Help and Assistance Welcome to Fetteresso Church have a Grampian Coronavirus Assistance Hub Stonehaven Fetteresso group of volunteers to help with any shopping needs etc Life of Worship • Life of Love • Life of Service at this time. If you need help please contact the church office on: [email protected] Or 01569 730143 CHURCH AT HOME or for more wide ranging For prayer, worship music, advice and help please check teaching, contemplations and our out: Grampian Coronavirus children’s page please go to the Assistance Hub www.gcha.org.uk CHURCH AT HOME tab on the church website. Or click: A special service is being held to formally install the next Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. http://www.fetteresso.org/connect/praise- and-worship-music Rev Dr Martin Fair will officially succeed Rt Rev Colin Sinclair as the Kirk’s ambassador at home and abroad on May 16 with proceedings broadcast live on the Church’s Greetings to all from your choir who website and Facebook page from 11am. are keeping together by interchanging phone calls and emails https://stream1.churchofscotland.org.uk/ – jokes, videos, music – with each about_us/general_assembly/ click here to watch other. We enjoy the At Home morning service and hearing how our anthems and hymns sound to Sunday 31 May, 10-10.30am – Pentecost – streamed on the you in the congregation. We miss Church of Scotland website and Facebook page seeing you from our post in the choir The Moderator will lead a service to mark the birthday of the Christian loft and hope it is not too long Church, with contributions from many different places. Like the disciples on before we are back on duty. Love to that first Pentecost, here is the invitation to step confidently into whatever all. the future holds. We would like to invite you to make this the service for your congregation on that Sunday, so that as much of the Church of Scottish Charity Number SC011191 Scotland as possible will be gathered in fellowship and praise. Church to host webinar on impact of coronavirus It will highlight: A webinar is being held to provide those in the ministries of the church, office a predicted downturn in congregational income which may continue bearers, staff, members and volunteers with an update on how challenges facing well into 2021 or until a coronavirus vaccine becomes generally the Church of Scotland are being tackled. available. The Assembly Trustees are the need to suspend plans to create a Growth Fund and instead use hosting the session on Friday, any spare capacity to invest in the resources that will be needed for 22 May at 11am to discuss the renewal of church life post-virus. the impact that the the paring down of the central services to provide all but essential coronavirus pandemic has services during May and June and thereafter returning to address the had on the charity. required process of downsizing the central administration. Rev Dr Martin Fair, currently a proposal to encourage the implementation of a more robust the Moderator Designate, will presbytery planning process alongside an acceleration of the “well chair the meeting for those in equipped spaces” land and buildings programme. the ministries of the church, office bearers, staff, members a commitment to work with and support CrossReach during what is and volunteers. the greatest crisis the care sector has ever faced. They will be able to put questions to the Church’s Chief Officer, Dave Kendall, Details of how people can sign up to the event will be issued in the coming and Very Rev Dr John Chalmers, convener of the Assembly Trustees. week but people can submit questions in advance now to ensure detailed answers. Dr Chalmers said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it unprecedented changes to the landscape in which the Church is operating. Send your question in advance to: “At great speed and with extraordinary imagination, ministers and congregations [email protected] or have worked to overcome the challenges of self-isolation and social distancing. “There is, in fact, evidence that with the use of modern technology and an [email protected] extended online presence the reach of the Church has greatly increased. “In spite of the great distress and disruption that coronavirus has caused, this is a time to thank all those who have anchored our life in such difficult times.” Register for the webinar now at: Dr Chalmers said no one will ever know the full extent of the way in which https://stream1.churchofscotland.org.uk/about-us/our- ministers and church members have dealt with people’s private anxiety and grief structure/assembly-trustees and contributed to the well-being of the nation. The contents of a special report prepared by the Assembly Trustees, in light of the General Assembly being cancelled, will be discussed. Scottish churches join together in call for prayer on Sunday 17th May Let us pray: Living God, you are our Creator and our Maker Church groups across Scotland are And the very breath of life is given as your gift. asking Christians once more to join We thank you for the gift of life together in prayer at 7pm on Sunday And we embrace and treasure that gift. evening. Living God, you are the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ This week's renewed prayer for those Whose presence in the world reveals your love for us. affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is In the giving of your Son, signed by 13 Scottish churches and You reveal the depths of your love. Christian organisations. Living God, your Son embraced the Cross This week's renewed prayer for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is signed And the depths of human suffering. by 13 Scottish churches and Christian organisations. We thank you that you delivered him On the day of Resurrection. Across the country people have answered the call to pray at the same time each week in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Living God, as you spoke to the bereft and the orphaned in days past, Speak to the bereft and the orphaned in days present. Rt Rev Colin Sinclair, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Speak to the uncertain and the anxious. said: "When so much is not normal how lovely it can be to come together at 7pm Speak into the depths of our incomprehension and fear. each Sunday and have a few moments in which we can pray together. Living God, your promise "Let me encourage you to keep hope alive and join with us in prayer." Is that we will not be left alone to face the world. This week's letter accompanying the prayer, which is also available in Gaelic, states: We thank you that through the gift of your Spirit In the days following the first Easter Sunday, the disciples of Jesus would have gone That promise is fulfilled. through any number of different reactions, from uncertainty and anxiety to joy and Living God, be with all who sustain our common life at this time, celebration, through incomprehension and fear to recognition and hope. If the Cross Carers and nurses, cleaners and porters, had robbed them of his presence, the Resurrection has restored his presence. Surely Doctors and ambulance staff, delivery drivers and posties. Jesus will continue to be with them always? Through their giving our common life is sustained. The Gospel of John (14: 1-21) portrays the disciples wrestling with the dawning Living God, as you have watched over us in the past, reality that Jesus will not continue to be physically present to them. It would seem Watch over us in the present. that they are again to be left bereft and 'orphaned'. Uncertainty and anxiety As once more we thank you, that through Christ threaten once more. In response, Jesus speaks into their incomprehension and fear And by your Holy Spirit, we are not alone. with the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus reassures them that they are not Amen. alone and that his spiritual presence will be renewed in this world through the Spirit. Jesus, through the Spirit, continues with us always as the assurance of God's love for us. Church shows support to global partners during pandemic “We encourage congregations to continue to pray for the Church throughout The Church of Scotland has sent financial support to partner Churches across the the world and encourage, in particular, those congregations with twinnings to globe to help them respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. maintain contact and relationships at this time,” added Dr Brown. A total of £38,000 has been sent to eight churches that have long-standing “Such action, in solidarity with others worldwide, matters and will be relationships with the Church of Scotland. This has been possible through the remembered in the future. generosity of previous generations leaving money to support the world church “Hearing the stories of the even greater needs others face, with far fewer and which is now being called upon. resources to respond, also offers a different perspective on our own situation Very Rev Dr Susan Brown, Convener of the Faith Impact Forum, said: and reminds us of our call to serve, in Christ’s name, the very least in our world – wherever they are.” “As a Church, we have always acknowledged the importance of helping the most vulnerable in every part of the world. Even water comes at a cost “Through trusted partner churches and organisations who have shared their The support includes the Nile Theological College in South Sudan, a country needs with us, we have been able to respond to the very real needs of some—at facing the effects of recent civil war, a plague of locusts and now also Covid-19.