'Rest and be thankful' - Worship Sun 21 July

Welcome to this week's time of worship where we're taking time to 'rest and be thankful'. As people called to love and serve the Lord, and to love our neighbours, it’s very easy to get so caught up in the busyness of doing, that we can forget that in order to do … we need to recharge our own batteries at times. But also, to take time out is quite a subversive thing to do. What can Jesus teach us about work and rest and perhaps breaking from old ways of thinking, when it comes to service to God and others?

WORSHIP LINK IS HERE and service is uploaded for viewing.

Church notices:
Mon July 22 - Wed Aug 7 - minister on annual leave: Very much taking up the theme for today, I'll be on annual leave for the next fortnight.
General queries: for any general queries while I’m away, please get in touch with Heather Watt on 01899 850211 
Urgent pastoral/ funeral cover - will be provided by the Rev. Louise Mackay of Lanark, St. Nicholas who can be reached on 01555 661936 or via email: lmackay@churchofscotland.org.uk
Worship arrangements - over the next two Sundays, worship on site will be conducted by a familiar friend, the Rev. George Shand.
Online, it's once again an opportunity to have a wee visit elsewhere to some other Church of Scotland congregations who have services available on the interwebz: 
Biggar Parish Church - LINK  
Dunfermline Abbey - LINK 
Hamilton Old Parish Church - LINK 

Wed. 24 July - Guild summer outing: A reminder that the Guild summer outing is on Wed 24th July. The Guild will be paying a follow up visit to Moffatt Parish Church to see what it looks like since its renovation. The plan is to arrive in Moffatt for 10.30am. There'll also be time for some shopping and lunch. If you'd like to go and haven't yet booked, please get in touch with Heather W. 

Thurs 25 July - funeral of Isobel Taylor: For those of you who might not have heard, our friend, Isobel Taylor has died. Her funeral service will be held in Biggar Kirk, at 2pm on Thursday the 25th, and everyone is very much welcome to attend. I know many here and around the parish will have some very fond memories of her, as do I - she was one of the kindest people I've ever met. Please do keep her family in your thoughts and prayers at this time.

Sun 25 August - Annual Songs of Praise service, 10.30am: and just to flag up something for a wee bit further down the track: our annual Songs of Praise service is on the near horizon so get your thinking caps on to work out which hymns you’d like to nominate for inclusion - nominations are welcome from both our on site and online communities. The deadline is 1pm Sun 18 August - to give me time to format the hymns as needed. 

May you know God's presence with you over the next wee while, and catch up when I'm back from annual leave!

God bless

Nikki

'Stuff' - worship Sun 14 July

Welcome to worship where today, we’re aiming to do a little decluttering and explore how we might just simplify our busy lives… 

I'm hoping that the service will be available at some point from 8pm onwards but the internet speed has been slower than normal, so bear with me if it's a little later than this.

For the service the:
WORSHIP LINK IS HERE 

Church notices/
Guild summer outing: Wed 24th July. The Guild will be paying a follow up visit to Moffatt Parish Church to see what it looks like since its renovation. The plan is to arrive in Moffatt for 10.30am. There'll also be time for some shopping and lunch. If you'd like to go and haven't yet booked, please get in touch with Heather W. 

Pastoral visiting: my apologies on this side of things - I am very behind in catching up with folk due to having had a brush with Covid. Some of the side effects seem to be taking their time to disappear, but hopefully, this will move along at some point and things can get back to normal. Thanks for your understanding.

Have a good week!

God bless
Nikki

'Of crumbs and Canaanites' - worship for Sun 7 July

Welcome to our time of worship today.
Last week we spent time reflecting on a conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman as they talked of ‘living water’. This week, in worship, we’ll be picking up on another conversation Jesus has – this time, with a Canaanite woman, who asks for his help. In the course of the meeting, an insight from the woman just possibly expands Jesus’ own thinking on a particular matter.

The WORSHIP LINK IS HERE and the service will hopefully be available from 7pm onwards.

Church notices/
Just the one, which is to note that the food bank box has now been uplifted. Thanks for all the kind donations. We'll be collecting once again over the month of September and first Sunday of October (which will be the Harvest service).

Have a good week and God bless,

Nikki