Orkney Episcopal

Category: Event

  • Creation Time

    Creation Time

    The period from 1st September until 4th October is celebrated by churches throughout the world as ‘Creation Time’. It’s a time “dedicated to prayer for the protection of Creation and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles that reverse our contribution to climate change”.

    The beginning and end dates are significant:

    • 1st September is the first day of the Eastern Orthodox liturgical year. In 1989, the Ecumenical Patriarch suggested that it should be observed as a day of “protection of the natural environment”. 10 years later, the the European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN) expanded the idea to cover a longer period and they encouraged churches to adopt the period from 1st September until 4th October as a ‘Time for Creation’.
    • 4th October is the feast day of St Francis, known for his love for animals and the environment.

    The theme for this year is A home for all? Renewing the Oikos of God. Psalm 24:1 says: The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. Sadly, however, we’re now facing a climate crisis – a crisis that’s putting all of creation at serious risk. This year’s focus on Oikos – the family, the family’s property and the house – looks to remind us of our interconnectedness. It’s a reminder that the Season of Creation should be a time for action as well as prayer.

    Within the whole inhabited Earth (oikoumene), the Church (oikoumene) calls all households and societies (oikos) to turn our political, social and economic systems (oikonomia) towards just, sustainable economies of life, which respect the limits and life giving ecological boundaries (oikologia) of our common home.

    https://seasonofcreation.org/about/

    Season of Creation 2021 Prayer
    Creator of All,
    We are grateful that from your communion of love you created our planet to be a home
    for all. By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of living beings
    that filled the soil, water and air. Each part of creation praises you in their being, and
    cares for one another from our place in the web of life.
    With the Psalmist, we sing your praise that in your house “even the sparrow finds a
    home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young.” We remember
    that you call human beings to keep your garden in ways that honor the dignity of each
    creature and conserve their place in the abundance of life on Earth.
    But we know that our will to power pushes the planet beyond her limits. Our
    consumption is out of harmony and rhythm with Earth’s capacity to heal herself.
    Habitats are left barren or lost. Species are lost and systems fail. Where reefs and
    burrows, mountaintops and ocean deeps once teemed with life and relationships, wet
    and dry deserts lie empty, as if uncreated. Human families are displaced by insecurity
    and conflict, migrating in search of peace. Animals flee fires, deforestation and famine,
    wandering in search of a new place to find a home to lay their young and live.
    In this Season of Creation, we pray that the breath of your creative Word would move
    our hearts, as in the waters of our birth and baptism. Give us faith to follow Christ to our
    just place in the beloved community. Enlighten us with the grace to respond to your
    covenant and call to care for our common home. In our tilling and keeping, gladden our
    hearts to know that we participate with your Holy Spirit to renew the face of your Earth,
    and safeguard a home for all.
    In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ.
    Amen.

    Further resources:

  • Traidcraft Regenerator’s Appeal

    Traidcraft Regenerator’s Appeal

    Orkney Fair Trade Group have been really fortunate to be offered a week in The Blue Door during the week commencing Monday May 24th and they plan to donate any funds raised to the Traidcraft Regenerator’s Appeal.

    Regenerators are people who tackle the climate crisis face on and help build a better, greener world for everyone, despite all the obstacles.

    By investing in climate smart technology, like solar panels and irrigation systems, alongside planting trees and new crops, those on the frontline of the climate crisis can protect their homes and incomes.

    Donations made to The Regenerators Appeal before 7th June 2021 will be matched by the UK government. This will double the value of the donation and help the most vulnerable stand strong in the face of climate change.

    The Regenerators Appeal helps people like Issa:

    Issa Mkandu Issa (45) a father of 3 children and one of the beneficiary. He is one of the people who has been affected by the floods. His farm was affected by floods.

