Welcome to the online service of worship for All Saints' Day

The YouTube playlist may be found here   Or view below.....

 

  

MAYFIELD SALISBURY PARISH CHURCH

EDINBURGH

Sunday Services of Public Worship: 10.15am
Worship Online from 8.00am Every Sunday

Sunday 1 November 2020

 

 All Saints' Day

 
Give thanks for life, the measure of our days,
mortal, we pass through beauty that decays,
yet sing to God our hope, our love, our praise,
Alleluia! Alleluia!

Give thanks for those whose lives shone with a light
caught from the Christ-flame, gleaming through the night,
who touched the truth, who burned for what is right:

Give thanks for all, our living and our dead,
thanks for the love by which our life is fed,
a love not changed by time or death or dread:

Give thanks for hope that, like the seed of grain
lying in darkness, does its life retain
to rise in glory, growing green again:

Shirley Erena Murray
CH4 736 Hope Publishing Company

 

AS A DIVERSE PEOPLE, THE CHURCH GATHERS TO WORSHIP ALMIGHTY GOD

 

 Welcome  The Revd Helen Alexander 

Good morning to the members and friends of the congregation of Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church and welcome to all who are joining in this worship online on All Saints Day. This Sunday in the Christian Year is given to us to celebrate that great community of the faithful in heaven and on earth, past, present and to come; to remember those we have loved and lost in death and love still; and to give thanks for all love and hope, life and grace even in a time of Covid-19.

At the service in Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church today, we shall have the votive candle-holder filled with light in the chancel, along with the candles that are always lit during a service of worship there. You may wish to pause at this point to light a candle of your own at home.  

When you are ready, I invite you to join me in a short period of silence in preparation for worship.

Scripture Sentences

Give joyful thanks to the Father who has made you fit to share the heritage of God’s people in the realm of light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Although you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Let us pray

Eternal God in whom we live and move and have our being, and by whose creative spirit we are continually recreated in the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ; draw us together now, that in company with all faithful people throughout all ages, we may know ourselves to be held within the immensity and generosity of eternal grace and love.

Almighty God, our help in ages past, help us now not only to bow our heads but also to allow the humbling of our minds and hearts, that we may be open to the mystery of grace that seeks the simple hearted and rewards the childlike with wisdom, and the peace that passes understanding.

Hear us for the mystery we are: to ourselves, to one another.

Hear us for forgiveness: the forgiveness we know we need, as well as that of which we may have no knowledge, but that nonetheless we need.

Help us to respond to the invitation to forgive with something of the grace we have ourselves received.

Teach us the art of kindness: towards all people; to friends and strangers and to the stranger we may be to our own selves.

Help us to celebrate the depths in ourselves, in one another, as mirrors of that depth that is the fount of all wisdom, grace and truth. 

Keep us ever in that grace that whatever we bring in this hour of hope or despair, perplexity or longing, pleasure or pain, we may feel welcomed and held, ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven; in unity with that great company in heaven and on earth through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Collect 

Almighty God, by whom all are knitted together in the mystical body of your Son, give us grace to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those inexpressible joys which you have prepared for those who love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

 

Children’s Address  Kay McIntosh DCS

Good morning and welcome. My name is Kay and I am the pastoral assistant at Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church. I hope you are all well and still getting out to play and going for walks with your families in the local area around the church.

Our bible reading today is from the last book in the bible which is called revelation. We hear about angels and the word angel appears over 200 times throughout the bible. There are also different types of angels. An angel is messenger of God. It made me wonder what angels look like.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY LOOK LIKE?

I decided to walk to the Grange Cemetery to see if I could find any statues of angels. I have been there before but it was the first time that I have really taken the time and looked. It is very tidy and organised but I could only find four sculptures of angels. 

Then last Sunday after church I went to wander around Newington Cemetery on Dalkeith Road for the first time ever. It was amazing, and beautiful and wild. All of the trees and plants have grown up all over all the tombstones. Its actually really hard to see the tombstones but I walked up and down in the mud looking for angel sculptures. All I could find was one. This one. And because it was raining the stone is very dark. Maybe you and your family could go for a walk there one day and let me know if you can see more than one angel amongst all the trees and bushes.

