PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH AUGUST 2020
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PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH While we are unable to use our buildings, there will be a short act of worship each Sunday at 10am on Facebook, and repeated later on our website. Our Facebook Page provides some items for personal reflection as well as our normal news updates. Church website: http://www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pilrigstpauls/
KIRK SESSION There will be an online meeting of the Kirk Session (via Zoom) at 7:30 pm on Thursday 6 August. This meeting will be to receive the latest report and recommendations from the Planning Team in relation to the re-opening of our buildings. Papers and details of how to join the meeting will be sent to all elders soon. Any apologies should be given to the Session Clerk by Tuesday 4 August. CHURCH ACTIVITIES and INFORMATION
Please watch our website and facebook page for updates. For information regarding Girl Guiding and Scouts: www.girlguiding.org.uk hello@scouts.scot Radio, TV, Internet Audio and Visual clips and some live streaming worship services that you can listen to and watch from home: Thought for the Day: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00szxv6 3
BBC Radio Four Sunday Worship: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnds Livestream Church Service: https://greenbankchurch.org There will be a recorded service every Sunday via the Church of Scotland website as well as transcripts which can be printed and delivered to those who are not able to access online resources. Songs of Praise: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006ttc5 Recommended Podcast: https://robbell.com/portfolio/robcast/ In addition if you wish to follow the readings that we use in church each Sunday you can access them at https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu// You can also subscribe to receive the church magazine and weekly intimations at LINK. WordPress site at https://onecfl.wordpress.com/ where you will find prayers, reflections and other items provided by the Ministers from the four Leith churches.
Pilrig St Paul’s Foodbank is, unfortunately, not able to staff our facility yet, but we are looking at ways to start this when we can. If you would like to help the Foodbank in another Leith Church, please contact JMay@churchofscotland.org Thank you to the many people who have made donations of food or money. If you would like information about how to contribute to Pilrig St Paul’s Please see page 10
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From the Manse When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.- Acts 2:1 (NRSV) Dear All, The story of Pentecost starts with the disciples all gathered together in one place. The very thought of this may give some of you the shivers, especially after three months of having to practise social distancing from other households. You may also feel equally nervous about the news that churches are preparing to reopen for worship soon. What will that be like? Like the day of Pentecost, there will be a whole range of different emotions for people as we prepare to re-enter our buildings. Some of you will be worried. Some of you will be excited. Some of you will be feeling unsure and uncertain about the whole prospect. Pentecost was a watershed moment for those first disciples of Jesus. It was clear that things had changed for them and that their future would take a different direction from the one they had originally envisaged. It is certain that things will not be the same for us either. During the phases of lockdown we have had to reenvisage what it means to be “Church� and develop new ways of worshipping online. When we do re-open our buildings, we know that worship will be in a very different format from before. Rather than seek to move things back to where they were before lockdown we need to embrace the opportunity for change and find ways to incorporate our learning from online worship into the continued evolution of our worship. 5
If we believe that the Holy Spirit is still alive and active in our churches today then we should be prepared to embrace this opportunity for a new and fresh start in the life and worship of our congregation. Shalom Mark
THANK YOU We have received thanks from many members for prayers, flowers, cards, visits, phone calls, texts and support received following illness, celebrations, bereavements and accidents. MEMBERS AND ADHERENTS WHO WOULD LIKE A FULL PRAYER, PASTORAL and BEREAVEMENT OR THANK YOU LIST, ARE ASKED TO CONTACT: magazine@pilrigstpauls.org.uk
