|
COME AND WORSHIP AT FERRYHILL
SERVICES IN NOVEMBER
Sunday 4th November
11 a.m. Worship for all ages. Sacrament of Holy Communion.
Sunday Gang and crèche.
Children are welcome to participate fully in Holy Communion under the guidance of their parents or guardians. All Sunday Gang groups will meet for those children who do not wish to participate in the Sacrament.
Sunday 11th November (Remembrance Sunday)
10.50 a.m. Worship for all ages. Act of Remembrance
Sunday Gang and Crèche.
Sunday 18th November
11.00 a.m. Worship for all ages.
6.00 p.m. Informal evening service in the Memorial Chapel.
Holy Communion.
Tuesday 20th November
12.10pm Lunch-time service
Sunday 25th November
11.00 a.m. Worship for all ages. Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
Sunday Gang and crèche.
Sunday 2nd December - First in Advent
11.00 a.m. Worship for all ages, Lighting of first Advent Candle.
Sunday Gang and crèche.
SERVICES IN RESIDENTIAL HOMES (ALL WELCOME)
Cowdray Club Wednesday 7th November at 11.00 a.m.
Devanha Nursing Home Sunday 11th November at 6.00 p.m.
Maryfield Nursing Home Sunday 25th November at 6.00p.m.
top
|
Rev Ian Dick |
Message
for the Month
By Revd Ian Dick
Religion in general and the Muslim religion in particular have had a bad press since 11th September. In a newspaper article soon after the terrorist atrocities Professor Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, well-known for his atheistic views,
wrote: "To fill a world with religion, or religions, of the Abrahamic kind, is like littering the streets with loaded guns. Do not be surprised if they are used." By 'Abrahamic' he was referring to the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions each of which relates back, with varying emphasis, to Abraham and each of which has a strand of intolerant belief that God is exclusively on their side. When such a view is tied to the belief that they, and only they, will be rewarded in heaven, a dangerous cocktail is produced which can result in callous violence, including the suicide terrorist. It is difficult to think of a rational way in which anyone could be disabused of such a belief. When such a person is fired by a grievance or a sense of injustice, then the task would seem impossible. Yet history shows that it is not only people with religious belief that can behave in this way; anarchists and revolutionaries of one kind of another have done so in the past.
The point is that all belief systems and all value systems can be used for good or evil, including science - used in one way, the power of the atom can wreak huge destruction; used in another it can cure cancer. It would be as irresponsible to place a blanket blame on science as it would on religion whether Jewish, Muslim or Christian. We need rather to understand the context in which a belief system has been nurtured - or perverted - and, finally, put into practice. There have been and still are perverse expressions of the Christian faith and some of these have justified violence in the achievement of their cause.
Yet the Christian faith must always ensure that the God of love is kept at the forefront of its practice. If it means anything at all, that love must include everyone without distinction and must be expressed in our capacity, as Christians, to show that love in acts of compassion, empathy and self-giving. It is that same love we must apply as we acknowledge the diversity of cultures and religions in which we live as citizens of our own country and as fellow human beings sharing the same planet. As one British Muslim writer, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, has urged "Somehow we need to break away from the foolish idea that we are all forever fated to remain disconnected, to shout across ravines and canyons at one another or gripe amongst ourselves about those on the other side." This must be one of the main the purposes of religion, not least the Christian faith, namely to provide the essential emotional and spiritual ways of reaching out to make connections with people of other faiths and cultures, to talk with them, to understand them, to hear and respond where we can to their grievances and feelings of injustice and so to learn together how we can all live in peace based on the love of God that demands justice for all.
top
|
|
DATES FOR YOUR OCTOBER DIARY
(selected from Aberdeen Presbytery's Events Diary)
View
the whole Events Diary
Saturday 3rd Feed The Minds Coffee Morning and Book
Sale,
10 am - 1 pm, Queen's Cross Church. Tickets £1.5 from Third World Centre. Contact P Findlay, tel 019755 62379, e-mail
p.a.findlay@talk21.com
Saturday 3rd Leprosy Mission Coffee Morning, 10 am to 12 noon, Denburn Church Hall. Contact: Jack Dickie, tel 01224 714354, e-mail
jdickie@bucks76.freeserve.co.uk
Sunday 4th Queens Cross Orchestra and Soloists
7.30pm Queens Cross Church. Programme includes works by Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Finzi. Tickets £7.50 (concessions £5.00). Information tel 01224-644742.
Saturday 10th Combined Charities Christmas Sale 10.00am - 4.00pm Aberdeen Music Hall. Admission free.
Tuesday 13th Aberdeen Interfaith Group
7.30pm University Chaplaincy 25 High Street. AGM followed by discussion on State Education led by Revd Ainslie Walton. Further information: 01224-318218.
Wednesday 14th Carol and Colin Morton 7.30pm Holburn West Church. Presentation and Sales Opportunity on behalf of Palestinan craft producers
in Gaza and West Bank.
Thursday 15th A Heart for Children 7.15pm High Hilton Parish Church. Penny Frank speaks on the All Age Church. Plus choice of workshops. Arranged by CPAS with input from Scripture Union. Advance booking essential - phone Richard Higginbottom (01738-787429).
Sunday 18th Recital 12 noon, St Mary's Church, Carden Place by Lesley Wilson (bassoon), Elspeth McKay-Smith (oboe), David J Smith (organ), followed by bread and cheese lunch. Donation £3 adults, £1 children.
Monday 19th 'Still waiting for jubilee', 7.30-9 pm Aberdeen Foyer, Marywell Street. An evening of talks and discussion: find out why unjust debt is still hurting the poor and what people in Aberdeen can do about it. Speakers: Francisco Pascual, Jubilee Movement International (Philippines/Asia), and Doug Anthoney, Jubilee Scotland. Admission free.
December
Sunday 2nd Christmas Festival, 2 pm onward, with lighting of first Advent candle at Trinity Centre, Union Street, and torchlight procession to Castlegate for lighting of Christmas tree, organised by Action of Churches Together in Aberdeen (ACTA) in cooperation with Aberdeen City Council.
top
|
|
CONTACT NUMBERS
Minister: Revd Ian Dick 589633 minister@ferryhillpc.org.uk
Assistant from 1/10/01 Revd Norman Nicoll 705630
Church Office: 213093 office@ferryhillpc.org.uk
CHURCH WEB SITE www.ferryhillpc.org.uk
|
|
Home
| Who
we are | What's
on |
Site Index | Contact |
|
top |