Now today in church we call it All Saints' Day. It’s a day when we think of people who are special to us and for us. Our own personal angels. People who love us and people that we love. Some of them we may see every day and some who have maybe died but are still very special to us. We normally light a candle in church to remember these people and so I invite you and your family to light a candle and give thanks for that special person in your life.

Let us join together in saying our repeated prayer.

Almighty God.
Thank you for all the special people in our lives.
People who have loved us and taught us how to love.
May we always remember them and give thanks for them.
Amen

 

HYMN The Spirit lives to set us free

The Spirit lives to set us free,
walk, walk in the light.
He binds us all in unity,
walk, walk in the light.

Walk in the light,
Walk in the light,
Walk in the light,
Walk in the light of the Lord.

Jesus promised life to all,
walk, walk in the light.
The dead were wakened by his call,
walk, walk in the light.

He died in pain on Calvary,
walk, walk in the light,
to save the lost like you and me,
walk, walk in the light.

We know his death was not the end,
walk, walk in the light.
He gave his Spirit to be our friend,
walk, walk in the light.

By Jesus’ love our wounds are healed,
walk, walk in the light.
The Father’s kindness is revealed,
walk, walk in the light.

The Spirit lives in you and me,
walk, walk in the light.
His light will shine for all to see,
walk, walk in the light.

Sung by the Chamber Group
Tune: anon. arr. John Bell Text: Damien Lundy
(c) 1978 Kevin Mayhew Ltd.

 

 

WE LISTEN FOR THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN SCRIPTURE

 

  

Reading    Revelation 7: 9- 17     NRSVA    Andrew Cubie

  

Reading  St Matthew 5: 1 – 12   NRSVA    Kay McIntosh DCS

 

Reflection   Revd Helen Alexander

Perhaps the first thing to say on All Saints Day is that the word ‘saints’ in a Christian context doesn’t just refer to people who have died and were especially holy, or morally better than the rest of us when they lived. It was the word St Paul habitually used in his letters to early Christian communities, the members of which were all as he said “called to be saints”. However, this didn’t necessarily make them models of exemplary behaviour. The First Letter to the church in Corinth gives us more than a taste of what its ‘saints’ got up to. Suffice to say halos were clearly in short supply.  

By calling them ‘saints’ Paul meant that they belonged to Christ by their baptism. He hoped, of course, and fervently prayed that something of Christ’s virtue would have rubbed off, but even if it hadn’t, or hadn’t seemed to, they were all ‘saints’.

And so it is with us. These days many of us are disinclined to confine a sense of Christian belonging to the rite of baptism alone, or indeed to definitive belief, if by this we mean the holding of a clear set of orthodox opinions on the faith.  The early church had far from a fully worked- out intellectual grasp of what they were about, and yet they were no less Christian.

This may be of some comfort to many of us. For it is perhaps more in accord with the spirit of our age and if you will, a more accurate understanding of the spirit of Jesus, to welcome into the body of the church the seekers and the searchers, the doubters and the dreamers; those whose lives are pretty shameful and shabby (it would be hard to beat the shabbiness of the Corinthians’ actually); those who are falling away and those who’re just hanging on by their fingertips: to welcome and accept these, every bit as much as those who are strong and confident in faith and belief. This is the Communion of the Saints on earth, and if you’ve identified yourself somewhere in this mixture, then you’re a saint as much as the next man or woman.

Of course, All Saints Day reminds us that this communion extends far beyond the present in time or place.

This great 19^th Century hymn is the one we most associate with All Saints Day, irrevocably linking it to the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed which falls tomorrow, 2^nd November, All Souls Day.   While those who are listening online will be able to hear the hymn, and possibly join in, those of us who gather in church don’t have permission to sing it. A pity, since joining in song in company might lift us up together in a spirit of confidence and hope that may be less if we simply read the words without the accompaniment of Vaughan Williams’ inspirational tune Sine Nomine.

'For all the saints who from their labours rest;
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy name, O Jesus, be for ever blest.
Alleluia!'

I think that the heart of the hymn lies in the 4^th verse:

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia!

The dead are with us, in our minds and hearts, and we may believe, alive to us in a more mystical sense too. Whatever we may make of the mystical connection, it seems to me important to have a season in which we’re encouraged actively to call to memory those who have been loved, and continue to be loved in death; for loving feelings don’t leave us when death intervenes, and when the pain of loss may be felt even after years of separation.

