- Sunday 14 Jan
Services will be at 9.30 am and 10.30 am (Junior Church and YF too). The 10.30 service will also be live-streamed. The main passage is Luke 10:1-17, and the other passage, 1 Corinthians 12:1-14. The theme is Participants not Spectators.
Hunger Lunch will take place at 12 noon in the Church Hall. A simple meal of soup, rolls and cheese, tea and coffee will be served. You are invited to participate and to donate the cost of your lunch which will be used to support the orphan village outside Lilongwe in Malawi.
2) Hungry for Good News
The news these days is rarely good. Whether its war in Israel and Ukraine, missile strikes in the Red Sea, extreme weather events, or the inability of our political leaders to find genuine solutions, it frequently feels as if things are going from bad to worse. Is there any good news?
Christians believe there is. Jesus came into the world to heal all that is broken in our lives and restore all that is wrong in the world. This good news is the gospel. That gospel comes alive as people encounter Jesus. For the last 2000 years this has happened when people read/hear the story of Jesus as told by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In the words of the apostle Paul, The gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to all who believe (Romans 1:16).
How can this good news be shared more widely with people today who are hungry for good news? Gospels are going to be placed in the StAB building in places which will catch people’s eye. They will be invited to take a copy.
The Kirk Session has decided that it should ask the whole congregation 1) to pray that 2024 gospels will be picked up in the building during 2024 and 2) to pray that as people read these gospels that the Lord will open their hearts to listen eagerly to what is said about Jesus (Acts 16:14 NRSV).
3) Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
StAB is delighted to be a member of North Berwick and District Association of Churches. The Association expresses in concrete form our conviction that though the church of Jesus Christ appears in many forms, it is one. Those who worship in other local churches are friends not competitors.
This conviction is expressed clearly every January in the joint service that takes place in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (which itself is international and ecumenical). This year the service will be led by North Berwick Christian Fellowship and will held in the StAB building at 6 pm. Please come if you can. If you can’t please pray for this important expression of Christian Unity.
4) Malawi Coffee Morning
The 21st annual Coffee Morning is on Saturday, 20 January, between 10.00am and 12.00 noon in St Andrew Blackadder church hall. There will be no entry charge with the morning open to all and any donations welcomed.
There will be the usual coffees, teas and bakery served, as well as a bakery stall and gift stall. All contributions and offers of help on the day, gratefully received. Contact Ian & Liz Craigie or Barbara Clark (details in Church Directory).
5) Cunningham House
In the run up to Christmas many of you donated socks and underwear for Cunningham House, the Church of Scotland’s facility for homeless men in Edinburgh. In a letter of appreciation, Graeme Wetherill said, Your gifts to the service go, and have gone, a long way in offering the residents of Cunningham House some reprieve from their daily stresses and worries whilst receiving support within the service, offering what all of us as Christians look to during the Festive period, hope. On behalf of the entire resident base and the staff team, thank you again for your wonderful donations and I wish you all the very best for this year coming.
6) Prayer Gatherings
Every Sunday in Prayer Room between 10 and 10.20 am
Every Monday in Room 1 between 10 and 11 am.
Every Wednesday on Zoom between for 30 minutes starting at 7 pm.
Please contact the office for log on details.
Neil
Rev Dr Neil Dougall
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