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Quick Links: Regular Services • Monthly Services • Dates for your Diary • Recent Events • Curate's Letter

  
 
Regular Services: Suspended due to Coronavirus
Sundays
11.30 am

All services suspended until further notice.

See latest links below.

Wednesdays (see Services)
10.30 am

Daily Prayer
Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer (Compline)


 
 


 

May (online services linked below when available)
Sun
3rd
online 11:00 am
 Easter 4
Wed
6th
Details link
Sun
10th
online 11:00 am
 Easter 5
Thu 14th
online
6:30 pm
 Service of the Word
Sun
17th
online 11:00 am
 Easter 6
Rogation Sunday
Thu
21st
online
8:30 am
 Ascension Day
Sun
24th
online 11:00 am
 Easter 7
Thu
28th
Service of the Word  
Sun
31st
Pentecost

Online worship on Sundays
 The Liturgy, including readings, is available to download from this page
and from Youtube links above.

Daily Prayer - Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer (Compline)

May Intercessions (as used in our services)

Anglican Cycle of Prayer - Provincial Profiles for Sunday prayers

 
 

 

Coronavirus updates and resources

 

And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth

 

Dates for your Diary:

See also hall calendar for the year

All events discontinued until further notice.
 

Other planned events for 2020

150th Anniversary of the opening of the church building on 13th May 1870

It was planned to celebrate the anniversary on 17th May, being the nearest Sunday. However this is not possible in the present circumstances so we are remembering it with an updated version of Gordon Johnson's history of our church.

Church History by Gordon Johnson

 

St John's Scottish Episcopal Church, Wick, May 2020 - 150 years old.

On the 13th of May, 1870 Bishop Eden consecrated the newly built church on the corner of Francis Street and Moray Street, Wick. The congregation had already been established some fifteen years before and had worshipped in, the now, Assembly Rooms in Wick.

Fast forward to 2020 and earlier this year St John's was gearing up to celebrating the 150th anniversary of the opening of St John's. The St John's Singers and the Pultney Bell Ringers were in full rehearsal for the musical input to the big event planned for Sunday the 17th of May, the nearest Sunday to the actual date.

Suddenly all the plans are on hold and still are to this day, because of the present pandemic. But our anniversary did not go unnoticed. The musical director of the St John's Singers, Susie Dingle, as part of a weekly online 'hymn along' with Katrina Gordon, kindly gave us a mention on the 17th of May. She dedicated the hymn "Thy hand, O God has guided" to St John's. Susie and Katrina are members of Pentland Brass Band. You can follow them on Sunday afternoons at 2pm, in their back garden, when they perform live on the Pentland Brass Band Facebook page.

By the by, in February 2005, St John's held an anniversary service, led by Bishop John Crook, to mark the 150th anniversary of the establishment of an Episcopal congregation in Wick. He led a service of thanksgiving at which Richard Stanley and Andrew Wilson were admitted to the Scottish Guild of Servers. An anniversary concert was then held in the church in March, at which the guests were Wick Choral Society and the Caithness Handbell Ringers.

Lyn Ball

 

Letter from our Bishop and Priest-in-Charge

My Dear Friends in St John's

One of the hardest days for me during this lockdown period is Sunday, I am sure that is the same for many of you as you struggle without the presence of your church building. The problem for me is that on a Saturday evening my phone pings and tells me where I would have been going before life changed. I have kept the entries in my diary so that when we are free to move about again I will know what I need to do to catch up.

Therefore on Saturday evening the phone pinged and said to me Wick 150 and I began to think of the worship we should have shared on this important occasion and the joy and fellowship we would have had.

I also spent much of Sunday with you all in my mind and in my prayers. As I gardened I thought of you all keeping the grounds in good condition, as I shared Evening Prayers I thought of the multitude of prayers that have been offered in St John's, as I ate my supper I thought of the cakes and treats I had missed in the church hall that day and inevitably I thought of familiar faces and of those who have journeyed on.