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PASTORAL CARE - KEEPING IN TOUCH by PHONE AND MAGAZINE Pastoral care continues by phone, mail, and email – both by telephone trees and individual members contacting each other. If someone has slipped through the net, please contact the Minister, Catriona Blackwood, or Aileen Fraser. Those phoning try to adapt to the needs of individual members. The church now has a paid Zoom account and we hope to use it for various meetings, pastoral care etc. and set up Zoom Coffee Mornings to help members get together for a chat. Look out of announcements in the intimations and on Facebook and the web site. Zoom is mostly used via computer, tablet or smartphone, but don’t worry if you don’t have any of these, as you will be able to dial in on an ordinary phone as well and you will hear, but not see, the others. I have done it both ways, and it is good to hear people you haven’t seen for a while. We look forward to adding in this type of contact. As many members as possible are receiving the magazine, by email, post, or sometimes put through your letterbox. If you know of someone who is not getting the magazine in any form, or wants to change the method by which they receive it, please contact magazine@pilrigstpauls.org.uk or phone 0131 554 6183 for paper copies or mail@pilrigstpauls.org.uk to get it by email. There will be a September edition for which I would like contributions by 23rd August, please. Life and Work continues to be published and can be collected from me by arrangement, or I can store them till our building is opened again. Catriona Blackwood Pastoral Committee Member 7
COVID PLANNING GROUP – JULY 24TH 2020 UPDATE The Planning Group has almost completed the necessary paperwork and physical changes to our building that will allow us to re-open. They hope to complete these tasks by the start of August and then get the necessary approvals from Kirk Session and Edinburgh Presbytery. We are not sure how long it will take to get Presbytery approval or if they may require us to make any further changes before we can be allowed to re-open. Under current restrictions it is calculated that the sanctuary will be limited to a maximum of 20 people (with possibly a few extra spaces for those from the same household); worshippers will also be required to wear face coverings; and singing is not allowed. As soon as these restrictions are relaxed we would hope to re-open the building in a controlled manner – starting with small numbers, before slowly increasing capacity to whatever the guidelines allow us to safely manage. Further announcements will be made as soon as we are given the approvals we need. In order to help us through this period of transition we will continue to offer some form of online worship for those who are unable to physically attend. The following assessment tool comes from the documentation distributed by the Church of Scotland. The scoring is based on an article from the British Medical Association website. A score of 6 or more suggests that you are at a higher risk and indicates that you should continue to participate in church life from your home until further notice. We greatly appreciate your continued support.
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Risk Factor Age
Total Score 50-59
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60-69
2
70-79
4
80 and over
6
Sex at birth
Male
1
Ethnicity
Caucasian
0
Black African Descent Indian Asian Descent Filipino Descent Other (including mixed race) Diabetes & Obesity Type 1 & 2
Cardiovascular disease Pulmonary (lung) disease
2 1 1 1 1
Diabetes Type 1 & 2 with presence of microvascular complications or HbA1c≼64mmol/mol
2
Body Mass Index greater than or equal to 35 kg/m2
1
online BMI calculator: http://www.nhs.uk/live-well/ healthyweight/bmi-calculator Angina, previous heart attack, stroke or cardiac intervention Heart Failure Asthma
1 2 1
Non-asthma chronic pulmonary disease
2 1
Either of the above requiring oral corticosteroids in the last year Malignant neoplasm Active malignancy (cancer) Malignancy in remission
3 1
Malignancy in remission
2
Rheumatological conditions Immunosuppressan Any indication t therapies
2 Total Score
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Prayer Corner Please remember in your prayers members and friends of the congregation who are ill or infirm at this time. A full list is available in the printed version of the magazine. Please let the minister or me know of someone to include in this section. Catriona Blackwood
Helping financially Here is part of the article from our Treasurer in July. ‌.Some members who don’t pay by standing order have already contacted me to ask what they should do with their weekly offerings. I have advised the options and left it up to them to make the choice that works best for them. Below are the options available so you can determine what would be the most suitable for you. You could setup a standing order with your bank to make a recurring payment to the church every month or it can be weekly if that is easier. You are in control of the amount that is paid, the frequency and the date of the payments. It can be amended or stopped at any time with your bank and we cannot claim money from your bank account. Please contact me if you want a standing order mandate to be provided or to get the church bank details so you can set this up. If you decide to do this and currently give your offering using the blue or yellow envelopes can you contact me to let me know your envelope number. As the banks are open at present you could make the payment to the church bank account using a bank giro credit. If you want the bank details please contact me. If you normally pay using blue or 10