    In Issa’s village they don’t ask ‘is climate change real?’. They ask ‘how will I feed my family now that the floods have destroyed my farm?’
    As he explains, it wasn’t always like this. “In my time when I was growing up, these changes had not happened. Back then the seasons went through without any problem. People here knew exactly what to do because the weather was stable.”
    But the certainty of his childhood is long gone. Climate change means that the coastal region’s once predictable weather is now erratic, and harvests have suffered. A cycle of floods and droughts mean farming in his community barely turns a profit.
    “The last rainy season, there was a lot of water and the river flooded. Some of the villagers lost their animals and their houses were destroyed – we had to find a boat to rescue them.”
    But Issa is part of the Regenerators project – a group of people in some of the world’s most
    vulnerable communities who have plans to tackle the climate crisis face on and help build a better, greener world where everyone, no matter where they were born, can earn a decent living from their hard work.
    By investing in climate smart technology, like solar panels and irrigation systems, alongside planting trees to restore soils and biodiversity, and growing new, resilient crops, those on the frontline of the climate crisis like Issa can protect their homes and incomes.
    “For my kids, when they reach an age when they can understand, I will advise them to be able to use things like irrigation and solar. This could be their rescue as in this place we all depend on agriculture, so if they do this it will bring them more income and development.”
    Protecting forests and planting new trees will regenerate soils and stop erosion, mitigating the worst impacts of flooding. Growing new varieties of crops, better suited to surviving erratic weather, will help communities to earn a decent income and grow enough to eat and sell whatever the climate throws at them.

    (Information taken from https://traidcraftexchange.org/regenerators)

    Climate change is happening right now, and it’s hitting the most vulnerable the hardest. If you can help with Orkney Fairtrade Group’s appeal, please do.

    They would be very grateful for offers of goods to be sold in the Blue Door and, if possible, these should be taken to their shed on Friday May 21st.  Alternatively, they will have a collection point in Kirkwall and one in the West Mainland where goods can be dropped off (details to follow).  If collection is needed please contact them and they will try to arrange for this.

    Raffle prizes would also be very welcome.

  • Holy Week 2021

    Kirkwall Council of Churches – Wednesday 31st March 2021

    Last year the coronavirus pandemic stopped us all in our tracks. From one day to the next our regular lives got suspended and we had to find new ways of doing things. It was a month later that the Holy Week began and the Kirkwall Council of Churches, like many others, decided to go online with our diet of worship.

    This year is not going to be much different, even though some churches are able to meet in person. The severe restrictions on numbers and other considerations made us decide to take the Holy Week services online once again.

    This is the third of the Holy Week reflections for 2021 and is led by Fr Bala.

  • Holy Week 2021

    Kirkwall Council of Churches – Tuesday 30th March 2021

    Last year the coronavirus pandemic stopped us all in our tracks. From one day to the next our regular lives got suspended and we had to find new ways of doing things. It was a month later that the Holy Week began and the Kirkwall Council of Churches, like many others, decided to go online with our diet of worship.

    This year is not going to be much different, even though some churches are able to meet in person. The severe restrictions on numbers and other considerations made us decide to take the Holy Week services online once again.

    This is the second of the Holy Week reflections for 2021 and is led by Hannah Rendall.

  • Holy Week 2021

    Kirkwall Council of Churches – Monday 29th March 2021

    Last year the coronavirus pandemic stopped us all in our tracks. From one day to the next our regular lives got suspended and we had to find new ways of doing things. It was a month later that the Holy Week began and the Kirkwall Council of Churches, like many others, decided to go online with our diet of worship.

    This year is not going to be much different, even though some churches are able to meet in person. The severe restrictions on numbers and other considerations made us decide to take the Holy Week services online once again.

    This is the first of the Holy Week reflections for 2021 and is led by Rev Dr Marjory MacLean.

  • Holy Week 2021

    Holy Week 2021

    During Holy Week, it’s been the practice of the Kirkwall Council of Churches to host a number of services during the week. The lunchtime Reflections in St Magnus Cathedral are led by church leaders and lay people from around Orkney and provide an opportunity to pause for a while and explore aspects of the Easter story. On Good Friday, there’s also a Walk of Witness which visits each of the eight member churches in turn, with each church preparing a short time of worship. And on Easter Sunday, early in the morning, the Salvation Army lead us in a joyful service at the top of Wideford Hill!

    Unfortunately, this year (as with last year) our Holy Week services are having to be hosted online. Rev Julia Meason, secretary to the Kirkwall Council of Churches, says:

    Last year the coronavirus pandemic stopped us all in our tracks. From one day to the next our regular lives got suspended and we had to find new ways of doing things. It was a month later that Holy Week began and the Kirkwall Council of Churches, like many others, decided to go online with our diet of worship.

    This year is not going to be much different, even though some churches are able to meet in person. The severe restrictions on numbers and other considerations made us decide to take our Holy Week services online once again.

