Christmas Services

All services at St. Peter's Church will be held today and tomorrow, regardless of weather and wind. Please make your choice to attend according to the weather conditions where you live. The church will remain open.

December 24 - 11 pm Christmas Eve Service
December 25 - 11 am Christmas Day Service

The Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene

And what a feast it was! We gathered on the beach under blue skies with the grey lag geese on the water, the oyster catchers on the shore, and the machair in full-bloom. We sang, we prayed, we celebrated the Eucharist, giving thanks for the Apostle to the Apostles and for the good and glorious Creation that we are part of.

The Apostle to the Apostles

On Monday , 22 July, we celebrate the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles. We give thanks for the life and witness of this courageous woman. We give thanks for that early Easter morning when Mary, in a garden of all places, became the first witness to the Resurrection.

Our Eucharistic prayer tells us that 'Worship and praise belong to you, Father, in every place, and at all times.' So in the spirit of this devotion, and in honour of Mary Magdalene, we will be holding a Eucharist on 22 July at 11 am on the Barvas Beach. We will meet on the machair and decide on the location when all are gathered.  All are welcome.

Patronal Feast of St. Peter

It has been said that a church is to live fully into the life and witness of its patron saint. Today we celebrated the ministry of St. Peter - Simon bar Jona - Peter the Rock: a humble fisherman, who went on to become a fisher of people and the keeper of the Kingdom and the shepherd of souls. We celebrated the man who spoke boldly and directly, who had a hard time keeping his foot out of his mouth, who was fully human, fearlessly loving and serving his Lord and Master right to the very end. And so in the presence of that great cloud of witnesses, we sang, we listened to the movement of the Spirit through God's word, we prayed, we celebrated the Eucharist, and then...... we ate cake!

The Anamchara Fellowship

The Anamchara Fellowship is an ecumenical and joyous expression of new monasticism, bringing together ancient traditions of prayer, worship and pilgrimage within a contemporary context. For three days last week we were blessed to have them in our midst. We prayed together, travelled together, and ate and drank together. In a matter of days we became life-long friends. They also received two new Companions from the Isle of Lewis into the Fellowship.

The word 'Anamchara' is an ancient Celtic word that means 'soul friend' or 'spiritual mentor'; a person who travels with another through all the trials and joys of life. The Anamchara Fellowship is open to lay or ordained, married or single, women, men, or partners in a committed relationship. It promotes and upholds the following Rule of Life:

Simplicity of Life
- Seek to live without a spirit of accumulation
- Use all things with gentleness and respect
- Become extravagant with our love and care

Fidelity
- Live with gentleness of manner toward everyone
- Renounce all physical and verbal control over others
- Constancy toward the one with whom God has blessed us as mate or as Anamchara
- Consciously strive after peace and mercy for all

Obedience:
- Follow the Gospel imperatives of love and forgiveness
- Work within the context of the Church to which the member belongs, seeing the leadership and councils of the Church as guide
- Listen to the voice of God in those placed in authority over us in our congregations, dioceses and within the Fellowship

If you are interested in the Fellowship, please look at their website for further details:

www.anamcharafellowship.org

Lenten Stones Turned to Easter Joy!

On the First Sunday of Lent, each of us took a stone and placed it into the baptismal font as a symbolic gesture of entering the wilderness with Jesus. We were encouraged to think during this time about all those things we have done and have left undone that separate us from God's gracious love.

On Holy Saturday, as we prepared the church for the Great Easter Vigil and for Easter Sunday celebrations, I asked one of our St. Peter's children to remove the stones from the font and take them outside. I gave him rather vague instructions such as, 'Just take the stones and put them somewhere in the garden.' After about 20 minutes or so, this child approached me and said, 'Come and see what I've done!' I was led outside and there in the front garden of the church was a miniature Easter tomb that he had built out of our Lenten stones! He explained that it was an empty tomb and that the stone had been rolled away.

Alleluia, He is Risen; The Lord is Risen indeed!! Alleluia!!

Click on the photo to enlarge it

The Drama of the Eucharist

Today we ended our Lenten Book Study with a Eucharist in the church hall. We decided to move out of  our comfortable pews and into a different space with a different set-up. We used the altar frontal from our ancient church of St. Moluag's in Eoropaidh and created a sacred space in a place normally used for all sorts of activities. It was wonderful and inspiring.

