March 2016

Dates for your diary Tuesday 1st March (St.David of Wales) 2pm Afternoon Service Wednesday 2nd 10am Holy Communion 11am Lent Study Group (in church) 7pm Lent Prayer Group Saturday 5th 9.45am Big Sing for Passiontide and Easter Sunday 6th 'Mothering Sunday' 10am Sung Eucharist with the blessing and distribution of flowers Preacher: Jonathan Livingstone (Scottish Ordinand on placement) Wednesday 9th 10am Holy Communion 11am Lent Study Group Saturday 12th Diocesan Synod. Please pray for the meeting and for your clergy and for lay representative Pat Gordon who will be attending. See the Diocesan website for more details Sunday 13th Passion Sunday 10am The Psalms of Ascent Service with Holy Communion Preacher: Dean (a thought for the day) Monday 14th 7pm the 2016 Group meets at Avril Henney's. see Avril or Rachael Weedon for more information. Wednesday 16th 10am Holy Communion 11am Lent Study Group 7pm Lent Prayer Group Friday 18th 7pm Bubbly Bridge Social and Fund-raising event (see details on the notice boards or elsewhere in this magazine). With thanks to the 2016 Committee Sunday 20th 10am Palm Sunday Service beginning in the hall The Passion Gospel takes the place of the sermon Monday 21st 7pm Saughtonhall Words, pictures and meditation Tuesday 22nd 7pm Good Shepherd The way of the cross Wednesday 23rd 7pm Parish Church music and meditation

Good Friday 10am Messy Church at Saughtonhall 2pm Liturgy of the Cross at the Good Shepherd 7pm Music and meditation for Good Friday at the Parish Church EASTER SUNDAY 27th ALLELUIA! Preacher: Jonathan Livingstone (Jonathan's placement ends today) 8.15am MCT joint service of renewal of Baptismal promises on the Bridge in Roseburn Park followed by breakfast 10am Festal Sung Eucharist with the blessing of the Paschal Candle Preacher: Jonathan Livingstone (Jonathan's placement ends today) 3.30pm Evensong at the Tor 4.30pm Evensong at Murrayfield House Wednesday 30th 10am Holy Communion

The Epistle to the flock By the time you read this epistle we will be almost half way through Lent! As I said last month I can hardly believe that Lent is so early this year and I joked that a set date for Easter would never be agreed. Well, I have to eat those words following the Archbishop of Canterbury's state-ment after the Primates meeting in January that he hoped this would happen within the next ten years! I will not hold my breath but it will be interesting to follow the ecumenical discussions in the coming years. There has been some follow up to the Columba Declaration leaked just before Christmas, which outlined proposals for partnership between the Anglican church and the Church of Scotland. The Columba Declaration seemed to take little account of the Anglican church already existing in Scotland - ourselves in the Scottish Episcopal Church. I need to explain how the SEC is a member of the Anglican Communion. In 1796 Samuel Seabury, an American priest, was sent to Britain to seek ordination to the episcopate in order to establish the American branch of the Church of England as a separate Anglican church. The bishops of the Church of England were prohibited by law from consecrating Seabury so he sought ordination from the Scottish bishops who duly ordained him. He then returned to America and thus began the develop-ment of the Episcopal Church in the USA. Seabury took the Scottish Prayer Book back with him and in due course it formed the basis of the American Prayer Book. The Scottish bishops were able to ordain Seabury as a bishop because the Scottish Episcopal Church is not the national Church of Scotland and nor is its Code of Canons subject to the Westminster Parliament, as the CofE's Canon Law is. The SEC bishops are independent of the state and the SEC itself is an independent Anglican Church within the Anglican Communion. The SEC can decide its own rules of conduct. The Columba Declaration could muddy the waters between the SEC and the CofE with the pro-posals to establish joint Church of Scotland and CofE congregations, and the joint recognition of each other's forms of oversight. This could eventually see the Church of Scotland welcoming English bishops into Scotland. Prayer can often be an over looked tool in the Christian way of life.

