DMMC News

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Welcome to February's Newsletter!

Please remember that information on courses, awareness dates, etc, that used to be part of this mailer are now available via our Adventures in Faith pages (see menu below).

Welcome!

John Salisbury, Lay Reader

We welcome John Salisbury to Edinburgh Diocese as a Lay Reader in St Peter's, Galashiels (centre). We wish him every blessing and look forward to getting to know him in the coming months.

Kristine Sisask, Interim Administrative Assistant (Mission & Ministry)

Following the departure of Joanna, we have appointed an interim Admin Assistant to support the work of DMMC and Fee as ACL. She will be working Mon-Wed, 9:30-3pm. Her contact details are listed at the bottom of this email.

Diocesan Synod

Clergy who are instituted, licensed, or commissioned are reminded of the requirement to attend the Diocesan Synod on Saturday 15th February. Apologies should be sent to the Bishop directly and, wherever possible, in advance of the meeting. All papers can be found on the website here.

Signing In

Decisions made at the February Synod begin the process of electing our next Bishop. As such, we must make sure that only those eligible to vote are able to do so. There will be a strict sign-in process, using the information we hold on the Diocesan Office database. If you are not 100% certain that we hold the correct names for the Lay Rep and Alt Lay Rep in your congregation(s), please contact Morgan before 5pm on Wednesday 12 March.

Nominations

There are a number of vacancies that we would like to fill at this Synod, across our committees and for General Synod: you can find the detail here. This includes 4 positions on the Preparatory Committee, which will oversee our forthcoming Episcopal Election (2 x clergy and 2 x lay). Should you, or someone in your congregation or Area Council, wish to be considered for any of these positions, a completed nomination form and biography must be with Simon Filsell, Diocesan Administrator, before NOON on Wednesday 12 March. Please do take the time to encourage those with the gifts to come forward.

For all in Authorised Ministry

CMD Tue 11 Feb: Register here

How do chapter headings alter our interpretation of Scripture? Are images a help or a hindrance? What about footnotes and cross-references? What is the impact of font size? Or even the scribbled notes written by others in the margin?

It is these, and other, 'paratexts' that are the research focus for Prof Garrick Allen, Professor of Divinity at Glasgow University. His work is unique, interdisciplinary, and more than just interesting: it has implications for how we read and preach the Bible in our congregations today.

Be inspired by the introductory video below. Then join us at our next CMD Day on Tuesday 11 February at St James-the-Less, Leith to find out more. There will be coffee from 10am and we will finish by 3:30pm.

Register here

Learning Lunches start at 12:30pm and are mostly on Zoom. For reference, here is the Zoom link

▶ Thu 27 Feb: Children and Church with Claire Benton-Evans.

▶ Thu 27 Mar: Media engagment with Pip Blackledge.

There will be one held in-person, in Edinburgh:

▶ Thu 15 May: +John reflecting on his trip to Jordan with +Kaisamari.

Trinity College, Glasgow, are again running their online, Masters-level short course Leading in Church Change. The course seeks to "assist recognised church leaders/clergy to evaluate their critical change challenges, engage with recent organisational change practice and equip with tools and perspectives for faithful and strategic responses." It runs for 8 weeks, starting 1 May, and costs £499. A member of the Diocese describes this course as "transformative" and highly recommends it to others.

More information is available on Trinity's website.

The following College of Preachers Zoom seminars take place from 10:30-1pm, and cost £12.

▶ Tue 25 Feb: Preaching the Story of Holy Week, Revd Dr Michael Beck.

▶ Sat 22 Mar: Preaching & Apologetics, Rev Dr John Woods.

▶ Wed 2 Apr: The Language of Resurrection: Finding the Right Words, Rev Canon Dr Rod Garner.

Preaching Conference Advance Notice 9-11 September 2025.

Anniversary of Nicene Creed

Fr John Behr, will be delivering his lecture ‘From Gospel to Creed’ on Friday 7th March 2025. This is an SEI event, open to all in authorised ministry, to be held onsite at St Mary's Monastery, Kinnoull. RSVP [email protected].

