A newsletter filled with ideas, courses, events, and more!
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| Adventures in Faith November 2024
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Welcome to Adventures in Faith, where everyone in the Diocese of Edinburgh can explore, learn and grow in fullness of life. |
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| Finding Adventures in Faith Online |
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We hope you become increasingly comfortable navigating the AiF section of the Diocesan website, checking it regularly to find out what's going on in congregations and further afield that might be of interest to you. The key pages are linked on the gold-coloured menus throughout the newsletter, and here is a reminder about what you can find in each place... |
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Homepage - Outlines what Adventures in Faith is, with links to other landing pages. Newsletter - Links to all previous newsletters and to sign-up for emails. Calendar - Events happening across the Diocese, in congregations and partner organisations. Courses - A list of courses and events happening all over the UK. Awareness - Awareness days that link in with our faith and Marks of Mission. |
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| Here are some events happening for advent across the Diocese. If you have something happening, please add it to our Diocesan Events Calendar, and keep an eye on it for anything new popping up. |
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| Whitchester Christian Centre is just south west of Hawick in the Scottish Borders. They are offering an opportunity to get Christmas cards written in relaxed comfort 22nd-24th November. There is also the chance to stay there over 'the Christmas week' itself and join their House Party 23rd-27th December. |
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| Gifts of Winter is a Quiet Day for Advent being held in St Columba's by the Castle on Saturday 30th November, 10:30am-4pm. This retreat, led by Susan Mansfield of Heart in Pilgrimage, is an invitation to consider the blessings of winter which have much to show us about rest, resilience, faithfulness, mystery, and the God who is with us in the dark as much as in the light. Cost is £35/25, including lunch, coffee, cake. |
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| St Mary's Church, Grangemouth, are holding a 'Nativity' event on Saturday 30th November, 10am-1pm, where there will be a display of different nativity scenes. There will also be children's activities and some Christmas-inspired refreshments. A fun way to share in the wonder of nativity scenes of different times and styles. £3 entry, includes hot drink. |
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| St Michael and All Saints is inviting you to slow down in the lead-up to Christmas. This 90-minute Advent Retreat explores the themes of waiting and anticipation through music spanning the centuries, offering a reflective pause from the season’s bustle. Thursday 5th December 7-8:30pm. |
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| Godly Play Scotland is holding a Story Circle on Saturday 14th December, 10am-12:30pm. As the Mystery of Christmas draws closer, we need a little time to be ready and what better way than by listening to and wondering about a story, and feasting. All are welcome. There is no charge and no need to book. |
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| Every year, a new set of Advent resources and devotions hit the market and the web. Here are some new offerings for 2024. Please also share your beloved resources, of whatever vintage, and we can add them to our website page of resources! |
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| Riches Stored in Secret Places is a new online retreat by Edinburgh-based Susan Mansfield (Heart in Pilgrimage), which prompts us to consider what it means to stay with the dark for a time to allow its riches to be revealed. This series of weekly Advent reflections features a new audio reflection to listen to each week, plus a selection of other reflective material to read and ponder throughout the week. The reflections are designed to create quiet spaces in a busy season, and draw on poetry, art, music, Scripture and other wisdom writing. |
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| If marking the days of Advent is new to you, or you are not sure how to add in an appropriate spiritual discipline for the season, there is a website called Keeping Advent that might help! This offers some explanation and a few ways of engaging (from a Church of England perspective). The Advent Conspiracy website has a short and very accessible daily devotional online. Each day from 1st-25th December has some scripture, a reflection, questions for your own reflection, and a prayer. Or perhaps you could light a candle once a week and engage with the Advent materials from Christian Aid. |
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| The Scottish Episcopal Institute have a series of lectures for Advent. The four 40-minute lectures take their shape from the 1982 Scottish Liturgy to outline the main elements of a faithful and orthodox Christian theology of creation which can speak to our contemporaries. Delivered by the Very Revd Dr Stephen Holmes, each lecture also has some questions for reflection or discussion. The course can be joined each Monday of Advent from 7pm via the links on the SEI website. |
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| Other Events of Interest |
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| As the New Year approaches, a growing number of courses are being advertised which allow people of faith to grow in their understanding of Christianity. We will continue to update the Adventures in Faith Courses page as information becomes available. For now, here are some things to whet your appetite... |
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Sarum College in Salisbury offers a broad range of events and courses, many of which are available online. You can explore upcoming short courses via their website here. There is also a rolling 2-year programme of theological learning entitled Exploring Theology, which consists of 10 week modules. You can join the programme at the start of any module...and the next module, Exploring Christian Belief: modern developments in theological conversations and issues, begins in the new year. |
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Trinity College, University of Glasgow, offers various short courses for clergy and laity alike. In early 2025, the course most likely to be of use to SEC members is the Listening in Mission course, which is delivered online. The course begins on 30th January and runs on Thursday evenings, 7-9pm, until 27th March. Other courses relating to worship development and delivery are also available. For each course, the cost is £207, and there is application deadline of 13th December 2024. |
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Godly Play Scotland is running the Godly Play Storyteller and Door Person Accredited Training 21st-23rd March 2025. This course is designed to give people a better understanding of both the theory and practice of Godly Play; however, it offers so much more. Whether you wish to run Godly Play sessions or not, attending this course will challenge your understanding of scripture, spirituality, community, age, learning, and anything else to do with the discipleship journey. The course costs £315, which includes a course handbook, lunches, dinner on Saturday evening, and refreshments (there are early booking discounts). More information and booking links available here. |
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| In this section of each newsletter, we will share a resource that might help you explore, learn, or grow in your faith: it could be a book, a podcast, an email subscription, or something else!
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Cards for Good Causes haa pop-up shop in St John's, Princes Street, until Thursday 19th December. It is open every day except Sunday, 10am-4pm, selling Christmas cards from a wide range of charities. Beyond the cards, there are Advent calendars, small gifts, wrapping paper, candles, decorations, tea towels, etc, etc. It is a good way to browse a large range of cards, support favourite and previously-unknown charities, and even spend a little time in the stillness of St John's. |
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| 😃 We hope you have enjoyed exploring this Adventures in Faith newsletter. 🔼 Check out the dedicated AiF webpages via the menu options above. 📧 Please forward this email to congregational friends, who can sign-up using the button below. 👈 Share the QR code via church magazines, noticeboards, pew-sheets, etc. |
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