Scotland where they have hitherto had no jurisdiction. Please keep our respective Provinces and denominations in your pray-ers as we seek to resolve these issues. Prayer can often be an over looked tool in the Christian way of life. So often we think we are powerless to do anything to help a situation but how wrong we are. Prayer is the most important part of a Christian's life and needs to be something we do every day. I hope that you have been able to use the copy of Daily Prayer you were gifted at the beginning of Lent. Even if it only forms ten minutes of your day it has a power to transform the world beyond our understanding. As you pray the prayers hold in your heart and mind those persons and situations you are con-cerned about and as you read the words and pray your actions will bring them before our ever listening God.ere they have hitherto had no juris-diction. May God bless you richly during Lent. Yours aye Dean

From the Rector's Desk Lent Appeals This year we are supporting the group 'Crossing Boundaries' a social enterprise organisation that enables disabled and able bodied individu-als to reach out and support those in need in two charities in South Africa. These are the Ikhwezi Welfare Organisation Orphanage and care home, and 'Bobbi Bear'. The first is a home for severely disabled children and adults, many of them abandoned by their families. The other a therapeutic organisation that helps sexually abused children come to terms with their abuse and look hopefully into the future. For more information see the notice board at the back of the church. Passiontide & Holy Week Services Sunday 13th March 10am The Passiontide Psalms of Ascent Ser-vice. We will use the psalms that Jesus would have sung and said as he entered Jerusalem on pilgrimage (Psalms 120-134) and make a sym-bolic pilgrimage around the grounds of our church. Sunday 20th March 10am Palm Sunday We will begin the service in the hall with the Palm Gospel and blessing of palms and then pilgrimage our way into church as a witness to the world of our faith in Christ. In church we will hear the words of the Pas-sion Gospel and then share in Holy Communion as a preparation for the journey we will share over Holy Week. Monday 21st 7.30pm Service at Saughtonhall Tuesday 22nd 7.30pm Stations of the Cross through the garden of the Good Shepherd (if too cold and or wet, we will gather in the church) Wednesday 23rd 7.30pm Service at the Parish Church Maundy Thursday 11.30am Chrism Mass at the Cathedral. Please come to the cathe-dral to support your clergy and bishop as they renew their ordination vows and as the bishop consecrates the holy oils for use over the com-ing year. 7.30pm Commemoration of the Last Supper followed by the strip-ping bare of the church and a short watch before the Blessed Sacra-ment until 9pm.

Good Friday 10am Messy Church Good Friday at Saughtonhall 2pm Liturgy of the Cross at the Good Shepherd 7.30pm Service at the Parish Church EASTER DAY 8.15am MCT joint service of renewal of our Baptismal promises on the bridge in Roseburn Park as an ecumenical act of faith and witness to the local community 10am Festal Sung Eucharist of Easter Day to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Alleluia! 3.30pm Easter Evensong at the Tor 4.30pm Easter Evensong at Murrayfield House Fairtrade Fortnight 29th February - 14th March. This year sees the 21st birthday of the Fairtrade organisation and the chal-lenge to us all is to see how many Fairtrade goods we actually buy and use. These can be anything from t-shirts to sugar. As a congregation we are committed to using Fairtrade goods at church in the knowledge that those who have produced the things we use will have been paid a fair price and have not been exploited for their efforts.

2016 Group events Bridge Party – BOOK NOW. This is our next event to be held on Friday 18th March at 7pm in the Church Hall. If you are a bridge player, please make up a table of 4, and come and join the party. Even if you are beginners, don’t be intimidated, as you will be playing at the same table with your own friends at your own speed – there is no ‘moving on’. If you know any bridge-playing friends, do encourage them to come. We will serve fizzy wine, and our own delicious home-made savoury and sweet specialities included in the tickets at £15 each. This is a Bridge Party with a difference and not to be missed! Booking forms are available at the back of the Church, or get in touch with Kate Doyle (337 6921) or Liz East (313 2593) for further details. Proceeds will go towards the Red Cross Syria Crisis Appeal and our Organ Fund. Some Future Dates for your diary: Summer Fruits Event – Thursday 30 June 2016. Our traditional summer party (Geoffrey Lord’s inspiration!)