Please therefore be assured of my love and prayers and of the fact that we will celebrate this important occasion, sometime, hopefully in the not too distant future.

Blessings
+Mark

Book Sales:
26th and 27th June
4th and 5th September
6th and 7th November

Coffee Mornings:
25th July (t.b.c.)
26th September
28th November

See also Love North - Worship & Connect

Scottish Episcopal Church - Launch of child poverty fund

For sale in aid of church funds

Beautiful quality teatowels - only £6.50, individually wrapped. Proceeds to church funds.

Available by post from Lyn on 07890 902816 or Brenda at stjohnswick@btinternet.com .

 

click to enlarge

Recent Events :

Not so Recent

Here is a short story my Dad shared with me recently. When they moved to Caithness in the Summer of 1983, the garden of the new house was pretty bleak. Sitting on top of a hill which caught every direction of wind, there were no trees, no flower beds, just a gravel drive and lots of grass. The ground had not been worked before so it would take a few years to start to shape a garden for flowers and vegetables.

Following their first Winter with long dark nights, power cuts and heavy snow falls, green shoots started to appear in a swathe in front of the house. Unknown to them, the previous owner had planted a hundred-weight of daffodil bulbs of all varieties. Now to some people these are foreign invaders, and shouldn't have a place in our gardens. But to them, they were a cheery, waving riot of colour after a bleak Winter.

Hang in there everyone, the seasons will still turn.

Jeanette Harper

 

  
 

Curate's Letter

Dear All

'When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

'But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

'A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

'Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.'

John 20:19-31

I could so easily insert 'virus' instead of 'Jews' into the first sentence above. The disciples were in lockdown. Except, it wasn't really the Jews, but those in authority who had crucified Jesus. Adele Reinhartz in the Jewish Annotated New Testament writes that 'the Jews' in John's Gospel can mean 'those who are hostile to Jesus and his followers' and can be literally translated as 'the inhabitants of Judea.'

In the Bible we're not told how many disciples were in fear of the Jewish authorities, but we do know from other stories in the Gospels that there were many disciples, so we can assume that it was not just the eleven who were in lockdown. Of course, the story we have in John's Gospel speaks of 'the twelve' in verse 24 (paragraph two above), so naturally we assume that the disciples written about are of the eleven disciples of the inner group. Not all of the disciples would have been in Jerusalem, but scattered throughout Judea.

Listening to the sermon given by Bishop Anne on Sunday 19th April (and the services are still available on https://www.scotland.anglican.org/broadcast-sunday-worship/), she spoke of the lock down that we are experiencing, and the effect on families and businesses. Some of us are self-isolating in that lockdown, due to age or underlying health conditions. And yet, a few of us have still experienced colds and other infections. It goes to show that lockdown reduces but does not eliminate the spread of infection. Likewise, being in lockdown does not mean that Christ cannot be present, because as we're shown in the story above, Christ can stand amongst us. We're told by Jesus that "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

Belief, and continuing to believe in lockdown can be very stressful. Belief amidst underlying health conditions and infections can be hard. I know that during my recent infection I have felt God ask me to focus on Him and worship Him. Taking my focus away from my internal struggles and the news, overladen with negative stories of death and fear, and focussing in on God.

We count ourselves amongst those who have not seen and yet come to believe, such is our faith. But to remain under lockdown needs a new way of thinking, and being. Those not used to being at home have to adjust. A new routine will help those unsure moments, as will regular contact with friends and family over the phone or through social media. New stresses occur and mentally, one's health needs looking after very carefully during this time.

Doing church has changed, as I hinted in my last Curate's Letter. Being church has not, and this is where our faith, our belief in the things unseen, is what we need to hold onto. As I feel called to worship God through my infection, we should all look to God and answer that small, quiet voice of calm. As we, as a Province, Diocese and church in Caithness look to news of being church , I ask for your prayers for all of us as we take one tentative step in front of another, unsure of when we might be allowed out, yet sure of the hope we have in God.

He is risen! Alleluia. Alleluia.

Ellie

  
 

 

 

  

 
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