    On Monday 29th, Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st March the ecumenical reflections are going to appear on the Kirkwall Council of Churches Facebook page. They will be led by worship leaders from different denominations – but we’re not going to reveal who they are: just come along and see for yourself the great richness and diversity of the Body of Christ!

    On 2nd April, the Good Friday Walk of Witness will have 10-minute services from the 8 member churches of the KCC. They will be appearing from 8 am on our Facebook page.

    For Easter Sunday we are going to record a short video with the Salvation Army playing ‘Thine be the glory’, and the account of the Easter events will be read. We look forward to celebrating this greatest festival of the Christian year – and the events leading up to it – with you. You are most welcome to join us whether you can do so for the whole of Holy Week or for certain parts of it. May you be blessed in this journey.

  • COP26

    COP26

    Eco-Congregation Scotland invites us to ‘Get involved with your own church’ and have sent this COP26 update:

    Eco-Congregation Scotland continues to encourage churches and volunteers across the country to get involved in activities relating to the COP26 United Nations climate conference, still taking place this November at the Scottish Events Campus in Glasgow (pictured above). 

    Our new 2-page monthly briefing on what COP26 is and how to get involved is online now. Updated every month and highlighting any new information, please download or visit our webpage for the latest.

    We appreciate the volunteer support of Adrian Shaw, former Church of Scotland climate change officer, for the briefing and COP-related activities. Adrian is also supporting Interfaith Scotland as we link closely with other faith groups and wider civil society organisations in all our collective work towards COP26. We are delighted that Glasgow Churches Together has taken under its umbrella as a special sub-committee the COP26 Churches Co-ordinating Group we initiated in 2019, enabling more ecumenical support and activities relating to COP26.

    COP26 is a timely opportunity for churches and volunteers in every part of Scotland to get more involved in addressing local environmental issues and tackling the climate emergency.

    We are also encouraging you to take part in the world’s biggest ever faith-climate day of action this coming week, Sacred Earth, Sacred People – ringing a bell for climate justice or posting on social media – and sharing more upcoming events. In this first of our regular newsletter focused on COP26 updates, we end with a specific call for church halls in and around Glasgow.

    As we near twelve months of engaging online due to COVID-19 with our own programme of events, we thank you for your support and encouragement which is always appreciated.

  • Fairtrade Breakfast

    Fairtrade Breakfast

    This beautifully sunny and frosty morning twelve of us, including friends from other churches in Orkneys, met on Zoom for a Fairtrade Breakfast to celebrate FT products near and far. Orkney Fairtrade Group motto “Buy Fair Buy Local” was truly followed as people had on their breakfast tables FT coffee and tea, FT breakfast juice, FT dates and bananas, home made muffins made with FT and local ingredients (good Orkney milk and butter and some had eggs from their own hens). Not to forget the delicious Birsay oats.                      

    It was a different way of having breakfast together from our usual FT breakfast at church, however we all enjoyed coming together though there were some problems connecting because of poor internet connection.

  • Evening Service for Sunday 21st February

    Sunday 21st is the UNESCO International Mother Language Day, This year’s observance is a call on policymakers, educators and teachers, parents and families to scale up their commitment to multilingual education, and inclusion in education to advance education recovery in the context of COVID-19. This effort also contributes to the United Nations International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032), for which UNESCO is the lead agency, and which places multilingualism at the heart of indigenous peoples’ development.  Alongside this we remember all those displaced people who are struggling to survive in alien cultures and surroundings.

  • A year to remember

    A year to remember

    On 30th January 2020, the World Health Organisation declared the Corona Virus outbreak as a global health emergency.  To mark the anniversary of this, members of St Olaf’s organised a Prayer Vigil and invited 12 churches, representing a variety of denominations and Orkney locations, to contribute.

    We were overwhelmed by the response and support.  To avoid technical issues, the bulk of the vigil was in pre-recorded 5-minute sections, each focusing on a particular group or issue.  Each church sent a sound or video file and suggested some prayer points, and these were then compiled and edited by Mike Robertson.  The vigil began with a short introduction from Stuart Little, during which we were invited to light a candle, and Linda Broadley (Church of Scotland) led a short act of worship at the end.

    We were joined on the night by about 70 people – mainly from Orkney, but we also had people joining us from Shetland, Scotland, England and even as far afield as New York – and we’ve had some very positive and encouraging feedback.

    The vigil was recorded and is available on Youtube.