Service of Lessons and Carols today at 3pm

Today we have our annual ecumenical service of Lessons and Carols in St Andrew’s, Tain at 3pm. Sing favourite carols and hear again the story of God coming into our world as a tiny baby – all are very welcome.

As you arrive you will pass our crib, this year nestling under the scaffolding, making a virtue of necessity and a poignant reminder that wonderful things can emerge from difficult circumstances.

After the service there will be mulled wine and soft drink, mince pies and shortbread and a chance to greet people from all the local churches as they meet together in peace and unity at this time when there is so much conflict and disharmony in our world.

Lord Jesus,
who walked the land you made holy
and blessed those who made peace;
look with compassion
on the people of your land today,
Jew and Muslim and Christian,
Israeli and Palestinian.
May peace come for all with justice,
may war cease and all live in harmony,
and be the children of the one God
who you made known,
now and always. 
Amen.

The Very Rev Andrew Nunn

We pray without ceasing for justice, reconciliation, peace, and an end to hatred and war. We also pray for God to change the hearts of all leaders and decision-makers in our countries and around the world, For we are in dire need of hearts that love, show mercy, and are willing to live in unity with others – hearts that respect human dignity and choose life rather than death.

We entrust the countries of our Lord’s earthly home into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, asking him to have mercy on us all and to give us his peace and blessing. Amen.

Archbishop Hosam Naoum, Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem

Tain Carol Service – Saturday 23rd December 2023

A Service of Lessons and Carols

for Christmas

 St. Andrew’s Scottish Episcopal Church

Glebe Crescent, Tain

SATURDAY 23rd December

3pm

Followed by Mulled Wine, mince pies & other seasonal refreshments

EVERYONE WELCOME

Services at Christmas 2023

• Sunday 17th Dec – Christingle and Carol Service with collection in aid of the Children’s Society
  • St Finnbarr’s, Dornoch at 3:00pm

• Saturday 23rd Dec – Service of Lessons and Carols with collection for the Samaritans
  • St Andrew’s Church, Tain at 3:00pm (followed by seasonal refreshments)

• Sunday 24th Dec – Christmas Service
  • Christmas Service at St Columba’s, Brora at 4:00pm

• Sunday 24th Dec – Christmas ‘Midnight’ Services
  • St Finnbarr’s, Dornoch at 7:00pm and
  • St Andrews, Tain, at 9:00pm.

• Monday 25th Dec – Christmas Day Services
  • St Maelrubha’s, Lairg at 8:30am,
  • St Finnbarr’s, Dornoch at 10:00am and
  • St Andrews, Tain at 10:30am.

• Thursday 28th Dec – Crask Carol Service at the Crask Inn at 2:30pm
  • St Finnbarr’s, Dornoch at 3:00pm

All are welcome at any of our services.

Diocesan Advent Calendar

Clergy and others in the Diocese have contributed a series of Daily Reflections, Photos and a Piece of Music for each day of December up until 25th. These are delivered in the form of an Advent Calendar which is entitled “Journeying through Advent“.

The calendar can be found in the ‘Reflections‘ pull-down menu on our web site (https://episcopaldornochtain.org/) or directly at this link:
(https://calendar.myadvent.net/?id=j6yqx3y2eoojtd275b5nm7rowkwk6vzv).

Fr Simon and Canon James have both contributed to the calendar, perhaps you might try to guess which pieces are ours:-)

Advent Study Groups 2023 – Gratitude

“Always be rejoicing. Give thanks for everything.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16, 18

How grateful are you?  
Is it possible to live a life of gratitude in an age of entitlement? 

Gratitude helps us to focus on the positive, recognising all the blessings in our lives and can help us get closer to God. The Bible has plenty to say about gratitude, even when people are faced with struggles and suffering.

Gratitude is our rightful response to all that God is and has done for us. The Bible shows us that becoming a grateful person begins with the recognition that the God who owes us nothing has given us everything. 

This Advent, our study groups explore the theme of gratitude in the Scriptures, and how gratitude is an attitude that is key to our discipleship and Christian witness and that we need to cultivate. The aim of this three session study is to help us develop thankful hearts, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

The Study Groups will meet 
on Wednesdays 6^th, 13^th and 20^th December

Afternoons from 1:30-3:00pm 
at James and Anna’s house in Spinningdale

Evenings from 7:00-8:30pm online on Zoom

More details (including Zoom link) from Canon James 

Charities Shop Autumn Opening

Celebrating Harvest

Sunday 1st October is the day when our congregations celebrate their Harvest Festivals.

There will be services as follows:

• St Maelrubha’s, Lairg (in Lairg Church of Scotland) at 8:30am

• St Finnbarr’s, Dornoch at 11:00am

• St Andrew’s, Tain at 11:00am – followed by a ‘Bring and Share‘ Harvest Lunch
  (this is also a ‘Bring a friend to Church‘ Sunday in St Andrew’s)

All are welcome, just come along.

Harvest Festival

Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God

Deuteronomy 8:11-14

Winter Ready – Free Children’s Winter Clothing

Season of Creation 2023 – Study Group

Our Study Group for the Season of Creation (the month of September) this year will be based around some ideas that Canon James has been exploring in relation to Liturgical Revision to make “Thankfulness for ALL of God’s gifts to us in Creation” more central, as it used to be in the early liturgies of the Christian Church.

There will be four sessions each lasting a little over an hour, one after each of the midweek services in St Andrew’s Tain Hall (Thursdays starting at 6:45pm) on:

• 7^th Sept – Cycles, Seasons and Humanity’s Ingenuity 

• 14^th Sept – Resurrection and Salvation

• 21^st Sept – Creation and Revelation 

• 28^th Sept – Liturgy and Thankfulness

The sessions will be semi-independent, so you are welcome even if you can’t manage all of them.  The mid-week Eucharist (at 6pm) will be integral to the final session (on 28^th Sept) and with +Mark’s permission, we will be using Bishop Thomas Rattray’s 1744 recreation of The Ancient Liturgy of the Church in Jerusalem. If you wish any more information, speak to or contact Canon James.

Easter Ross Doors Open Days 2nd/3rd September

St Andrew’s Church, Tain

Every September you can explore hundreds of fascinating buildings across Scotland for free. Some open up once a year, some just once in a lifetime. As it is such a diverse region, the Highlands is split into three areas across three weekends. Inverness, the Black Isle, and Easter Ross is Weekend One (2nd and 3rd September), Caithness and Sutherland are Weekend Three (16th and 17th September) 

The theme for this year is ‘Living Heritage’ so the focus is on the crafts, traditions, and practices of the people of the Highlands – both past and present – and how these traditions continue nowadays. In that context, St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Tain will be open on both days as follows:

• Saturday 2nd September – 10am until 4pm for visitors

• Sunday 3rd September – 10:30am until 12:30pm for worship and fellowship (visitors most welcome) and again 2pm – 4pm for visitors.

On both days, we will offer refreshments and the opportunity to look round the building either using a specially prepared guide booklet or by being shown highlights by a member of the congregation.

There is some very fine Stained Glass by Ballantine and Gardiner, A. L. Ward, W. Wilson and E. B. Souden

The Musicians Window

Mousey Thompson Furnishings

Our lovely unaltered 1914 C & F Hamilton (Edinburgh) organ

and much more.

All are very welcome to visit on either day.

Our entry on the Doors Open Day web site.