Jesus said: “‘Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)
Friends,
Two observations about seeds, from two recent conversations. One, “Consider, the distance between the seed and the flower – the seed does not see the blossom.” Two, “For the blossom to come forth, the seed requires to be in the dark.” These things are observable from nature – one does not have to be “religious” to know their truth. Jesus understood with such things – using seeds, weeds, growth and harvest repeatedly in his teaching stories.
He knew a seed can do nothing on its own. It has to be buried in the ground. This may be an unwelcome experience – darkness, burial, change. But it is only by being buried that it can die as a seed, and grow into something more beautiful – ripening corn, fruiting bush or riverside tree. Similarly, what we undertake now, may only come to fruition after our time. As an American Roman Catholic bishop wrote: 2We are prophets of a future not our own.”
Throughout Lent, we have followed Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem, encountering Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman at the well and the man born blind from birth, along the way. Now, Jesus enters the city for his final days – Palm Sunday to Easter Day – his/our Holy Week. This is the story we will tell in the daily services of the next few days. If we let it, the retelling of these events and encounters will direct us to a fierce but beautiful truth. The truth personified in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Angus
Live Streaming of Worship
Services can be watched via the church website, https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/live-stream.
To access the live stream from the homepage (front page) click the Menu button in the top right-hand side of the page and scroll down and click on “Live Stream”. This will bring up the live stream to the church. The act of worship of approximately 60 minutes, includes include prayers, a sermon and music. The words for the hymns and readings will be on the website.
For those without internet, the Dial-In facility continues. Many people comment that they do have a sense of worshipping together, even if invisible to each other. Reminder: If you do not wish to appear on the live-stream please choose a seat in the rear half of the sanctuary.
Please note that the Evening Services on the 1st of the month are not live streamed as they are held in the London Scottish Chapel.
Dial into Sunday Service
If you are aware of church members or friends who do not have access to internet please inform them that they can now phone in to join the Sunday service. No visuals clearly, but at least they can hear the service. Those interested should follow:
Step 1: At 10.40am call phone number 0203 051 2874.
Step 2: You will be prompted to enter a meeting ID. Please type (using your telephone keypad) 266 883 5072#
Step 3: You will then be asked for a participant number – simply press the #.
Step 4: Enjoy the service! You will hear the organ music from 10.50am.
THIS SUNDAY: Psalms, Poetry & Silent Prayer for Lent
10.00 – 10.15am. A short time of quiet prayer in the London Scottish Chapel, led by the Minister. (All Sundays in Lent.)
Hymns, Music & Readings for Morning Service, 2nd April 2023, Palm Sunday
Hymn 364 All glory, laud and honour (St Theodulph)
Hymn 367 Hosanna, loud, hosanna (Ellacombe)
Hymn 392 When I survey the wondrous cross (Rockingham)
Hymn 365 Ride on! Ride on in majesty! (Winchester New)
Anthem: Hosanna to the son of David (Weelkes)
Anthem: Pueri Hebraeorum (Victoria)
Organ Postlude: Scherzo, K. Leighton
Readings: The Passion according to Matthew (Matthew 26:14 – 27:66)
A particular welcome to our families for this Sunday’s “Easter Experience” and our guest speaker, Sara Lee (Artistic Director) and Luke McCarthy (Sounding Out Musician) who will update us on the work of the charity we are supporting via this year’s Lent Appeal.
Congregational Offerings
Details on the many ways you can support St Columba’s can be found here https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/giving/supporting-st-columbas
Would anyone wishing to contribute to St Andrew’s, Newcastle please contact the Session Clerk on standrewssessionclerk@gmail.com for bank details or other means of donating.
THIS SUNDAY:
Evening Service for Holy Week, 5pm, Sunday 2nd April, London Scottish Chapel
HOLY WEEK 2023
Thanks to the daily meditations prepared by St Columba’s member, Revd Andrew Anderson and the weekly poems contributed by Rev Dr Jock Stein, accompanied by readings of the psalms by members of the congregation, we have had plenty of resources to assist the journey of Lent. If you haven’t seen these yet do take a look at the Lent & Easter page on our website https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/lent-and-easter-2023 And give yourself time to join worship in this precious coming week.
