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Easter Greetings 

from

Ferryhill Parish

Church

• Easter Message
• Worship at Ferryhill
• Forthcoming Events
• Previous Editions

THIS EDITION of Parish News takes our greetings to every home in the Parish. If you haven't been to see us yet, why not drop in for a coffee and have a look round. The Foyer Coffee Shop is open from 9.30 to 11.30am Monday to Friday and 9.30am to 12 noon on Saturday. And, of course, you will be made very welcome at all the events listed below.

YOU CAN BE SURE OF A WELCOME AT 
FERRYHILL PARISH CHURCH

Worship at Ferryhill

Sunday 3rd March
11.00 am Worship for all ages. 
Sacrament of Holy Communion Sunday Gang and crèche. This service will be designed with all ages in mind. Children are welcome to participate fully under the guidance of their parents or guardians.

Sunday 10th March (Mothering Sunday)
(Congregational Board meets at 10.15am)
11.00 am Worship for all ages. 
Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Sunday Gang and crèche.

Sunday 17th March
11.00am. Worship for all ages. 
Sunday Gang and crèche. 
Followed by Stated Annual Meeting of Congregation. No evening service

Tuesday 19th March
12.10 pm Mid week service. 
Lasts approximately fifteen minutes

Maundy Thursday 28th March
1.45 pm Ferryhill School end of term service. 
All welcome. Parents and friends sit in Gallery
7.30 pm Maundy Thursday Reflection and Holy Communion (jointly with South Church of St Nicholas Kincorth) in Ferryhill Parish Church

Good Friday 29th March
7.30 pm Good Friday reflection 
(jointly with South Church of St Nicholas Kincorth) at Kincorth

Sunday 31st March - Easter Day
(Please note British Summer Time Begins!!)
6.00 am Holy Communion (at South Church of St Nicholas Kincorth)
7.30 am Service in the Duthie Park followed by breakfast in the halls
9.30 am Holy Communion in the Memorial Chapel
11.00 am Worship for all ages. Sacrament of Baptism. Crèche.

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Message for Easter from the Minister

Revd Ian Dick

Thomas didn't believe his fellow disciples when they said Jesus had appeared to them: 'Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side. I will not believe.'
The modern hymn by John Bell and Graeme Maule includes the lines

Don't tell me of a faith that fears
To face the world around;
Don't dull my mind with easy thoughts
Of grace without a ground.
I need to know that God is real!
I need to know that Christ can feel 
The need to touch and love and heal
The world, including me!

That was the kind of faith that Thomas was seeking. It's the kind of religion that the world needs too because such is truly resurrection faith, the application of the belief that suffering and death do not have the final word, but that it is possible to rise above suffering in this world and live a new and meaningful life again. The risen Christ of the gospel who appears to his disciples from beyond the grave, still bears the marks of his suffering because resurrection, that moving on beyond our suffering and our little deaths in this life, does not remove the marks of our suffering. These we will bear in some shape or form perhaps for the rest of our lives. 

We cannot simply forget the times of suffering. Their impact and influence on us may lessen as the years go by, but they will still be there as part of us and part of our experience of life, to a greater or lesser extent making us the people we are. Yet paradoxically, some of our scars will be associated with times of joy and happiness because they will have come through giving and sharing and trusting and loving. As such they come out of the same kind of love that God shared with the world in Christ. 

Healing takes place, new life, new hope, new relationships become possible; but the scars remain. And that is why the Christian religion affirms and celebrates this life. We are able to rejoice and sing, not because we cover over the realities with sentiment and feel-good, cosy, escapist images that are only skin deep, but because we take the realities of life in this world seriously. These are reflected in our religious observance, where we celebrate a God whose reality is confirmed not by belief in some rarefied existence outwith this world, but in the scars imposed upon that God's very life and existence within this world. This is a God with whom we can share our wounds. This is the life-affirming God, that suffers and yet rises above that suffering to affirm love, and giving, and sharing, and so life itself. This is the God of Easter.

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THE ANNUAL GUILD COFFEE MORNING takes place on Saturday 6th April from 10.00am to 12 noon.

THE CONCORDIA STRING ORCHESTRA (who rehearse every week in the church) will give a concert at 7.30pm on Thursday 25th April. Tickets will be on sale at the door.

BARGAINS GALORE are promised at the Jumble Sale on Saturday 27th April from 9.30 to 11.30. (If you have jumble for us bring it to the hall the night before.)

FOLLOWING THE SENSATIONAL SUCCESS of "The King and I", our Phoenix Theatre friends are rehearsing in the church for a spectacular production of "Oliver" to be presented at HMT from 30th April to 4th May. Do not miss this!

MORE BARGAINS - and a chance to sell surplus items at Indoor Car Boot Sales on the mornings of 11th May and 22nd June. Phone 590806 to book a sales table.

MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA will give a lunch-time recital in the church on Saturday 25th May.

THE ANNUAL ART EXHIBITION organised by the Community Council is scheduled to run in our North Hall from 27th July to 4th August.

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Ministers' phone numbers: 
Revd Ian Dick 586933, Revd Norman Nicoll 705630.
Church Office: 213093  office@ferryhillpc.org.uk

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