For the past five weeks we have been looking at how the Eucharist draws us into the life of God and propels us out into the world, fed, nourished and sustained by the Body and Blood of Christ. For the sermon today we focused on the wonderful words of Dom Gregory Dix:

Was ever another command so obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been done, in every conceivable human circumstance, for every conceivable human need from infancy and before it to extreme old age and after it, from the pinnacle of earthly greatness to the refuge of fugitives in the caves and dens of the earth. Men have found no better thing than this to do for kings at their crowning and for criminals going to the scaffold; for armies in triumph or for a bride and bridegroom in a little country church; for the proclamation of a dogma or for a good crop of wheat; for the wisdom of the Parliament of a mighty nation or for a sick old woman afraid to die; for a schoolboy sitting an examination or for Columbus setting out to discover America; for the famine of whole provinces or for the soul of a dead lover; in thankfulness because my father did not die of pneumonia; for a village headman much tempted to return to fetich because the yams had failed; because the Turk was at the gates of Vienna; for the repentance of Margaret; for the settlement of a strike; for a son for a barren woman; for Captain so-and-so wounded and prisoner of war; while the lions roared in the nearby amphitheatre; on the beach at Dunkirk; while the hiss of scythes in the thick June grass came faintly through the windows of the church; tremulously, by an old monk on the fiftieth anniversary of his vows; furtively, by an exiled bishop who had hewn timber all day in a prison camp near Murmansk; gorgeously, for the canonisation of S. Joan of Arc—one could fill many pages with the reasons why men have done this, and not tell a hundredth part of them. And best of all, week by week and month by month, on a hundred thousand successive Sundays, faithfully, unfailingly, across all the parishes of Christendom, the pastors have done this just to make the plebs sancta Dei—the holy common people of God.

Holy Week at St.Peter's

Maundy Thursday, March 28, 7:30 pm
Holy Eucharist with Foot Washing

Good Friday. March 29, 11 amMusic and Meditations on the Cross

Holy Saturday, March 30, 8 pm
Easter Vigil with the lighting of the Holy Fire

All are welcome

Lent Bible Study

Please join us in the church hall at 1 pm on Tuesday, February 19th for our Lent Bible Study. All that you need to bring is an enquiring mind. All are welcome.

Monastic Wisdom for Everyday Living

This Lent join the Brothers of SSJE on a daily journey into the heart of God in prayer. Subscribe to “Brother, Give Us A Word” and during Lent you will receive a short daily video via email. View the trailer: www.ssje.org/prayer

The Bible Challenge

Recent studies show that vibrant and growing churches share one thing in common: they have a strong commitment to teaching and reading the Bible in an accessible way. To that end, the Centre for Biblical Studies has designed a one-year reading schedule to help people read successfully through the entire Bible in one year. Since it began, well over 2,000 congregations in at least 27 different countries are participating. So far, 7 people at St. Peter's have committed themselves to this challenge. Would you like to join us? Whether you live on the Isle of Lewis or half way around the world, we would love it if you joined us in this challenge beginning on Ash Wednesday. All it takes is for you to personally set aside 15-25 minutes every day for one year and follow the reading plan. And if you do this, you'll have read through the entire Bible!

For a detailed plan for reading the Bible in one year please visit this website:

http://thecenterforbiblicalstudies.org/what-is-the-bible-challenge/

A New Year

The new year, like a new born child, is placed in our hands as the old year passes away. The days and weeks to come are God's gift; they carry God's blessing. And as a blessing we welcome them. Our hope for the year which has ended is that all that was good in it will remain with us and all that was harmful will be left behind. How will you welcome this gift today, this week, this month, this year?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not over come it...

As we gather during the darkest and coldest time of the year, to tell again of the arrival of God’s Son, we remember that it is a story in which we – all of us here – become part of throughout the entire year and throughout our entire lives. This story, which this child brings, invites us all to find our place within it; to find where we belong in God’s plan for this creation, this world that we walk through each and every day.

And as we embark together on a new year, I encourage you to reflect back on the previous year and look forward to the future, with the promise of God’s faithfulness always before you. It has been almost a year now since we came among you, to witness to God’s grace and love in this community and to build up the kingdom of God here on the Isle of Lewis. Over the months we have done many good things together. We have grown in numbers; we have begun new ministries; and we continue to be the people of God; people who love and care for each other; people who journey through the many facets of life together. In the birth of the Christ-Child we are led, again, into the very heart of God. The birth of a baby amongst the animals in a Bethlehem-barn reveals to us that God works in the most surprising ways, in ways that we would never expect, or could even possibly imagine.

Through this baby called Jesus, we can now say that God is found not just in the cathedrals or in our churches, but that God is found in ordinary human life: through the cries of a baby, through the darkness of a filthy stable, through parents who had no idea what they had got themselves into, and through the life of a child who grew up to be a man who spoke about God in a way we had never heard before. God speaks in human life. And this one fact alone is more than we could ever hope for.

In our joint lives here together at St. Peter’s we rejoice that God would choose to come amongst us, to walk upon this very earth and experience everything that we too experience: joy, heartache, pleasure, grief, disappointment. And we rejoice that we have each other. In a world that is too often shattered by violence, greed, and inhumanity, we give thanks that we have the gift of community, friendship and love in our church family.  And when we find our place within the magnificent Christmas story, life will never be the same again.