Holy Week Services 2023
Sunday 2nd April: Palm Celebration, Reading of the Passion & Sunday School Easter Experience (11am)
Monday 3rd – Wednesday 5th April: Short meditations, readings & music,
via website
Thursday 6th April Maundy Thursday Communion Service (8pm) In person & Livestream
Friday 7th April Words & Music for Good Friday (11am) In person & Livestream:
Saturday 8th April, Short meditation, readings & music, via website
Sunday 9th April Easter Morning Holy Communion (11am) In person & Livestream
Palm Sunday – Church Office and Finance Team
On Sunday 2nd April, Lucy Llewellyn, Church Office Manager and Teresa Echevarria, Church Accountant will be available in the entrance vestibule from 12.15pm to 2.00pm, to answer any questions on gift aid, planned giving etc. Come and update your contact details or just say hello.
Lent appeal 2023 – The Irene Taylor Trust (Sounding Out Programme)
www.irenetaylortrust.com Registered UK Charity No. 1073105
This year’s Lent Appeal is a small UK charity called the Irene Taylor Trust, nominated by Lucy Llewellyn, our Church Office Manager. Established in 1995, the Irene Taylor Trust (ITT) was created in memory of Irene Taylor, wife of the late Lord Chief Justice Peter Taylor. The charity works with those in prison (Music in Prisons), with critical continuing support for those leaving prison (Sounding Out) and those on the edges of the Criminal Justice System. The Lent Appeal donations will be used for the Sounding Out programme which continues to support those who have participated in the Music in Prisons programme, to when they leave prison and their integration back into society. Participants are able to continue with ‘live performances, meet up and play sessions, ambassadorial appearances, 1-to-1 progression sessions, training opportunities and trainee work placements’. Sounding Out beneficiaries are able to add their work experience, both paid and voluntary, to a CV which will help them in securing employment. The Sounding Out participants join the ITT professional musicians on projects for paid work, where they learn to develop skills, leadership and responsibilities. Please click on link to watch a video clip…
A few examples of what donations would help pay for: £10 could pay for copies of CDs for former-prisoner musicians to share with their family and friends, £15 could pay for a former-prisoner to attend a 1-to-1 progression support session, £30 could go towards collaborative music-making sessions with the highly experienced musicians, £40 could go towards training sessions to gain skills in co-facilitating projects with young people, £50 could pay for studio time for a former-prisoner musician to record new material. Click on link to watch the Sounding Out Rich Mix Performance (Sounding Out section starts 39 minutes in):
Plans for the Lent Appeal
There will be guests from the Irene Taylor Trust and Sounding Out. Providing additional information on the charity, plus a Sounding Out musician to tell us more on how the programme has benefited them and will also perform a piece of music live during the service. We welcome them all to St. Columba’s.
Sunday 2 April (Palm Sunday): Guest speaker, Sara Lee (Artistic Director) and Luke McCarthy or Darren (Sounding Out Musician).
If you would like to contribute to the Lent Appeal: Gift Aid helps, if you are eligible. If you need to complete a Gift Aid declaration form, please contact the Church Office. Various options to donate:
White Lent Appeal envelopes are available in the Upper Vestibule and in the pews.
Alternatively, by electronic bank transfer: Please use “Lent Appeal” as the payment reference.
St Columba’s Church of Scotland
Royal Bank of Scotland
Account Number 00264741
Sort Code 16 00 42
Cheques payable to: “St. Columba’s Church of Scotland” and with a note attached to cheque indicating it is for the Lent Appeal. Send to:
Finance Dept. (Lent Appeal)
St. Columba’s Church
Pont Street
London SW1X 0BD
If you would like to make a card donation, please go into the Church Office between 9am and 3.30pm, Monday to Friday.
