Thank you for visiting our website.

 

Shettleston New Church, like many churches across the land, was required to close doors when the country went into lockdown from the end of March 2020 until September 2020.  And again from December 2020 until March 2021.  The congregation were able to worship online thanks to YouTube sermons and this was supplemented by regular emails from our Minister, Louis Reddick and from our Discipleship Facilitator, Douglas Robertson.

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We re-opened for Sunday worship on 28th March 2021, Palm Sunday.  We met then with restrictions in place such as face covers, one way system and limited to only 30 and sometimes 50 people in attendance! 

 

Services are back on now every Sunday morning (see Services page) with no restrictions remaining; the use of hand sanitiser being offered to all visitors.

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Most midweek activities restarted in Autumn 2021, although these were again halted for a period of time due to the omicron varient rise in Dec'21.  See the Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Boys' Brigade pages for more info.   Please also see our Facebook page for recent news.

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MESSAGE FROM OUR MINISTER

JUNE 2023

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Dear Friends
The recent warm weather has meant that I’ve been able to get outside and do some of my sermon preparation sitting in the back garden. It’s been lovely soaking up the sun and listening to the sound of birdsong and of bees buzzing about the flowers. But the tranquillity is often disturbed by the sound of wings flapping furiously and twigs being snapped suddenly. Two pigeons have taken
up residence in the tree at the rear of the garden, and they often seem to be tussling with each other, making quite a racket as they do so.

Whilst the book of Leviticus contains several verses which talk about pigeons as an acceptable sacrifice, there are (as far as I’m aware) very few mainstream Christian authors who make reference to them. One exception is the author and preacher R T Kendall. In the first chapter of ‘The Sensitivity of the Spirit’, he contrasts the behaviour of pigeons with that of their smaller cousins, turtle doves. Whilst pigeons tend to be noisy, territorial and belligerent (and hard to shoo away!), turtle doves are gentle and very shy, and will fly away at the slightest disturbance.

Drawing on the description of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove at Jesus’ baptism, Kendall goes on to make the point that the Spirit, like the turtle dove, is sensitive – He can be grieved by our behaviour (Ephesians 4:30) and ‘flies away from us’. It’s not that we lose the Holy Spirit from our lives altogether – the Bible is very clear that He is given as a gift to all who put their faith in Christ
(Ephesians 1:13-14) – but there are times when we are particularly aware of and in tune with His presence, and other times when we seem to just be ‘doing our own thing’ without any sense of the Spirit’s presence.* When our minds start following ‘pigeon religion’ – being territorial and belligerent or always flapping about noisily (and, yes, I need to hold my hand up to that one!) – then
we’ll miss out on the blessings that come from experiencing His Holy Presence.  I know that I desperately need the peace, the creativity, and the alertness to God’s guidance that comes from being in tune with the Spirit, and I’m sure you do too.

So, in these weeks following Pentecost, let’s make sure to take time to be still and welcome the gentle, dove-like presence of the Holy Spirit into our lives each day.

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Spirit of God, unseen as the wind, gentle as is the dove.
Teach us the truth and help us believe, show us the Saviour’s love.

Wishing you every blessing for the summer,
Louis

*This is why Paul’s tells the Galatians that they need to keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25), and tells the Ephesians they must keep on being filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

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Our church services have also been livestreamed most weeks on YouTube – just go to the

 Shettleston New YouTube channel  

at around 11am on Sunday and click on the video marked     LIVE  .

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Once again, thank you for visiting our website. We would be delighted if you were able to join us, whether online or in-person, to worship our Lord and Saviour, or to find out about more the Christian faith.

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