My prayer is that you will encourage each other to live out the message of Christ’s redeeming love, knowing always that the darkness will be overcome and there will be light and life in all of God’s abundance and grace. During this holy season, may the blessing of the Christ-Child be upon you, those whom you love, and all who you pray for.

The Reverend Shona Boardman

For Unto Us A Child is Born

As we await the birth of the Christ-Child, we invite you to join us:

Sunday, December 23:
8:30 am - a quiet, reflective service of Holy Communion
11:00 am -Sung Eucharist
7:00 pm - Evensong

Monday, December 24:
4:30 pm - Christmas Eve Family Service with Carols and the Blessing of the Crib
11:00 pm - Midnight Mass on the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord

Tuesday, December 25:
11:00 am - Christmas Day Eucharist

Wednesday, December 26:
10:00 am - Feast of St. Stephen

New Photo Gallery

We now have a St. Peter's/St. Moluag's photo gallery. Just click on the top bar where it says 'photo gallery' to see what we get up to, as church, on the Isle of Lewis. Choose a photo and click on it to enlarge.

The Holy Season of Advent

The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God.  Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation, of longing.

Historically, the primary colour of Advent is purple, the colour of penitence and fasting as well as the colour of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King. The purple of Advent is also the colour of suffering used during Lent.  This points to an important connection between Jesus’ birth and death. The nativity, the Incarnation, cannot be separated from the crucifixion. The purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world, of the "Word made flesh" and dwelling among us, is to reveal God and God’s grace to the world through Jesus’ life and teaching, but also through his suffering, death, and resurrection.

The beginning of Advent is a time for the hanging of the greens or the decoration of the church with evergreen wreaths, boughs, or trees that help to symbolize the new and everlasting life brought through Jesus the Christ. The circle of the Advent wreath reminds us of God’s eternity and endless mercy, which has no beginning or end. The green of the wreath speaks of the hope that we have in God, the hope of newness, of renewal, of eternal life.

Candles symbolize the light of God coming into the world through the birth of God’s Son. The four outer candles represent the period of waiting during the four Sundays of Advent, which themselves symbolize the four centuries of waiting between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ. Advent starts four Sundays before Christmas Day and each Sunday in Advent has a theme to be pondered on. Candles are lit on these four Sundays, and a fifth candle is lit on Christmas day. The four themes (traditionally) are:

 God's people - The Patriarchs and Matriarchs: the advent hope.
The Hebrew Prophets
John the Baptist
Mary the mother of Jesus

You are warmly invited to join us each Sunday during Advent as we worship in expectation.

Some Important Dates

This coming Sunday, 11 November, we begin our Holy Eucharist service earlier in order to include the Act of Remembrance. Our service will begin at 10:45 am instead of 11:00 am.

The following Sunday, 18 November, is our Annual General Meeting. This is an important day in the life of our church, where we will reflect on the past year and look to the coming year with hope and expectation. The AGM will start immediately after the 11:00 am service.

All Souls' Day, November 2, 2012

On Friday, 2 November, we mark All Soul's Day, a time for Christians to remember and uphold to God all those who have died. This is not a new tradition in the Church, but was first instituted at the monastery in Cluny, France, in 993 CE and quickly spread throughout the Christian world. The theological underpinning of this feast day is the acknowledgement of human frailty.

We participate in this ancient tradition at St. Peter's Church by holding an All Souls' Service at 10 am on Friday, 2 November. All are welcome.

Service of Healing, Thursday August 9th

The Service of Healing utilises an ancient rite of the church; laying on of hands and anointing with oil for healing. The practice of laying one's hand on another is rooted in the ministry of Jesus. Such person-to-person healing through prayer is also at the core of Christ's great commission to the Apostles and all who follow him. This is not a new idea!

Here at St. Peter's we are offering different ways for people to explore spirituality and the Service of Healing is one such way. God is always at work in us and the Holy Spirit is always present to bring God's healing grace upon us and those whom we pray for. This does not mean we will be cured of our disease or ailment, or that everything will work out all right, although that might happen! What it does mean, though, is that God is alive in us, bring healing of body, mind or spirit, with the peace that passes all understanding. God's desire is that we be made whole.

All are invited on Thursday, August 9th at 7 pm. Come and  lay your heart to the Lord, that you may find God's healing presence here.

Jazz Vespers

Tonight at 5 pm we will be hosting Jazz Vespers at St. Peter's Church. 

Jazz Vespers emerges as a synthesis of traditions, a blending of an age-old liturgy with the unique heritage we call jazz. It is a blending of poetry, prayer, and live jazz music. With a freshness that is open to God's Spirit, this musical tradition sounds the hopes, dreams, joys, frustrations and pain that expresses human experience, while exploring a musical vocabulary that transcends the limits of the written or spoken word.

All are welcome.