Intimations
Church Office – Helen, our Church Secretary, will be on holiday until 31st August. I am covering for her in her absence.
Garden Party – The Melrose in Bloom Garden Party is back! Sunday 29th August, 2.30-4.30pm in Harmony Garden (by kind permission of NTS). Champagne Afternoon Tea, Tickets £8 from MIB members or phone 208512.
Church Magazine – We are putting together the next edition of the church magazine and are looking for short contributions on lockdown opportunities – something you have taken up, gone back to, volunteered for, committed to in the last 18 months. Text or pictures. Please send to the church office – bowden.melrosepc@btinternet.com – Thanks!
Afghanistan – On the back of the attached order of service you will find a prayer for Afghanistan written by Rev Dr Marjory MacLean, Convener of the Committee on Chaplains to Her Majesty’s Forces.
Family Services – We are resuming our monthly Family Services on Sunday 5 September in the Melrose Church Hall with 1 metre distancing between families. The first of these services will be at 10am but there will be a discussion about the best timing for families going forward as there is a direct clash with mini rugby…. Having consulted with some families (with no consensus!) 4pm has been suggested as an alternative time. Sundays remain the best day. Rev Sara Embleton will conduct the sevices in Bowden Kirk at 9.30am and Melrose Church at 11.00am.
A message from the Presbytery World Mission Group – Dr Peter Ford, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, has offered to give us two lectures in the area of Islamic Christian relations. After several years of pastoral and Bible teaching ministries in Muscat, Oman and Khartoum, Sudan, Dr Ford completed his PhD in Islamic Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia. For the past twenty years, he has taught Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya, then at the Near East School of Theology since January 2013. The lectures will be delivered via Zoom with each session lasting 1-1½ hours. The sessions will take the form of a pre-recorded lecture, followed by a live question and answer session with Dr Ford. These will take place on Tuesday 31st August and Thursday 2nd September, both starting from 7pm. The first session is entitled “Do we worship the same God? Yes!…. and No…”. Session 2 is entitled “Are the barriers between us too high? No…. but it takes some work…”. Dr Ford has also made available some reading material to get us started in our thinking and a link to this will be sent to anyone interested. The sessions are open to anyone interested in wanting to know a little more about Islam and how it relates to our own Christian faith. For more information and to sign up, please email fiona@glenholm.co.uk or call 07944196234.
Keeping Safe
Whilst most Covid restrictions in Scotland have been lifted the virus is still a threat and care still needs to be taken. Physical distancing is still recommended as is hand sanitising and the wearing of masks at indoor events. Complying with Test and Protect remains in place. The Church of Scotland is advising that we continue to observe 1 metre distancing in the short term. This gives us good capacity in both our buildings – up to 180 in Melrose and 40 in Bowden. Different options for joining in worship are now a part of church life. Please do what is right for you.
Worship
We meet for worship at 9.30am in Bowden Kirk and 11.00am in Melrose Church when we will continue our journey through the Old Testament, looking at the story of Daniel. You can join us live at 11.00am on Sundays on both Facebook and our website www.bowdenandmelrosechurch.org or watch the recording thereafter. The hymn sheet is attached so you can sing along…. A Sunday Worship podcast will be posted on Facebook and Instagram at 6.00pm on Saturday evening. You can also listen by phoning 01896 808551. A mid-week reflection will be posted on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/BowdenandMelroseParishChurch/ Wednesday’s reflection was on Boney M and the Babylonian Exile – By the Rivers of Babylon.
Television and Radio
There are other worship opportunities on Sunday. Songs of Praise is on BBC 1 at 1.15pm. New Every Sunday is at 7.30am on Radio Scotland and Sunday Worship at 8.10am on Radio 4. Both will be available afterwards on BBC Sounds.
Prayer
This Sunday Christians across the country – and further afield – will once again join together in prayer and reflection at 7pm. Following Jesus, we soon discover that many of the difficult questions of life still remain. However, we recognise by faith that He is the One through whom God reconciles the difficult questions and continues to offer to us the gift of life.
We pray:
Living God,
Who reconciles all things through Christ,
We come to You
With the questions of the day.
We come that we might find One who will listen
And who will embrace our concerns.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Who reconciles all things through Christ,
We come to You
To seek answers to the questions of life
And we come in the company of others.
Grant that we may hear You speak amidst the clamour of the day.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Who reconciles all things through Christ,
We come to You
With the hard questions
And those that defy our attempts to resolve.
Grant us grace to live with the hard questions at this time.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Who reconciles all things through Christ,
We come to You
For You have the words of eternal life.
Grant us grace to believe
And to know that You are the Holy One of God.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