For Clergy

Area Councils, Spring 2025. A small team from the Diocese, including the Dean, wish to meet with each Area Council between 21 April and 4 June 2025. So far, we only have dates for Edinburgh Forth and Edinburgh East. Availability for the team to fit-in the other 5 Area Councils is disappearing fast. Please contact your Area Council colleagues asap, as per Kristine's email of 4 February, to arrange a date and time. Please then liaise with Kristine to finalise this with the Dean's diary. Thank you.

Listening Ears is a confidential peer support service for stipendiary clergy from the SEC. It offers informal peer support by phone on an ad hoc basis for matters professional or personal. More information and contact details on the SEC website.

For Lent

The Diocesan Lent Course for 2025 is now available. If you would like hard copies printed and posted to you, or a Word document version, please contact Kristine in the first instance.

The course is entitled 'Christ has no body now but yours', which echoes the prayer of St Teresa of Avila, and invites reflection on the central Christian theme of the Church as the Body of Christ. Different parts of the human body are used to explore the characteristics of God and the invitation to follow and work with God each day, both individually and as the gathered ‘Body of Christ’.

Download the course now from the website.

SEI are hosting a short course for Lent, entitled 'Miriam's Sisters, Deborah's Daughters: When Women Lead the Way'. This is being presented by SEC priest, IME2 Officer, and author of a book by the same title, the Revd Liz Crumlish.

There are 6 x 25minute videos, which will be available over the Mondays of Lent from 7pm. More information and YouTube links are on the SEI website.

Stations of the Cross

The new Racial Justice Sunday materials for 2025 include prompts and prayers for use in Stations of the Cross. This may be something you wish to incorporate into your Lenten or Holy Week services.

All the resources can be found here.

'Christian' Seders / Passover Meals. The use of “Christian Seders” during Lent or Holy Week is strongly discouraged.

Historically, the way Passover/Pesach was celebrated during the lifetime of Jesus is very different from the current Jewish practices. Jesus would not recognise a modern Seder meal.

Theologically, replacing deeply symbolic Jewish practices with Christian meaning perpetuates replacement theology / supersessionism, which has been the basis for much anti-Judaism.

For more information, please see this 2023 document from the Council for Christians and Jews: “Why ‘Christian Seders’ are not a good idea: A brief explainer” and this 2023 webinar: “Should Christians Celebrate Passover?”

For Children, Young People, and Leaders

You will have heard of Munro Bagging. You may even have heard of Bishop Bagging. Let us introduce you to Church Bagging! In 2025, are inviting our young people, aged 12-18, to join us at Sunday evening services. This will be chance to meet up with friends old and new as well as experience a range of worship services. Dates and locations are shown below.

We are heading to St John's, Princes Street, on Sunday 16 February. The service starts at 6pm, and Fee will be around to meet folks at the door from 5:45pm. If anyone wants to be met earlier at Waverley Station, please contact Fee in advance.

The following Godly Play Scotland events will take place in the Godly Play Room at Duddingston Kirk, Edinburgh, starting at 10am.

▶ Discovery Day: Sat 22 Feb.

▶ Training: Fri 21-Sun 23 Mar.

Safeguarding Training for all those working with under-18s is taking place at Ps & Gs on Monday 24 February, 7-9pm. Please register in advance here.

Please also SAVE THE DATE: Saturday 27 September (9am-1pm), which is the next Youth and Children's Training Day at Ps & Gs. Further details to follow!

Adventures in Faith

There are various Awareness Days that might be of interest to you / your congregation in February.

Please use the menu above to navigate to the relevant page of the website, then click on 'February'. There is a full year there now, for those who like to plan ahead!

The Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) website has been updated. Please check it out, particularly their resources for Racial Justice Sunday on 9 February.

Trustee Training Events are now available to book for 2025. These events educate all trustees on their role and responsibilities as both vestry members and charity trustees. The training in 2025 will cover similar ground to previous years but will also include updated information on property, Health and Safety, insurance, and eligibility. All trustees are welcome to attend, with those who have never yet received training strongly advised to do so, including clergy.