Perhaps this is more poignantly important this year, living as we do in the shadow of a pandemic that has already claimed the lives of too many for the best part of a year world- wide, and threatens the life and well-being of millions in the months ahead.  Some of us may have known those who have already died from the coronavirus. All of us have seen pictures of fatally ill people, and have heard harrowing stories from families and friends unable to be with them at the end. Some of us may have attended strange scaled-down funeral services, and many more prevented from paying heart-felt respects to someone who has died whatever the cause, and offering tangible loving support to those who remain. The second of St Matthew’s Beatitudes: “Blessed are they that mourn” may cause us acutely to wonder how on earth we might healthily and effectively mourn the loss of particular people as well as hitherto prized ways of life that up to now we’ve taken for granted.

I am acutely aware that I’m speaking now to people who are living alone and possibly grieving alone, as well as to those who may be listening within the close physical comfort of family, partnership or deep friendship. Whatever our individual situation may be, I hope that this act of worship might remind us of the importance of deep connection in our lives, and that whether or not we are able to see another person and hold out our hand or our arms to him or her, we hold them in our hearts and trust that we are held in theirs. Many also trust that we are all somehow caught up in a sacred reality that holds us all in life and death in a loving embrace, no matter how fragile our grasp of that reality might be.

Some of the most enduring Scriptural images of that sacred reality are found in the Book of Revelation. Today’s First Lesson contains one of them which, along with others towards the end of the Book are often read at funerals. Not only is there a vision of life eternal, there is also a poetic invocation of heavenly comfort:

“They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
The sun will not strike them,
Nor any scorching heat;
For the lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd,
And he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

This last image of God’s wiping away tears is profoundly moving. It’s poetry, of course. It isn’t about a divine superman somewhere with an enormous pocket handkerchief. It’s all about tenderness and care and above all profound unfathomable love, and the hope that we have that this is central, whether we are on this side of eternity or beyond.

At a time of poignant memory and of anxiety may this help us to recover some grounding in our lives and to trust that “all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well”; and also to find it in our hearts to be to be thankful, as Shirley Erena Murray’s modern hymn, also sung to the tune Sine Nomine reminds us:  

Give thanks for all, our living and our dead,
thanks for the love by which our life is fed,
a love not changed  by time or death or dread:

Give thanks for hope that, like the seed of grain
lying in darkness, does its life retain
to rise in glory, growing green again:
Alleluia!

 

RESPONSE TO THE SPIRIT OF GOD WITHIN

 

 

 

Thanksgiving and Intercession   Revd Helen Alexander

For all the saints we give glad thanks: for those long remembered for their wisdom and devotion, service and skill; for scholars and thinkers; teachers and healers; tellers of stories and keepers of faith; artists of all sorts; workers for justice and purveyors of truth; for the brave, the great, and the true; for those unknown and without number who quietly and committedly worked for all that is good and lovely wherever and whenever they lived.

For all these, who as well as their gifts and graces were simply human with flaws and failings, just like us, we give glad thanks, even as we think now of those who are dear to us and have left us in death; those of this congregation of Mayfield Salisbury who have died over the past year; and the faithful of all Christian communities represented by those who are listening now.

Almighty God Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in whom all people are held as one, hear us as in silence we remember those we have known and loved.….

God of all grace, let the light of the departed shine on us who are left. Let us take heart from their lives and example, and to walk humbly and hopefully in their company in the body of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hear us for the church throughout the world, as we seek grace for her service and truth in her worship; forgiveness for her faults and failings, healing of her divisions and strength for her purpose here in this land and across the globe.  

Hear us as we pray for the world, damaged and perilous, trembling on the brink of yet more economic turmoil, disease and death, yet still open to hope of help and healing, recovery and restoration.  

Hear us as we pray for this nation and all that may be represented by those listening now.

Hear us for calm and thoughtful wisdom in complex and rapidly changing times.

Hear us for all who suffer, for those who are dying and all who are bereaved.

Hear us for those who are in need, as well as for those who deny their need of comfort and understanding. 

Hear us for the weak and for those who are strong;

Hear us for the powerful and those whose dignity has been forfeited and lost;

Hear us for the first, who may find themselves last; and for the last who might discover to their amazement that they are held fast in the body of humanity.

And bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening,
into the house and gate of heaven,
to enter into that gate, and dwell in that house where there shall be
no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light;
no noise nor silence, but one equal music;
no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession;
no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity;
in the habitation of thy glory and dominion,
world without end.   

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

 

For all the saints, who from their labours rest;
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be for ever blest.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might;
thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
thou, in the darkness drear their one true light.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

The golden evening brightens in the west;
soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest;
sweet is the calm of paradise the blest.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

But, lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
the saints triumphant rise in bright array;
the King of Glory passes on his way.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

Text: William Walsham How (1823-1897),
Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Sung by the Mayfield Salisbury Chamber Group

  

BENEDICTION   Revd Helen Alexander

Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the Son of peace to you
And the blessing of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you all.

 

AMEN    Full Choir

      

INTIMATIONS

 

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that this congregation of Mayfield Salisbury has elected the Revd Dr Alexander Forsyth to be our new minister and a Call to the said Dr Forsyth has been prepared. It states that we are assured of his qualities as our future Minister and that we warmly invite him to accept this Call, promising that we shall devote ourselves with him to worship, witness, mission and service in this parish, and also to the furtherance of these in the world, to the glory of God and for the advancement of His Kingdom.

Given that the Call cannot be signed in the traditional way under the current Covid-19 conditions, the name of any person on the Electoral Register of the congregation may be added as a signatory to the Call in one of the following ways: the person may send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or may telephone the Church Office on the days mentioned below.  In either case the person should state his or her name and address and make clear that he or she wishes his or her name to be added to the Call. 

If you wish to phone it would be appreciated if you would do so on either Wednesday 4 November or Wednesday 11 November between 11am and 1pm.  The number to call is 0131 667 1522.  If you are able to send an email we would encourage you to do that. It should be done by Sunday 15 November 2020.

In addition a paper of Concurrence will be available for any person who is connected with the congregation but whose name is not on the Electoral Register of the congregation.  Children are also welcome to add their names to this paper.  Any person who wishes his or her name to be added to the paper of Concurrence should make contact in one of the ways just described.

Neil Gardner, Interim Moderator

 

REMEMBRANCE SERVICES The online service for Remembrance next Sunday will include a period of silence to remember the fallen in the two 20^th Century World Wars. The service in church will begin at 10.15am, ending with the customary Two Minutes’ Silence at 11am.

 

NEXT WEEK’S READINGS are Psalm 20 (in church); Isaiah 25: 1-9; St Matthew 5: 38-48 (both services).

 

PASTORAL CARE Do you now feel that you would like to have your own pastoral visitor? Or would you like someone to phone you over the winter months? Please get in touch with me and I will organise an appropriate match for you with one of our  pastoral care team. Kay McIntosh.  Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone: 0790 326 6307

 

CHANGE TO SERVICE TIMES As a date for the diaries of those who wish to attend worship in the sanctuary, Session has recently approved a change in the time of worship to 10:15am. This will take effect from Sunday 1 November.  It is something which we will keep under review, but it’s hoped that as we approach the season of shortening daylight hours the extra time will be of benefit.

 

GIFT SERVICES 2020 During ALL of NOVEMBER, you may bring your donation to the Sunday morning service when a decorated box will be available in the West Vestibule (ie as you enter by the one-way system). In addition, a member of the team will be available on Wednesday mornings throughout November in the Newington Room between 10am - 11am to receive your contribution.

One of the recipients of our donations is: Salvation Army and they need gifts for children from infant to fifteen. Children's toys like dressed dolls, footballs, football accessories, bath toys, playdoh, colouring books with pencils, duplo, lego, cars and trains; gifts such as age-appropriate jewellery, books, ornaments; and games like jigsaws, kaleidoscopes, spinning-tops are very welcome.

I’m happy to talk to anyone who is still stuck for an idea.  Many thanks.    Anne Graham 0131 667 6331

 

THANK YOU FOR OUR PRESENCE AT THE SERVICES  The church will be open at 10.00 on Sunday mornings for those who have booked to come to the service.

Please note that there may be member(s) of the congregation who are exempt on health grounds from wearing a mask. If this applies to you, it would be helpful if you wear a lanyard or badge.  If you would like to bring a cushion to place in your pew, please feel free to do so but do take it home with you.    

At the close of the service, please remain in your place until stewards invite you to leave, and maintain social distancing as you leave the church premises. If you wish to speak to Helen Alexander or Kay McIntosh, you are asked to indicate this as you pass them. They will join you on the pavement once everyone else has left.

