‘Sunday worship – 6 September’
Good evening,
I am writing to let you know about Chaplaincy services from this Sunday.
Full details of services, Orientation Week events and much more will be in a Chaplaincy newsletter appearing in your inbox tomorrow, Tuesday. But for now I want to let you know that from tomorrow you will be able to reserve a place at this Sunday’s Service of Welcome. The service will begin at 11 am, in St Salvator’s Chapel. I will be the preacher, and my title is Out of Eden. Sam will share in leading prayer, the Principal and Chief Usher will be reading, there will be organ music and much more. Here is an image from the order of service:
Now, numbers at the service are limited to 50. So we have an online sign-up system, via the University’s Events webpage .
This number has been set by the Scottish Government and can be safely accommodated in St Salvator’s Chapel. We very much hope that all places will be reserved – we’d like the Chapel to be as safely full as it can be. If you reserve a place, please do attend! If for any reason you cannot attend having reserved a place, please let the Chaplaincy office know. Households will be able to sit together. Of course, there is no charge to attend.
If you find that all the places have been reserved, or you cannot attend in person for any reason, then there is an alternative. We will hold a live service online at 2 pm (British Summertime) this Sunday, with the same order, readings, sermon and music. Indeed, we can sing the hymns at home instead of saying them as we will in the Chapel! The link for that online service is this: Teams. You just click on the link and that should take you eventually into the service. The University does not support Zoom, and so we are now using Teams. (Which at least means I am unlikely to sing Zoom by Fat Larry’s Band in any upcoming service.)
We’ve been promised that these links should work for anyone. But you may find it helpful to download Teams on to your computer if you haven’t already done so. I think this is the place to start: www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software
Almost all the Chaplaincy’s events this semester will be online, largely via Microsoft Teams. But there are significant exceptions. As well as Sunday morning services, we will be worshipping in person in St Salvator’s Chapel in Compline on Thursday evenings at 10 pm (from Thursday 17 September). As soon as we can we also hope to begin services of Evensong.
It is also possible for faith societies to organise in-person worship, prayer and meditation in the Chaplaincy.
And with the Chaplaincy/Mansefield open, we can now offer in person appointments with Sam or me – and you are also welcome to contact members of the honorary team for support too. Sam and I will of course continue to offer support via Teams and the phone – alongside meetings in our rooms. Just contact us to arrange this.
The word “distancing” has been ever-present this year – social or physical. The Chaplaincy will play its part in maintaining this essential way of preventing transmission of the virus. But our basic aim is to bring people closer – people of different faiths, cultures, traditions and philosophies of life. To bring people closer, when feeling isolated. To bring people closer to their deepest selves, in worship, prayer and their spiritual lives. We’ll try our best to do that this year, despite the inevitable glitches in technology.
In other words, this year will even more than usual be a blend of the old and the new. Which leads into a final picture:
Yes, the same words but, after at least a decade of the same paper in the window, a new sign. Old and new: your 2020 Chaplaincy.
Take care,
Donald