Hungarian and Jewish music from our guest musicians, and there were  good messages added by the Hungarian Ambassador to the United Kingdom and  the British Ambassador to Hungary. Please do take the chance to view it and  recommend it to others, if you haven’t already done so. Jane Haining’s story of  service and bravery towards the wartime Hungarian Jewish schoolgirls in her care is  inspiring and deserves to be more widely known. 

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General Assembly, Harvest Festival & Jane Haining

Friends,

Where to begin this week? Taking things chronologically, you could start with the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Commencing on Friday evening, the 2020 General Assembly will necessarily be very different from the traditional week of worship, business and social events held in Edinburgh each May. Instead of 800 Commissioners in the General Assembly Hall there will be 800 people on Zoom webinar with just the “Top Table and a few techies” in the Hall. A new online Assembly Hub has been created so that Commissioners can actively take part with voting, asking questions etc. Anyone wishing to watch the proceedings will find a live stream on the Church of Scotland website under General Assembly 2020.

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Breaking Bread & Remembering Upper Rooms 

Friends, 

This Sunday we celebrate communion, the meal central to our faith – bread, blessed, broken, shared and wine poured out. It echoes Jesus’ final meal, with his closet friends, in an Upper Room in Jerusalem, on the night of his betrayal and arrest. It has been a strength-giver for two thousand years in all times and places, in many varied forms – from cathedrals to prison camps, on board ships and at hospital bedsides. Shaped by current circumstances, our Sunday communion will look a little different, but its message, its heart, remains exactly the same. Instead of receiving the bread and wine sitting in the pews, served by the elders, those attending St Columba’s in person, will be invited to come forward to the front of the church to receive the bread – at present, we cannot offer the wine. (For those unable to come forward, the bread will be brought to them.) Meanwhile, those watching the service, via the live-stream, are most welcome to prepare bread and wine (or equivalent) in your own home and share it at the appropriate moment. While this may feel unfamiliar, please be encouraged by those who have done this previously, and commented how precious it has proved. 

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