With your donations we can help transform futures, thank you. Creating Music. Transforming Futures
Sunday School & future dates:
Between March & June, we offer Sunday School on the first and third Sundays of the month.
- Sunday 2nd April (Easter Experience)
- Sunday 16th April
- Sunday 7th May – King’s Coronation Street Party Lunch
- Sunday 21st May
- Sunday 4th June (Second Sunday of half term)
- Sunday 25th June (Families Communion & Congregational Picnic)
On Easter Sunday (9th April) there will not be Sunday School provision, but there will be craft material set up in the side chapel for children to enjoy, with some parental supervision.
Congregational Sunday Lunch & Future Dates
There will be a fine Sunday lunch served in the Lower Hall after the service this Sunday. Future dates for lunches are 16th April, 7th May (see below) and 14th May (extra lunch) in the Lower Hall. Coffee will continue to be served every Sunday as usual in the Upper Hall. These Hospitality Services are much valued in supporting Fellowship.
There will be a very special “street party” lunch on Sunday the 7th of May to celebrate the Kings Coronation. If you are planning on attending the after service “street party” on the 7th May can you please indicate to the office (office@stcolumbas.org.uk) how many your party will be so we can ensure all are catered for? Lunch that day will be £3.50 as normal.
Easter Study
Revd William McLaren will be holding an Easter Study via Zoom from Wednesday 12th April, 11.30am for 6 weeks. The book will be “Encountering the Risen Christ: From Easter to Pentecost: the message of the resurrection and how it can change us” by Mark Bradford.
Published by the Bible Reading Fellowship it can also be obtained from Church House Bookshop in Westminster. Encountering the Risen Christ is very accessible, and I think people will enjoy reading it. To sign up please contact the Church Office for the log in details.
Easter Lilies
The Flower Guild would like to offer the opportunity for you to remember a loved one this Easter. You can purchase one or more lilies costing £4 each which will then be used to decorate the Church on Easter Sunday. There will be a list of the names of those remembered in the Church on Easter Sunday.
Please put cash or cheques in an envelope clearly marked with the name of the person you wish to remember and hand it in to the office or give it to Liz Maliphant, Patricia Clarke or Kate Payne. You can do this anytime up to Sunday 2nd April.
Flower Guild
Some people may have noticed that there are no flowers in Church right now. This year we have decided to follow the Church of England in having no flowers during Lent. One of our reasons for doing this is because we are so short of volunteers to arrange the flowers and taking six weeks out of our calendar gives a bit of breathing space. We really need help!
If you feel that this is something you would like to be a part of please speak to Liz Maliphant, Patricia Clarke or Kate Payne.
You do not need any experience. We will guide and assist until you feel ready to fly solo. We are a friendly group but really need more people to help if our tradition of Church flowers is to continue. If we have enough people (male or female) you would only be expected to arrange once or twice in the year, at whatever time suits you. Have a chat to one of us and find out more.
Guest preacher, Sunday 16th April 2023
On the Sunday following Easter we welcome Bob Kikuyu, Christian Aid theologian as our guest preacher. This in advance of our marking Christian Aid Week, 14th – 20th May 2023.
SAVE THE DATE: Joint Service with Crown Court Church of Scotland, Sunday
30th April 2023
To mark and celebrate the forthcoming coronation of King Charles III, a joint service for Crown Court and St Columba’s will take place at Crown Court (11.15am) on Sunday 30th April 2023. The guest preacher will be Revd Professor David Fergusson, Dean of the Chapel Royal. Worship on that Sunday at St Columba’s will be suspended i.e. No 11am service. However, the service at Crown Court will be available via our own live-stream. Hospitality will be offered after the service. Please save the date for what promises to be a special and festive occasion.
Friends of St Columba’s Visits
The Friends of St Columba’s have two exciting trips coming up. Priority is given to those who are already Friends of St Columba’s but please do get in touch if you would like to join the trips but aren’t a “friend”.
