Dear friends,
Welcome to another Sunday service.
This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the day we step into our Lenten journey towards Easter. I wonder if it could have been the Bible which gave us the link between mountain tops and ‘high level‘ talks, that we now call summits?
Moses, or rather God started it by summoning him to Sinai to a pretty ex-clusive meeting and here, in Mark’s gospel, another summit is called where Moses, Elijah and Jesus are present. We all just love meetings, don’t we: whether a good old fashioned Kirk Session meeting in the Marlborough Sanctuary or, at the moment, by computer and by Zoom! The Church is well known for having a meeting about meetings – one of the problems of such a structure! Whatever way you understand the conversation on that mountain we know, as the Mission Praise song reminds us, ‘Jesus stand among us, at the meeting of our lives.’
Jesus meets us where we are – thank God. In all our triumphs and trage-dies, he meets us, mends us and marvels at us too, in what we try to do in his name. For all who have served him so well, in those named below, he meets and walks with them in a more special way. Keep all the families and friends, colleagues and workmates in your prayers this day.
We are encouraged by the Presbytery World Mission Committee to remem-ber the week of Prayer for the Diocese of Hyderabad from the 28th Feb-ruary to the 7th March and members of congregations are asked to write to their M.P.s, expressing deep concern at the recently announced cuts to the UK Aid Budget and asking them to review their policy.
In our prayers this Sunday, we remember:
Alex Hutcheon’s funeral, that took place on Monday;
Jean Gillies’ funeral, which takes place on Thursday the 18th;
Margaret Hamilton’s funeral, which takes place on Friday the 19th;
the death of Mabel Sharp’s sister, Alison, on Monday;
the death of Anna Patrick, on Wednesday;
the death of the Rev Alan Dunnett, former member of Partick South, on the 3rd of February; and the death of Stephen Mitchell, the Manager of the Lodging House Mission, who died on last Sunday.
Jesus stand among us. He does indeed.
George
Click to download weekly reflection for Sunday 14 February (PDF):-