It was a great joy to celebrate Easter together with far fewer restrictions than recent years.
Dumbarton Churches Together held a service on Good Friday at the site of St Serf’s church, a hardy band from Dalreoch walked down with a cross
On Easter Sunday we met at Havoc before service, with egg rolling of course
To finish the service we took the beautiful flower cross outside and worshipped outside
The members and friends of Dalreoch UFC very generously gave this marvellous selection of gifts at our gift service to be distributed by the Mental Health Forum. Thank you very much to everyone who contributed.
Today we held our service of remembrance. Thank you to the Scouts who paraded the colours and took part with readings and prayers
Dalreoch are delighted that Sara has been ordained as minister. The ordination was held in the church last Saturday
Dear All
It has been a long time since we were able to meet together in the church building, but now I am delighted to be able to announce that we will be returning for Sunday Worship at Dalreoch on the 20th September. This is of course dependent on restrictions remaining at the level they are at the moment. There will be many changes to how we use the building and the style of service, but I hope we will simply be able to rejoice in being able to meet in the same place again to worship our Lord. For those who are unable to attend morning worship we hope to be able to record at least some of the service to place on our website from Sunday afternoon.
Although there has been a great reduction in the numbers of people infected with Covid 19, and especially the number of deaths and people in hospital, we must continue to pray for those who have suffered. Through the illness itself, the loss of loved ones and those who are facing long term financial difficulties or health concerns. We also continue to pray for those who have found the long months of lockdown difficult, or have suffered because of the situation, even if not directly through the disease itself. We can all continue to pray, even if we are not all able to meet together in worship just yet; and prayer is especially important as the level of infection has begun to rise in this area during recent weeks. We must hope and pray that a vaccine might soon be found, our prayers are not from us alone but join with the prayers of all Christ’s Church across the world.
The reading of our Bibles can provide a great deal of comfort and support at this time. I find it very encouraging to think that in many of the New Testament Letters we are reading the advice of people who knew all about suffering and hardship. Often they were separated from the congregations they cared for, and the people they loved, yet they continued to communicate encouragement and support them in prayer. In recent months, not only have we had the opportunity to understand better, what the New Testament writers were going through, but we have the chance to read once again their words of advice and to apply them to our own lives. As normal life has been put on hold for a while we have time to explore our own faith and to remind ourselves that whatever our situation the Lord is with us for all eternity.
In 2 Corinthians 1:1-5 Paul writes:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”
May we all know the comfort of Christ’s presence with us as we learn to adjust to life beyond the pandemic, and may we continually trust in the Lord to guide us in dealing with new situations in the months to come.
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18)
Sara Rettie
With sadness we have to announce the death of Willie Killough, who would have been well known to members of Dalreoch in the past as one of those who set up and cleaned the Church each week. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.
Dumbarton Churches Together is organising volunteers to help our community during the Covid-19 outbreak. For more information on volunteering, or to get help for yourself or your friends and neighbours please visit their website here.
If you know of anyone without internet access who needs help, the phone number is 01389 600245 please pass this to anyone in Dumbarton you think might be in need.
A suggested prayer
May those who are vulnerable, hungry or homeless, experience support,
May those who are sick, know healing,
May those who are anxious or bereaved, sense comfort.
Bless and guide political leaders and decision-makers, with wisdom,
Bless and guide health workers and key workers, with strength and well-being, Bless and guide each one of us, as we adapt to a new way of living.
And may the light shining from our windows,
across road and wynd, glen and ben, kyle and isle,
be reflected in our hearts and hands and hopes.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
The summer at Dalreoch ended with a very successful social event, ‘The Summer Bash!’ It was great to see so many friends and families at this event and well done to everyone who put so much effort into making it such a fun evening.
The nights are now drawing in and this means that many of our events are up and running again. Apart from our regular Sunday Worship, the Bible Study Group has begun this year’s study of Luke’s Gospel. We meet in the Church on Monday evenings. During August we held ‘Coffee Call In’ 2-4pm on Tuesday afternoons. As this opportunity to drop into the Church for refreshments and a chat seemed to be enjoyed by several people, this will continue for September and hopefully beyond. Anyone is welcome to just drop in and meet new friends and old. Dalreoch of course is well known for its regular social events and the next one is coming up on Friday 20th September. It’s a ‘Beetle Drive’. Lot’s of fun and a great way to get to know people.
Many of us enjoyed a summer in which we were able to get away on holiday or spend time with friends and family. Sadly several of our congregation have been unwell in recent months, and many do not have families to see, or opportunities to enjoy a refreshing time away. This is true of many people in the community around us. So I urge everyone to remember the lonely and the sick around us in our prayers for each other.
Over the coming weeks we have an opportunity to think about those who are less fortunate than ourselves as we approach the time of Harvest Festival. We will be celebrating Harvest in Dalreoch Church on Sunday September 22nd and this will be an opportunity to contribute food for a local project at St Patrick’s Church which provides meals for vulnerable people. In the words of James, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save them?” (James 2: 14) Let us demonstrate our faith by our actions in the coming weeks.
Sara Rettie