1. Sunday 1 February Services at 9.30 am and 10.30 am (live-streamed). The passage is John 3:1-15 and the theme, How Can I Be Good?
Messy Church, 4- 6 pm. Messy Church is a relaxed and informal way of being church. It explores faith through crafts, worship and a shared meal. Families, in particular, find it an accessible way to engage with God. Can you think of people for whom this might be just right? Would you be willing to offer to come with them? Many people who’d not come to church on their own say they’d be glad to go if a friend offered to go with them.
2. Church Hall Work on the church hall is now complete. This week the blinds have been put up. The hall is looking great. Take a moment to see what it’s like.
Three years ago it was clear that the wooden floor was reaching the end of its life and would need replaced. After a lot of thought and prayer the decision was made to seize the opportunity to do a major refurb of the hall. A new floor made underfloor heating possible, which could be warmed by a heat pump powered (largely) by solar panels. This required better insulation and ventilation. So rather than simply replacing the floor, all of these things were put in place. The result is that the hall is not heated by gas but by renewable energy. The final part, redecorating, is the most visible part of what has been a huge and complex undertaking.
Your gifts of money were critical in all of this. Thank you.
The cost has been significant and would have been a lot higher were it not for the huge gift of time by various people within the church. Robert Galbraith, David Robertson and Derek Leiper in particular did a massive amount of work. Hilde and Julie somehow kept smiling and being positive despite all the complications they had to deal with. Thank you to all of them.
3. Sustainability, Hilde ten Hacken & Ken Reid are the new sustainability activity leads. Moving the hall from gas to solar energy was a first step, it is important we continue to seek ways of improving the sustainability of the church & the congregation. God’s creation remains in a precarious state and we all need to look at ways we can make a difference. As sustainability leads, they know they don’t have the answers, but if you would like to help them seek those answers, please sign up on the Sustainability group in the WhatsApp community. That will be the best place to exchange ideas on what we can do. Once agreed, we will share initiatives through other routes or contact Hilde or Ken, details are in the directory.
4. Cake Boxes, Thank you for all the wonderful cake donations for recent coffee mornings, they have helped make a lot of money for worthy causes. If you have not done so already can you please collect your cake boxes from the trolley outside the kitchen, any unlabelled boxes will go in to recycling next week.
5. 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. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88152470672? for log in info please contact the office
Neil
Rev Dr Neil Dougall
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