yellow envelopes and decide to do this can you let me know the amount paid in and your envelope number. You can also make a payment via internet or telephone banking. If you want to do this and need to know the account details for the church please contact me. Again if you normally pay using blue or yellow envelopes and decide to do this can you let me know the amount paid in and your envelope number. If you have blue envelopes you can wait until you are back at the church and then put your envelopes in the collection. The amount you are donating can be put in one envelope but can you please provide all the envelopes with the amount you donated each week written on them. This allows us to claim tax relief back on any weekly donation under ÂŁ20. If we only have one envelope with an amount greater than ÂŁ20 we will not be able to claim the tax back. If you have yellow envelopes you can put your envelopes in the collection when you are back at the church. The full donation can be put in one envelope and there is no need to provide the other envelopes as we can claim tax relief on any donation made through these. It is also possible to make a donation by visiting our website www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk and donate using the PayPal button. You can also use the QR code below by scanning it on your mobile phone.
We have also setup a JustGiving page and the url is https://www.justgiving.com/edinburghpilrigstpaulsparishchurch 11
We do have to pay a handling fee for any donations received through PayPal or JustGiving so don’t receive the full amount donated. If you shop online you can support the church when you shop on Amazon. If you are using their webpage can you go to https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ and you can select Edinburgh: Pilrig St Paul’s Parish Church of Scotland as the charity. For certain purchases we will received up to 1.5% as a donation. In the last week you can now change the settings on their app and select the same charity name. Thank you for your continued support and hopefully we will all be able to meet again soonish to worship together. Mark Wexelstein Email treasurer@pilrigstpauls.org.uk
Phone 0131 665 6881
Easyfundraising Over 4,000 shops and sites will donate to us when you use easyfundraising to shop with them – at no extra cost to yourself! The church will receive a donation (plus Gift Aid) for every confirmed purchase. We don't see what you've bought, just the donation amount returned. These donations really mount up and make a BIG difference to us, so we’d really appreciate it if you could take a moment to sign up and support us. It’s completely FREE and only takes a moment. You can find our easyfundraising page at https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/psp2/?utm_campaig n=raise-more&utm_medium=email&utm_content=fm-e1 On a happy note, we send Congratulations to Sarah and Martin on the birth of their daughter, Rowan Sophia Lane Ritchie. Martin, a former organist at Pilrig St Paul’s is now the minister of Greenbank Parish Church, Edinburgh. 12
CONTACT DETAILS PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH 1b Pilrig Street Edinburgh EH6 5AH www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk
Church Office 0131 553 1876
email mail@pilrigstpauls.org.uk HALL LETS - NO BOOKINGS ARE BEING TAKEN MEANTIME When we are able to re-open our halls we will publicise this on our website, intimations and the magazine. Scottish Charity no. SCO07277
www.leithchurchesforum.org.uk
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If you can, please continue collecting……… Plastic milk bottle tops: blue or green with a 2 or 4 on them, Plastic tops and lids with other colours and sizes Flower bags Stamps: used postage stamps should be cut out (leaving a 1 cm margin) These will be gratefully received once we are up and running again. Thank you
INFORMATION re PILRIG St PAUL’S MAGAZINE We welcome articles and thank you letters from members and friends. Articles are published in both the printed magazine and on-line, unless otherwise arranged with the editor, (e.g. where personal information is concerned, including the names in the prayer corner, it would normally be omitted from the on-line version). All contributors must provide their name, please, which is normally attached to the article. We reserve the right to edit articles. Changes other than spelling or grammar will, where possible, be discussed with the contributor. The views expressed are those of individual contributors and not necessarily those of Pilrig St. Paul’s Church or the Church of Scotland.
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