Organ Recital – Saturday morning, 16

th July 2016, entitled ‘At Your

Service’ – given by Pat Warren, our director of music. She will be playing music she uses for Sunday services (pre and post voluntar-ies, communion voluntaries) and talking about why they are used at those points in the services and how they might vary throughout the year. Invite your friends. Watch this space for other upcoming events! We hope to see you at some - or all – of them. Kate Doyle Convener 2016 Group

Evening reflections during Lent The Church of the Good Shepherd is offering the opportunity to have a hot drink, and chat, to reflect on a Psalm and then to pray for the world, our neighbourhood, the wider Christian community and the Mur-rayfield Churches Together Community. We will meet at the back of the Good Shepherd Church at 7pm on the following Wednesdays:

Wednesday 2 March 2016 at 7pm Reflection 2 is based on Psalm 63: O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul is athirst for you.

Wednesday 16 March 2016 at 7pm

Reflection 3 is based on Psalm 126: The Lord has indeed done great things for us.

It would be lovely if you would join us on this spiritual adventure.

From the Rectory Cat Basket Many of you may think that the life of a Rectory Cat is all about greeting the visitors and making sure that their laps are prepared for sitting on. Far from it, if truth be told. This Lent I am actively en-gaged in prayer, even when I may seem to be resting in my basket or upon the radiator in the bathroom, my eyes may be closed but my prayers do not stop. In fact I have come to believe that prayer is a good pastime for a clerical feline. The Dog-Collar may think that I ignore much of what goes on around me. But let me tell you, I miss nothing, absolutely nothing and I always put the things I hear and see into my prayers. Archie says I spend too much time praying for the rustle of a crisp packet but as I say to him, that noise only alerts me to the fact that the Dog-Collar may need to tell me something that will demand my prayers. I am never one to miss a call to intercession when needed and I have learned that it is something I can even do in my sleep. How? Well I overheard the 'Other-One' talking about the role of distraction and sleep in prayer and how both can be good opportunities to bring one's concerns before God. If one gets distracted one can offer the distraction up as an arrow prayer and before one falls asleep one can focus one's mind on one's prayer concerns and keep alert to those prayers as one drifts off. I have decided therefore to dedicate as much time to this sleeping form of prayer as I possibly can, thus countering the argument that all that a cat does is sleep in the pro-cess as well. Sleep! If only you knew how much prayer was going on, you would be amazed. (Does this include the time madam takes while snoring? Ed.) I hope that as you journey through Lent you too will discover the various different ways in which you can pray. I am sure this will lead to some excellent discussion in the Lent Prayer Group, which sadly I will not be able to attend as my sleeping services will be required elsewhere. With a prayerful yawn The Lady Gladys Fortescue de Monceau

A Fairtrade Fortnight ‘Breakfast’ will be held on

SUNDAY 6th

MARCH after the 10.00am morning

service at the Church of the Good Shepherd

Saughtonhall Church Film Crew pre-sents ‘Hello Dolly!’ on the big screen.

5.45pm 19 March, tickets £5.00 including interval ice cream and refreshments from Elizabeth

Swinburne, 07776135425

Who We Are

The Rector Rev’d Canon Dean J.B. Fostekew 0131 346 4127 07968 099470 therector@uwclub.net The Rectory, 9 Upper Coltbridge Terrace, Edinburgh EH12 6AD Deacon Rev’d Brenda Johnson 0131 333 1742 07713 154744 brenmj@btinternet.com Curate Rev’d Rosie Addis 0131 669 9231 007795-225098 rosieaddis@yahoo.co.uk Lay Members of the Good Shepherd Rector’s Warden Ian Spence* 331 1957 People’s Warden Sheila Brydone* 333 4041 Vestry Secretary Mary Wilkinson 07533 410940 mawlkns@aol.com Lay Representative Pat Gordon* 337 4088 Treasurer Graeme Thom * g.thom@virginmedia.com Director of Music Pat Warren 445 5259 Property Convener Ian Spence 331 1957 Garden Carol Wands* 337 6646 Sunday Coffee Rosemary Bouch 337 4783 Church Hall Pat Gordon 337 4088 Magazine James Buxton 337 1747 buxtonjames@hotmail.com 2016 Group Kate Doyle 337 6921 *indicates member of vestry Other Vestry Members Patricia Tait 337 7773 Ritchie Turnbull 07745 554887 Margaret Parkin 337 0991 Avril Henney 339 9577 Website: www.goodshepherdmurrayfield.org.uk The Church of the Good Shepherd has charitable status and is registered as Scottish charity no SC00357 in the Scottish Charity Register Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.