Booking system

Phone: On Wednesdays, from 11.00am to 1.00pm, you may reserve a space by phoning the Church Office (0131 667 1522).

Internet: We would encourage anyone with internet access to use the Eventbrite booking system, which will be open from 4pm on Wednesdays. The system can be accessed from our website via this link: www.mayfieldsalisbury.org/attend

 

 

CHRISTIAN AID AUTUMN APPEAL

Today, as part of our Harvest/Creation Covenant Sunday, we will be thinking about the work of Christian Aid and its Autumn Appeal.

In Nicaragua, the farming community of Santa Rosa has grown coffee for generations. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in Latin America, and many grow coffee as their main source of income. Now, their future looks more and more uncertain. Angela Zelaya is a farmer in Santa Rosa. She explains: ‘With climate change, the coffee suffers and we’re losing more every year.’ At the same time, coffee prices have fallen globally. Angela is worried. ‘It will be a total disaster for us because as farmers, growing crops is how we survive.’ But there is hope. Facing this crisis has brought the community together to work as a local cooperative to share resources and knowledge. The cooperative is supported by Christian Aid’s local partner, Soppexcca. One of the main ways they are helping farmers protect their livelihoods is by shifting from coffee production to climate-resistant cocoa, helping people like Angela to secure a better future. Angela says: ‘With the cocoa project, we received loans and cocoa plants. The technicians visited us and told us what to do. We also received tree saplings to help shade our crops. The income from the cocoa crop means we can buy clothes, medicines and food.’

When ordinary neighbourhoods come together, they can create lasting change. Around the world, many of our global neighbours living in poverty continue to face crisis in its various forms. Love knows no distance. This autumn, Christian Aid is asking supporters to reach out to our global neighbours and help more communities overcome crisis. We are encouraged to:

• Give to help communities around the world come together to overcome the crisis of poverty. 

• Act by calling for the cancellation of debt repayments for low-income countries during the coronavirus crisis.

• Pray for our global neighbours facing crisis in all its forms.

To find out how you can be involved, or to make a donation to the Autumn Appeal, please visit the website at www.christianaid.org.uk. Donations can also be made by telephone on 020 7523 2269.

The Chrisitian Aid Committee would like to thank members of the Mayfield Salisbury congregation for their consistent support and generosity.

ONLINE OFFERING / DONATION The Church is very grateful to all those who give by standing order enabling us to maintain a large portion of our income through these difficult times. We now offer the ability to contribute to our work electronically through the ‘give.net’ facility which appears on the home page of the Church’s website. This provides the possibility of adding Gift Aid to donations. There is also a direct link to the new system which is: www.give.net/20311853                  With best wishes, Hugh Somerville, Free Will Offerings Treasurer

 

E-MAIL INFORMATION LISTS

Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church maintains several email lists to help distribute information throughout the congregation. Stay up-to-date on news, programs, and events at Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church with our email listsThe lists are as follows:

0930 Service list  Information pertaining to the Sunday 0930am All-Age Worship and related events.

Youth Newsletter Hillary Leslie, our Youth Worker, sends out a Youth Newsletter to parents of P6 - S6 youth. This keeps the parents and their kids in the loop about important youthrelated events and activities

Congregational list
General information relevant to the entire congregation. This includes general news, notices of lectures & special events and, importantly, details on the forthcoming ministerial vacancy.

Grapevine list The parish magazine, Grapevine, which is sent out seven times per year in PDF format.

If you sre interested in receiving any of these emails, please email me direct at the address supplied. If, after reflection, you change your mind I can remove your address from the list quickly - just let me know. Your information is secure and will not be shared with any third party. All emails are sent out privately to you only in a bcc’d (address not visible to others) email.  William Mearns Church Manager 0780 801 1234  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Forthcoming Deadlines

Order of service for next week: Thursday at 6.00pm.

Next Grapevine: Friday 27 November at 6.00pm.

Please send submissions to the Church Manager, William Mearns.

Phone: 0780 801 1234 or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

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Copyright Notices

SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS are from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.

All rights reserved worldwide.

Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church holds a CCLI Streaming License: #88916

 

Images – Some courtesy of Pixabay

 

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Youth Instagram: the.msyg

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