As you may all be aware, this is Christian Aid Week,  but due to the current restrictions there will be NO Tay Bridge Walk, Envelopes or Coffee Morning.
You can however still donate. If you go to the Christian Aid website and click “Please donate today” it will explain what to do. I have already done it and it is very simple.
Helen Rosie

​https://www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/key-appeals/christian-aid-week

​Keep Crying
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May 13, 2020
Written by Molly Baskette
Hear my prayer, O Lord, let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call. For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. - Psalm 102:1-3 (NRSV)

I don’t remember ever having the flu as a child, but I got it 3 times in 6 years as an adult, and it was awful. I suddenly understood how people can just up and die from it.

It isn’t just the strain on the body’s systems, the secondary pneumonia that can happen, the pressured vital organs. Flu does something to the spirit. It takes the sturdy skein of human will, and – cackling like a villain – stretches it on a grim spinning wheel until it is so fine it threatens to snap. In the worst of my illness (and let me be clear: from a medical point of view, I was nowhere near dying), I felt that I could literally just let go, float away on a gentle breeze and into the arms of God.

The last time I had flu, my bedroom was far away from the hub of our new house. Too weak to move, I cried out to my family for tea, ibuprofen, and attention. It took all the strength I had, and felt like ages until someone heard me. But they came.

The psalmist normalizes crying out, again and again. If we cry out, and God doesn’t answer, it doesn’t mean we are not worthy of attention. It just means we need to keep crying. Perhaps a little louder.

Cry when you are sick, and cry when you are sad. Cry for yourself, and cry for others. Hold on to that little thread of will, let it anchor you here, even when you feel like it would be easier just to let go. If it seems that God doesn’t hear you – someone else might.

Prayer
God, don’t be indifferent to my pain. Our pain. Come quickly. Amen.
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​Belonging
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May 12, 2020
Written by Donna Schaper
Now Elimelek, Naomi’s’ husband, died and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. - Ruth 1:3-4 (NIV)

Naomi’s sons married a little but not a lot outside their tribe. Then again, maybe her sons’ marriages paved the way for Naomi to become a belonger to a new tribe, a female one, the gendered kind of tribe that matters a little more than most people think it does.

Consider the tribe of old retired men at the morning diner, 6:30 prompt. Three cups of coffee later, they feel like they can face their days. Think about the last conversation you had with a woman friend about the 2020 primaries, or the tribes of women voters in the 2016 and 2020 presidential election seasons.

Along comes Mother’s Day season with a story about Elimelek dying, a woman being left with her two sons who married into the Moabite tribe. Belonging to a tribe is really important – especially when we exhibit the freedom to live outside of one as well as in one. Belonging can be a bear if we overdo it. It can be a joy if we do it. Elimelek’s dying made way for a new kind of tribe, for his sons and for his widow.

This Mother’s Day, I appreciate the tribe of women. The tribe that challenged swim coaches who tried to harass their daughters. The tribe that took great risks to protect the life of the next generation, like the mother who “stole” eggs at 3 a.m. from a neighbour’s chickens so her daughter could grow strong. The tribe of Women’s Fellowships (what a funny word now) who bonded woman-to-woman around mission, ministry, and shared miseries and joys. An award should be given to every woman who ever led a Bible study.

Prayer
Mother-Father God, we love you very much. All of you and all your tribes. Amen.
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​He Fell on His Face
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May 11, 2020
Written by Elizabeth Griswold
Leaders of the congregation, chosen from the assembly… assembled against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone too far! ... Why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” When Moses heard it, he fell on his face. - Numbers 16:2b, 3-4 (NRSV)

He fell on his face. Wow. This great leader too? Did he fall in despair? Exhaustion? Shame? Humility? Or in prayer?

And what brought this on? It was a community turning in on itself, a community collapsing into in-fighting, accusations, and struggles over power. How could the best-intentioned group of people, folks dedicated to God’s ways of justice, ever stoop so low? Especially when they were threatened externally with much larger challenges? Yet it sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Every congregation has such earth-shattering crises, its version of “The Great Church Council Debate (of 2013 … or 1983 …. or 1893).” Every social justice organization remembers that horrible break-up of staff or desertion of donors. That time the leaders turned against us and we fell on our faces in despair, in exhaustion, in shame, in humility, in prayer. When we found ourselves with a mouthful of earth and nothing else to say.

Of course for Moses, God resolved the debate by opening that very earth swallow up the complainers! Since that isn’t exactly an option for us, maybe we can look to what Moses does after the collapse: he pulls himself up and pulls it together, attempts reconciliation, and calls everyone back to God.

