25 May 2014

We give the assurance of our thoughts and prayers to all who are unwell, awaiting or undergoing treatment, or anxious or grieving for the loss of loved ones.

Ministerial Pastoral cover

Please refer any situations requiring pastoral care to the Rev John Butterfield this week.

Gift Appeal

Following discussion by the Church Council anent our financial situation, it was agreed that a Letter of Appeal for donations be prepared and distributed in advance of the General Church Meeting on Sunday June 22nd. The letter and Gift Aid envelopes are being distributed from today by Pastoral Visitors; money received by 22nd June will be dedicated by the Rev Mary Patterson during worship on that day. Copies of the Appeal Letter and Gift Aid envelopes are also available in Marketgait. The Church Council prayerfully commends the Appeal to all Members and friends.

Christian Aid Week

If you still wish to contribute via an envelope, and have not received one through your door, please take one from the table at the top of the stairs. Filled envelopes, gift-aided if possible, obtained from any source, may be returned via the collection plate over the next month.

Preaching Plans

The Plan for June - August has been distributed by email to those on the list and some printed copies are on the glass Vestibule table. Please contact Jenny or David Easson for inclusion on the email list or for further printed copies.

Can you Help?

The sharing of various “stewarding and serving” tasks round our congregation is one of our strengths and we are very grateful to all who assist by acting as door stewards, collection counters, and coffee servers - or in less noticed ways. Clearly, as more people are able to be involved in one or more of these activities, the less frequent is the duty and thus less potentially onerous.

Fiona Thomas, who prepares the rotas, would be grateful to hear from anyone who feels able to join one or more of these teams, even if only infrequently or on a “stand-by basis”. Please contact her or any steward as soon as possible; the rotas for June - August are currently being prepared.

Dundee Methodists and Food Banks

We support the Dundee Foodbank by bringing in any of the suggested items from the Shopping List (on the table on the upstairs landing) and placing them in the large blue Bucket provided nearby. An explanatory slip is also available. There is also need for plastic carrier bags of suitable size; please place any spares by the Bucket. Monetary donations are also welcome. Contact Liz Kay for further information.

Faith in Foodbanks has been published this week by the Methodist Church, Baptist Union, the URC, and Church Action on Poverty as a 3-part resource about the growing food poverty crisis. There is also a Methodist-produced podcast.

Julya's Send Off

As some are already aware, a gathering is being arranged in Marketgait at 7pm on Friday 6th June to express our appreciation to Julya (and also Chris) for all she has contributed to the life of the Circuit, its congregations, and people over the past 30 years.

Sue Marshall-Jennings, who is organising the event, will be grateful to hear from people who plan to come (for catering purposes) and / or who wish to mark otherwise their appreciation of all Julya has been and done with and for us.

Dundee University Research Request

A request and leaflets have been received from “Ageing and Health” at Dundee University, seeking participants for a study "looking at falls and balance…seeking people aged 65 years or over who have experienced a fall in the past 12 months and sought medical attention”.

Contact: Deepa Sumukadas, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Ageing and Health: (01382) 383086 / 383670. email: d.sumukadas@dundee.ac.uk.

District Youth Event

Information is available about this gathering at Dalguise Perthshire from September 5th - 7th; two places will be reserved until June 6th for young people (P7 to S4) for each Circuit.

If you are interested please advise the Rev Mary Patterson and also contact Hayley Dunn Hayley@ymcaedinburgh.com or Terry Wright wesleyhorse@googlemail.com .

Agoraphobia Support Group

DVA (Dundee Voluntary Action) has received a request to investigate whether there is need for a Support Group for people affected by Agoraphobia. Contact Siobhain McIntosh on (01382) 305743 or 07530 237 467.

Meetings this week

Support other Organisations

Scottish Bible Society

Our support via the Bible-a-Month Club is invited in May for work in South Sudan.

Our prayerful attention is drawn this week to

• contacts with immigrants in Costa Rica;
• meeting the challenge of the limited supply of Bibles in Cuba;
• preparation for SBS 'Vision Visit' to Rwanda in October, to see HIV / AIDS and trauma counselling programmes and work in prisons;
• appeal to support work in Honduras where the rate of intentional homicide has been the highest in the world over the past 2 years (UN figures).

Prayer Points for this week

• the President and Vice-President of Conference at Cliff College Festival tomorrow;
• Connexional Grants Committee, Wednesday;
• the official opening of the refurbished City of Edinburgh Nicolson Square premises (“The Well”) this weekend;
• International Christian Committee in Israel's youth service for Palestinian girls and work at their centre in Acre (Embrace);
• support team in the UK (MAF);
• projects, residents & staff in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne District (Methodist Homes);
• Cambodian Women's Crisis centre (Christian Aid);
• work in Chad and Niger (The Leprosy Mission);
• Bible Society work in South Sudan;
• we pray with and for the peoples of Botswana and of Zimbabwe (WCC);
• we remember fellow Methodists in Petersfield, Liphook and Haslemere (Southampton District) and in Anniesland (Glasgow Circuit).

• 18 May 2014
• 1 June 2014

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