PSP 202110 by Pilrig St. Paul's Church

PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH OCTOBER 2021 CELEBRATING HARVEST 1

The Minister and Kirk Session of Pilrig St Paul’s Church invite you to The Sacrament of Holy Communion on Sunday 31st October 2021 at 11 am This is the Lord’s Table. Anyone who loves God and responds to Christ’s invitation to join together in this feast is welcome to join us in the celebration. Wine and water will be available to collect on arrival. Due to Covid restrictions, those attending are asked to bring their own bread/cracker.

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 (eg. 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.

PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH OCTOBER 2021

Services take place at 11am in the Sanctuary, and are also live streamed on Facebook, to watch live or later. Sunday 3rd Harvest Service 11am – Donations for the Foodbank will be most welcome. This time, we are unable to accept goods, so please donate money if able. Please either put a marked envelope in the plate or donate direct via the food bank website https://edinburghne.foodbank.org.uk. Tuesday 10th October 2pm in the Session Room The Guild Mark Foster will talk about the Guild theme. Sunday 31st October Communion Service see invitation on page 2 Attending church in October

Please come in via the main doors between 1030 and 1050 (Booking is now discontinued) When you arrive, as we still need to maintain 1 metre distancing, you are asked to stop just before the automatic doors until called forward by those on the welcome team. While waiting, please make sure your mask is on and be ready to give your contact details, either on the written sheet or the Check In Scotland app on your phone, both are fully acceptable. This is the time to use the hand sanitiser (found on either side of the doors). Please have your offering ready to put in the plate in the open doorway. 3

From our minister Dear All, The book of Haggai is one of the shortest books in the bible and at two chapters long (38 verses) it only takes a few minutes to read from start to finish. You’ll find it as the third last book in the Old Testament. The Jewish people had long prayed for an end to their exile in Babylon; and when it came, it was so sudden it was hard for them to believe. But soon after their return home, troubles found them again. The Jewish people’s expectations for a time of joy and the rebirth of their nation were scattered by a heavy dose of reality. Work on rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem was brought to a halt by the intrigues of the Persians. Their dreams were broken, and their hopes dashed. Haggai told the people that they had counted their homecoming as complete before it was true. They had seen to their own needs but had left the needs of God unfinished. “Finish the work” he told them, “only then can your hopes flourish.” Across the country plans for schools, universities, businesses, churches, and families have all been affected by the resurgence of new COVID-19 variants. Just when many of us thought that we had left the exile of restrictions behind us and entered into a new time of freedom and opportunity, we find our dreams broken and our hopes dashed. The words of the prophet Haggai remind us that we too have a responsibility to finish the work of God before we can enter into a new and brighter future for ourselves and the Church. While COVID-19 has had a big impact on many of our lives, it has had a devastating effect on the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable members of our world – the very people that God calls us to help. 4

We must never forget that “God’s preferential option for the poor” must remain one of our main priorities. As a community of faith we must seek to protect the weak by limiting our own freedoms to help control the spread of the virus. We must strive to support the vulnerable through the ongoing work of the foodbank and our support for Christian Aid. We must find ways to serve our elderly and isolated neighbours. This is the work we must strive to finish as we move forward as a community of faith. Blessings Mark CROSSREACH CHRISTMAS CARDS I am sorry that this year once again, because of ongoing covid restrictions, I will be unable to collect and deliver orders for Crossreach Christmas Cards and Calendars. Any member who would like to receive a copy of the Crossreach Christmas Card Catalogue should telephone Crossreach on 0131 454 4374 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. If you subsequently decide to place an order, you can do so by post or by phoning your order to the number shown above. Any member who has access to the Internet can order cards from the Crossreach Web Shop at crossreach.org.uk/shop. Crossreach will be most grateful to anyone who feels able to place an order by any of the methods detailed above. All profits from the sale of cards/calendars go towards raising much needed funding for the many and varied ways in which Crossreach cares for the most vulnerable in our society across the length and breadth of Scotland. Crossreach Contact 5