Prayer
God, as we stumble in our attempts to follow your ways of justice, after each earth-rending face-plant — please lift us up, dust us off, and breathe your life into us once again.



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Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
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May 10, 2020
Written by Kenneth Samuel
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” – John 14:1 (KJV)

Troubling times. Troubled minds. News reports full of trouble. Health care systems in dire trouble. A deeply troubled economy. Trouble on every side.

Jesus knew something about trouble.

According to John 13:21, Jesus had a troubled spirit when he announced the betrayal of one of his disciples. That betrayal would be executed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane.

In between Jesus’ troubling prediction of his betrayal and the troublesome realization of his betrayal in the garden, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”

Much more than a pious platitude, Jesus was offering his disciples a very definite basis of peace in trouble-filled times. The troubles of our context cannot negate the blessed assurance of our consciousness.

Jesus invites us to not only believe in God’s eternal existence. Jesus invites us to believe in God’s very present presence. “Ye believe in God. Believe also in me – the presence of God in you and among you, right now.”

The presence of God expressed in the dedication of health care professionals. And food suppliers. And grocery store workers. And sanitation and cleaning service personnel.

The presence of God expressed in the challenge we all now face to differentiate that which is tangential to life from that which is essential to life.

The presence of God expressed in calls and texts that touch the hearts of friends and loved ones.

The presence of God expressed in giving our planet some time to breathe from the relentless assaults of environmental abuse.

Prayer
God, help us to realize the cure for our ‘heart trouble’ in your never-failing presence. Amen.
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Have a cuppy with us on Zoom at 11 a.m.  Get in touch if you require the password.  Afterwards, the video of worship with Keith will be available on the WORSHIP page of the website, on Facebook and on YouTube.

​Heart and Soul 2020 - Sunday, 17th May - 2.00pm - 4.20pm
I am certain that by now you will have heard of the very special service to install Rev Dr Martin Fair as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on Saturday 16th May at 11am. This will be a very special moment in the history of our Church, and will also be an event where we can be assured of hope and inspiration in these challenging times.
We're delighted to announce, as part of that ‘Big Weekend' for the Church of Scotland, a special ‘Heart and Soul 2020' event will take place (online) on 17th May 2020. The current crisis has meant that the original event, scheduled to have taken place in Princes Street Gardens on that day, has had to be cancelled.
However, a number of features from the event in Princes Street Gardens can be transferred into an online format, and we're going to screen an abridged ‘Heart and Soul' at 2.00pm on 17th May - when the original event would have taken place. The programme will run until about 4.20pm. A recording of the event will be available soon afterwards. You will be able to watch the event live on the Church of Scotland website (www.churchofscotland.org.uk) and live on the Facebook page (fb.me/churchofscotland).
Hosted by our usual presenters, Rev Ken Froude, Seonaid Knox and Rev Justin Taylor, the event begins with a replay of the service of installation for the new Moderator, Rev Martin Fair. Without giving too much away, the event features a mix of worship, music, stories and some exciting ‘In Conversation' guests.
Heart and Soul regulars ‘Fischy Music' will lead a special segment for all ages, and we hope that you'll join in all the actions from home! Spread throughout the afternoon will be some very special conversations: Hugh Pym will be in conversation with Prof Jason Leitch and Viv Dickenson from CrossReach, discussing how they have all been tackling Coronavirus and also how their own faith has helped them. Very Rev Susan Brown will be in conversation with Ross Greer MSP and Tara Shannon from CoSY discussing climate justice. Prison Chaplain Anne Stewart will be in conversation with Hospital Chaplain Mark Evans talking about chaplaincy as a career and the impact of Coronavirus in their places of work.
No Heart and Soul would be complete without some hearty singing, and we've chosen some highlights from the archive over the last ten years of Heart and Soul, the Guild Big Sing and the General Assembly to round things off.

​Sunday 31st May 10-10.30am – Pentecost – streamed on the Church of Scotland website and Facebook
The Moderator will lead a service to mark the birthday of the Christian Church with contributions from many different places. Like the disciples on that first Pentecost here is the invitation to step confidently into whatever the future holds. It is hoped that as many of the Church of Scotland as possible will be gathered in fellowship and praise at this time.

​www.churchofscotland.co.uk

Saturday 16th May 11am – live on the Church of Scotland website and Facebook
Rev Dr Martin Fair will be installed as Moderator of the General Assembly. The ceremony will take place in the Assembly Hall with only a few people physically present because of the covid restrictions but followed by thousands of people across Scotland and across the world. The service will be captioned and there will be the option of BSL interpretation. Join us for an historic occasion and a clear statement that the Church is alive and active in these difficult days.
www.churchofscotland.org.uk