May Life & Work free and available online

Dear Church member

We trust you are safe and well wherever this reaches you. During this challenging period, Life and Work is committed to helping keep our Christian community connected and so we have made the May 2020 issue available on our website.

This can be accessed by visiting https://www.lifeandwork.org/resources/free-download-may-2020

We are sending this to everyone so that you may consider sharing with members of your wider faith family that do not receive the magazine.

Suggestions would be arranging to share by email, printing copies or hosting on your Church’s website or social media channels if available. Of course, we understand for several reasons this may not be possible.

The action to share is unique and in response to the exceptional time period in which we are operating. We have deliberately not provided the full digital experience as enjoyed by our loyal online subscribers and equally to protect our subscribers of the print edition.

It has been a challenge for my editorial colleagues to shift direction of their content at the last minute in response to the speed of which the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted daily life. This also includes a change to what would have been coverage of the timetable and fringe diary of the General Assembly, it of course reads rather differently this year. What they have created will become an important historical record for the magazine of the Church of Scotland.

Highlights from this issue includes:

▪ FEEDING THE HUNGRY: Reflection on foodbanks and impact of Covid-19

▪ ‘GOD HAS NOT FINISHED WITH SCOTLAND’: The Moderator-Designate, the Rev Dr Martin Fair

▪ ASSEMBLY CANCELLATION: Church’s business meeting cancelled for first time in over 300 years

▪ WAR’S END: The role of churches in peacebuilding across Europe on the 75th anniversary of VE Day

We trust you and your congregation will enjoy reading this issue. We are even more grateful at this time for your generous support and continued loyalty of Life and Work.

Best wishes

Life and Work Team

This week’s worship activities

This Sunday we are going to hear the 23rd Psalm being read and sung during our online Worship service. We want everyone to think about the 23rd Psalm this week and here is a modern contemporary version of the familiar words.

Some ideas for activities might be a nice colourful drawing, a crafty sheep made from cardboard, straws and cottonwool, or a word search or a word cloud. Some examples are below and you might want to use them too! Send us pictures or videos of your crafts and activities, we will share them online after our morning online service. Send them to Alan via WhatsApp or to the church email address bellshillcentral@gmail.com

Our weekly ENEWS has a lovely reflection, meditation and prayer this week all based on the 23rd Psalm why not read this whil you are doing this week’s activity, either read by yourself or read together. Reading your Bible together is such an important way of learning about God and the Bible as a family.

Join us for online worship Sunday 5th April at 11am

On Sunday 5th April, we will provide our next online worship which will be led by our minister, Rev’d Kevin de Beer, and will include some pre-recorded songs and hymns from our organist, the choir and congregation.

Join us from 10.45am, we will have some news screens to display and a couple of sing-a-long songs to join in with, before the Palm Sunday worship commences at 11am.

We thought it would be comforting to have familiar views and sounds while we worship in a different way during the COVID-19 crisis. So, in our online worship we will use the sounds of our organ, choir and congregation singing. We will use familiar images from our church, including our lovely stained glass windows.

The worship will be recorded in advance and will go online at just before 11am on Sunday morning at via our website and YouTube here https://bellshillcentral.church/watch-live/ or click the image to the left.

Once the live stream is finished it will be uploaded to our YouTube Channel for you to watch later if you missed the live stream and it will also be available on our Catch Up link at the very top of this website.

We hope you will join us!

waiting for our return!

Online Holy Week Services at Bellshill Central Parish Church

Please visit www.bellshillcentral.church/watch-live to take part in these services.

Monday 6th April at 7.30pm Music for Meditation with the choir and readers (the Crucifixion)
Tuesday 7th April at 7.30pm Reflections with Rev Kevin de Beer
Wednesday 8th April at 7.30pmReflections with Rev Kevin de Beer
Thursday 9th April at 7.30pmReflections with Rev Kevin de Beer
Friday 10th April at 7.30pmReflections with Rev Kevin de Beer

Some notes for Monday’s Music for Reflection

Last Holy Week the Church Choir and some friends lead a service with excerpts from Stainer’s Crucifixion and had hoped to learn the other parts of it for this year’s Holy Week, but alas it wasn’t to be.

This 2020 Holy Week, we invite you to use last years Holy Week service for your thoughts, reflection and meditations as we enter into the journey and mystery of Holy Week and the Great Easter Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

We take this opportunity to thank those who took part last year and who are once again bringing this lovely rendition to us in 2020

  • Rev Kevin de Beer, leading the service and some narration
  • Jim Grier, narration (on the right of your screen)
  • Hugh Ainsley, narration (on the left of your screen)
  • Alan Mathew, Organist
  • Duncan Mackay, tenor solo
  • the choir of Bellshill Central Church
  • choir members from the West Church, Bellshill
  • Friends from Carluke, Lanark and others

We remember fondly and with love Betty Patrick & Bill Cameron. We sadly lost both during the following months. It is a lovely reminder to have had them part of this and again helping focus our thoughts in Holy Week, and we hope that they are singing with us in the heavenly choir.