Saturday 15th April – Neasden Indian Temple. Popularly known as Neasden temple – the Mandir is a masterpiece of traditional Hindu design and exquisite Indian workmanship in the heart of North West London.
Saturday May 20: Visit to Canterbury Cathedral and City (www.canterbury-cathedral.org/visit). This is the mother church of the Anglican faith, and seat of the Archbishop. We shall discover the history of the Cathedral from the re-establishment of Christianity in England in 597, to the murder of Thomas Beckett, which made Canterbury one of the most important pilgrimage sites. Rendezvous by ticket booth at the Cathedral entrance, 11 a.m.
For more detail about all the trips and to book please contact Honorary Secretary of the Friends of St Columba’s, Isobel Carter on isobel@in-carter.com or visit the St Columba’s website here https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/friends-of-st-columbas.
St Columba’s Quiz
The St Columba’s Quiz returns on Saturday 22nd April. 6.30 for 7 pm start. Tickets on sale after morning services from Sunday March 12th, £6 per person. Cash or card. Please gather your teams and come and join in. We will find teams for individuals who would like to take part.
St Columba’s Book Group
Please note change of book and new date and time for the next meeting.
We had a good discussion of The Wonder at our last meeting and found it raised a lot of different themes. The overall conclusion was that it had been a good choice as we benefited from being able to discuss a number of controversial aspects with others. For those of you who are not members of the group but follow our choices, we got ahead of ourselves at the last meeting and chose two books. We are not exclusively a women’s group so we exercised the book group prerogative and changed our collective mind about the next choice. We are now going to be discussing The Lace Weaver by Lauren Chater, which is a novel set in 1941 and later. Estonia was an independent state that was occupied by the Russians following WWII but restored its independence in 1991. It is perhaps very relevant now, given what is happening in Ukraine. Our next meeting will be on TUESDAY 4 APRIL at 7pm. Please note the change of date and time
Sounds of St Columba’s 2023
The fantastic Sounds of St Columba’s series is back for 2023. Please note the dates in your diary, bring your friends and enjoy the marvellous music in the Upper Hall. 1.30pm start.
21st May 2023 – Fredrick Seines, classical guitarist will play a programme of music to include Bach, Poulenc and Dowland.
18th June 2023 – Emily Sun, in demand international violinist will play the Tchaikovsky’ Violin Concerto
16th July 2023- Ashley Fripp, Piano recital
Happy Hour
The next Happy Hour meeting will take place on Wednesday 3 May at The Carpenters Arms, Seymour Place W1H 7NE. Please note there will not be a meeting in April.
Poem for Palm Sunday, Revd Dr Jock Stein
For other poems see https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/lent/psalms-poetry-and-silent-prayer-2023/
One day to celebrate the King
with palms and psalms and confidence restored,
with all his followers across the board,
with children dancing, shouting ‘Praise the Lord!’
as if it was the final word – no crucifixion.
One day to celebrate the King
before the gates of hatred start to close,
before the hosts of hell begin to rise,
before the powers of darkness fix their gaze
on Jesus with the evil eye of crucifixion.
One day to celebrate the King
in all his wonder, glorious in his names,
in all his work we magnify in hymns,
in all his wisdom, learning from the psalms
that anchored him through pain of death by crucifixion
Office Hours
The church office is open from 9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
Contact details; Tel: 020 7584 2321
E-mail: office@stcolumbas.org.uk
Website: www.stcolumbas.org.uk
Facebook: @stcolumbaschurchpontstreet.
Twitter: @LondonKirk
Pastoral Emergency Number (out of office hours): 07591926271
To sign up and receive the weekly newsletter detailing future events, contact the church office or go to www.stcolumbas.org.uk (News Section.) Paper copies of this week’s newsletter are available at the bookstall.
If you require this information in a different format please contact the Church Office.
