Methodists homecoming in the community
Having sold their former building last year, the congregation of Riverside Methodist Church were keen to preserve some of the items which form part of the history of Blairgowrie and Rattray.
The Riverside building had been constructed thanks to the generosity of Mr and Mrs David Borrie in the 1870s, who lived in Rosebank House which is now a bed and breakfast.
The current owners, Jim Duff and Aoife Sheridan, were keen to help when it became known the church possessed two large portrait paintings of Mr and Mrs Borrie.
The church agreed it was happy to lend the couple the paintings for display and, thereby, enabling Mr and Mrs Borrie to return home.
Anyone wishing to view them can contact Mr Duff and Ms Sheridan at Rosebank House.
The message of the stories is at the heart of the stewardship campaign, Bridging the Gaps.
The hymn, Look Forward In Faith, was then sung and prayers of thanksgiving and intercession were said.
The service concluded with the hymn, All My Hope On God Is Founded and the benediction.
Musical offerings by organist Lex Dunlop were: Short prelude and Fugue in C Major (the first of a set of eight) - Bach, ‘Andante Tranquillo’ - Percy Whitlock and ‘Carillon’ Louis Vierne.
All items for the church magazine are to be submitted to Margaret Drummond by July 17 at the latest.
Ushers this Sunday: Beadle, Anna Graham, Malcolm Chisholm, Martha Easton, George Carfrae, Mary Dow and Alan Thom.
Creche; Moira Somerville and Kay MacQueen.
Riverside Methodists
The preacher for Sunday’s service will be Keith Pearson in the usual location at the Wellmeadow Café on Blairgowrie’s Gas Brae.
All are welcome to join for worship at 11am, followed by a cup of tea or coffee.
Coffee mornings are held on the first Monday of each month in the same location.
The next coffee morning is on Monday, August 1, from 10-11.30am.
The July 17 service will be held in Ashgrove Court, Haugh Road, Rattray, led by Rev Nick Baker. That service will start 15 minutes earlier than usual, starting at 10.45am.
For more information see www.riversidemethodist-church.co.uk.
St Stephen’s RC Church
Parishioners of St Stephen’s gathered to worship and celebrate on Sunday.
The opening hymn was O Lord my God, well played by Marilyn Galbally.
The first reading was taken from Isaiah ch 66, v 10-14, followed by Galatians ch 6, v 14-18 and the Gospel from Luke ch 10, v 1-12 and 17-20.
In his homily, Fr Gregory Umunna noted that Luke is the only evangelist to say Jesus sent out 72 disciples to announce his coming and proclaim the approach of the kingdom of God.
Luke’s Gospel has two stories of Jesus sending out his followers to go and spread the good news. In chapter nine, Jesus sends the 12 apostles and in chapter 10 he sends 72 disciples.
Matthew’s Gospel has only one – the sending of the 12.
Sunday’s gospel falls into two parts – giving the mission of the 72, and their report on its success.
Scholars believe that Luke’s story of the sending out of the 72 is his way of emphasising the universal scope of the message of Christ.
The mission of the 12, according to Matthew, was limited to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”.
The mission of the 72 has no such limitation. According to Jewish tradition, there are 12 tribes of Israel and 70 nations of the earth. The sending of the 72 disciples, therefore, symbolises the sending of the message of Christ to the whole world.
Christian tradition identifies the 12 apostles with ordained ministry in the church.
When at the Last Supper, Jesus commissioned his followers to “do this in memory of me” he was addressing the 12, the clergy.
If this is so, then the 72 who are sent out on mission in Sunday’s gospel must be understood as lay people.
This gospel, therefore, is the commissioning of lay ministry. This way two missions in the Gospel of Luke can be read, the mission of the 12 and the mission of the 72, as the mission of the clergy and the mission of the laity.
By including the two accounts Luke, unlike Matthew, is saying, therefore, that mission is not only for the clergy, mission is for all, ordained and non-ordained followers of Christ alike.
The reason for lay involvement in the spreading of the gospel is because “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.” (Luke 10:2).
This is as true today as it was in the days of Jesus.
The role of the laity is twofold. It is not a question of doing either the one or the other. Every Christian is called to participate in the spreading of the message of Christ through a commitment to prayer and a commitment to action.
Jesus goes on to detail the disposition people should bring to the work of evangelisation – a spirit of meekness and vulnerability, a spirit of politeness and adaptability to the changing and challenging local situations in which people find themselves in the course of mission work.