There will be a collection for the Foodbank at Tesco Leith on Friday 19th & Saturday 20th November. Volunteers to assist with this will be most welcome. The slots are usually 2 hours long. Please contact www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk October Update form the Covid Planning Group The Scottish Government have moved the whole of Scotland into the ‘beyond level 0' phase of the pandemic easing. Take care. We are still in the pandemic. ‘Beyond level 0' means that many of the legal restrictions previously in place have been removed, but the pandemic is not yet behind us. Infection rates remain high and the present variants are highly transmissible and continue to infect people and be transmitted, even by those who are double vaccinated. Even though new variant infection causes less clinical severity in vaccinated people, such infections still pose significant and, in some cases, lethal risk to those who are non-vaccinated and still have the capacity to overwhelm the NHS. Care should continue to be taken in all aspects of personal and church life. Churches should continue to mitigate risks by maintaining good hygiene and ensuring good ventilation. Churches already have the practice of assessing the level and perception of risk in their own particular context and some will wish to continue with at least some of the previous restrictions or manage a phased removal of restrictions. The above words are taken directly from the Church of Scotland’s online guidance for the Reshaping of Church Life in response to COVID-19. Although the status of most government and church guidance has changed from being a legal requirement to “good practice”, the Church of Scotland is still strongly recommending that congregations maintain many of 6

the same rigorous practices and procedures as were in place for levels 1 and 0 of the pandemic. This means that for worship we will continue to maintain social distancing of 1m; wearing masks (still a legal requirement); collecting details for track and trace; collecting the offering at the door; and the use of the screens rather than hymn books/bibles. It means that for meetings of the Kirk Session and Congregational Board we will continue to use zoom as our main means of decision making. It means that we will not be serving tea/coffee on Sunday mornings or restart the Open Doorway until next year. This may seem at odds with other sectors of society, but these decisions have been taken to help protect our volunteers and members at this time. As we approach the winter months the risk of infections spreading will increase and it is important that we continue to follow the advice and guidance of the Church. Having said all this, we are already planning for next year and the time when restrictions will be lifted further. Worship will remain open for those wishing to attend in person (without the need to book in advance) and online for those who are still wary of venturing into public spaces. New wipeable pew cushions are being sought, which will make attending church a more “comfortable” experience, and other changes are being made to the premises to help us with the transitions as they come. It has been great to see many members and visitors coming back into our building for worship, and a warm welcome awaits all who wish to join us.

THIS IS A REDUCED VERSION OF THE MAGAZINE FOR GENERAL PUBLICATION. MEMBERS AND ADHERENTS WHO WOULD LIKE A FULL PRAYER, PASTORAL and BEREAVEMENT OR THANK YOU LIST, OR A FINANCIAL UPDATE ARE ASKED TO CONTACT: magazine@pilrigstpauls.org.uk

PASTORAL CARE AND MAGAZINE Hello Everyone, We are gradually re-introducing some of our activities, and also thinking of our members and friends who are not yet able to join us in person. Thank you for keeping us up to date with news. It was really good that the Guild were able to start up again in September. They will be meeting on the 2 nd Tuesday of the month. Guides and Brownies (contact details on page 10) are also starting up and some of our regular hall users are back with us. Thank you for articles received for this magazine. Please may I have articles for the November magazine by October 18th? Catriona Blackwood Pastoral Committee Member and Magazine Editor 554 6183 magazine@pilrigstpauls.org.uk

Please consider making 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 set up a JustGiving page and the url is https://www.justgiving.com/edinburghpilrigstpaulsparishchurch 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 receive up to 1.5% as a donation. You can now change the settings on their app and select the same charity name. Thank you for your continued support. Mark Wexelstein Email treasurer@pilrigstpauls.org.uk

Phone 0131 665 6881

CHURCH ACTIVITIES AND GENERAL INFORMATION 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 BBC Radio Four Sunday Worship: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnds Songs of Praise: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006ttc5 Recommended Podcast: https://robbell.com/portfolio/robcast/ 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. Church website: http://www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pilrigstpauls/ If you wish to follow the readings that we use in church each Sunday you can access them at https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu// For information regarding Girl Guiding and Scouts: www.girlguiding.org.uk hello@scouts.scot Sign up to our mailing list here: https://mailchi.mp/f8740e88c94b/pilrig 10

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.

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

CONTACT DETAILS PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH 1b Pilrig Street Edinburgh EH6 5AH www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk

Church Office 0131 553 1876

HALL LETS – BOOKINGS ARE STILL RESTRICTED General enquiries to: psp.halluse@gmail.com

Scottish Charity no. SCO07277 www.leithchurchesforum.org.uk