St Ninians Glenurquhart

Fàilte do Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba Ninian Naoimh, Gleann Urchardainn!

Welcome to Saint Ninian’s Scottish Episcopal Church, Glen Urquhart!

Next service:

Sunday 27th. June, 11 am

At St Ninian’s there will be a service every Sunday now.

Thursday services will be held once a month, on the first Thursday of the month, starting on Thursday 1st. July.

Please note that restrictions still apply: seating will be socially distanced, face masks must be worn, hand sanitiser must be used, but singing is allowed again. You must also sign in when you arrive so that you can be contacted if necessary. Numbers are also restricted, so if you want to attend, please contact the Vestry Secretary, Mrs Gill Austen, (gillausten@yahoo.co.uk, tel. 07717 671708) in good time.

For anyone who is unable to or prefers not to come to a physical church service, the SEC will continue to broadcast a live-streamed service every Sunday (see details below).

Indian Covid Crisis Appeal

On Sunday 16th May we are launching an appeal for the Indian covid crisis.

Many of us have received the covid vaccine, free of charge, from the NHS, and know that we are now much safer. Most of us would have been willing to pay for the vaccine ourselves if necessary.

We suggest that you might like to donate all or part of the cost of your vaccine to our appeal, to help to get people in India vaccinated and to get covid patients the medical treatment they need.(The average cost of the covid vaccine is £15, but of course any sum will be welcome).

The money will go to the Christian Medical College in Vellore, South India, which is a teaching hospital that provides excellent care for anyone regardless of religion or caste. CMC also has clinics in rural areas where otherwise there would be no access to medical care. It has been recommended to us by Bishop Mark.

You can make a donation when attending church from Sunday 16th May. If you would like to contribute but are unable to come to church, you can send a cheque to our Treasurer, Sue Munro, at Arancri, Tor Croft, Balnain, Glen Urquhart IV63 6TJ (please make the cheque payable to St Ninian’s Scottish Episcopal Church Glen Urquhart, and enclose a note saying it is for the Indian covid appeal).

Live-streamed services:

As in the first lockdown, there will be a live streamed service for the whole Scottish Episcopal Church online every Sunday.  All streamed services may be viewed on the SEC Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/scottishepiscopalchurch/ and on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/scottishepiscopal. The Sunday service will also be available to view during the following week on the SEC website at https://www.scotland.anglican.org/stay-at-home-with-online-worship/.

If you know anyone who has no internet access, they can now listen to these services by phone. For details of how to do this, please email AidanS@scotland.anglican.org. and share the information with anyone who needs it. The service will be free of charge.

If you would prefer a more local service, you can watch the service streamed from St Andrew’s Cathedral, Inverness at https://www.facebook.com/invernesscathedral/videos; from St. Michael and All Angels at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDSTmN1QzZSW6fwr0-ATUBA; or from St. John the Evangelist at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDSTmN1QzZSW6fwr0-ATUBA.

Every Sunday evening the Scottish Episcopal Church joins in prayer at 7pm with several other Scottish Churches. The prayer this Sunday, 16th. August, is about the faithfulness of God. The full text of the prayer can be found at https://www.scotland.anglican.org/joint-call-to-prayer-the-gifts-and-calling-of-god/

For information on making a spiritual communion, see The SEC website page: https://www.scotland.anglican.org/coronavirus-updates/college-of-bishops-reflection-on-worship-during-lockdown/. It suggests prayers that may be used in a spiritual communion.

Anyone in need of pastoral care should contact the Vestry Secretary (see below for details); priests may not be able to attend in person but may make contact by phone or email.

We ask all our members and friends to pray for each other and for the world.

AGM

We had hoped to hold our AGM on Sunday 29th. November, but this was not possible under covid restrictions. We are allowed to postpone the AGM until next year. The present Vestry members will also continue in office until then. The accounts for the financial year ending September 2020 have been presented to and accepted by the Vestry.

Closure of the church car park

We have regretfully decided to close the church car park for the time being, and the gate has been locked. This follows reports by our neighbours of noisy parties in the church grounds at weekends, which have also left behind litter and mess. While we welcome people to enjoy our beautiful loch-side grounds, we cannot tolerate behaviour which does not respect the fact that they are adjacent to a church and graveyard. It is hoped that this measure will be sufficient to stop the parties. We are very grateful to our neighbours who have brought the problem to our attention and have cleared up some of the mess. They wll continue to be vigilant, and the police will be informed if the trouble arises again. Meanwhile anyone requiring access to the car park for a legitimate reason can phone the Vestry secretary, Mrs. Gill Austen, on 07717 671708, to find out the combination to unlock the gate.

Following the retirement of our priest, Rev Martin Roff, services are taken by visiting clergy or occasionally by our Eucharistic ministers until a new priest is appointed.

If anyone is interested in applying for or finding out more about the vacancy, please see the advertisement and the parish profile. To arrange for an informal visit, please contact the Vestry Secretary, Mrs. Gill Austen, at gillausten@yahoo.co.uk.

The Church is situated in a scenic location on the shore of Loch Meiklie in Glen Urquhart, one of the loveliest glens in the Highlands. It is on the A831, about five miles west of Drumnadrochit and seven miles east of Cannich.

Our beautiful little church was built in the 19th. century, but it has ramp access and a loop system, and there is an off-road car park. During normal times the door is always open for you to come in and view the Church, or spend a little time in quiet prayer and contemplation. This is sadly not possible at the moment due to the current covid restrictions.

An extensive programme of building restoration work was recently completed.

You can also enjoy a stroll in the Church grounds; there are benches and a picnic table on the paths by the loch. The grounds are also a prayer garden, with prayers and extracts of scripture to read.

We welcome visitors from all Christian denominations to share with us in all our services and in Holy Communion. If browsing these pages encourages you to visit us, we shall be delighted to meet you, once current restrictions are lifted to make this possible. Coffee is served in our coffee room following the 11.00am Sung Eucharist each Sunday.

We are glad that you are visiting our website. The following pages give a flavour of how we go about our declared purpose of Knowing God and Growing Faith.