Notices - Sunday 20th August
Creche: 11.00am in the upper hall for children up to age 3.
Volunteers Today: Elaine, Christine Smith, Chris and Annmarie.
Volunteers 27th August: Christine Ann, Maighread and Donna Mackinnon.
Holiday Tweenies: 11.00am in the main hall for children aged 3-7.
Volunteers today: Elizabeth, Kay, Kirsty and Aileen.
Volunteers 27th August: Liz, Gillian, Christina and Joni.
Everyone is welcome to the M. A. Hall after the morning service for a time of fellowship.
Tea and Coffee will be served by Mary Ferguson.
Monday 21st August – The Monday Toddler Group will recommence and will meet in the M.A. Hall from 1.00 – 3.00pm.
Wednesday 23rd August 7.30pm – English Prayer Meeting in the Seminary and on Zoom, led by Rev Calum M. Smith.
Thursday 24th August 7.30pm – Gaelic Prayer Meeting in the Seminary led by Rev James Maciver.
Friday 25th August 12.00pm-3,00pm – Fridays at the Free
The M.A. Hall will be open for soups, teas and coffees to give people an opportunity to meet with friends, read, play board games and chat.
There will be a kids play area available as well as items from ‘Dove’s Corner’ Baby Bank free of charge. Anyone needing transport please call Calum on 07717 495424.
Sunday 27th August - Lord’s Supper
God willing, the Lord’s Supper will be served in the congregation on Sunday 27th August. We expect to have Rev Euan Dodds, Kilmallie Free Church and Rev Donald A. Macdonald, retired, with us. Please pray that the Lord will bless this time of communion and add to the number of His professing people.
The Kirk Session will be delighted to meet with anyone wishing to join us for the first time at the Lord’s Table and details of meetings are on next page.
Kirk Session Meetings
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Date |
Time |
Place |
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Wednesday 23rd |
After the prayer meeting |
Seminary Session Room |
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Thursday 24th |
After the evening service |
Seminary Session Room |
|
Friday 25th |
After the evening services |
Kenneth St Session Room |
|
Saturday 26th |
After the morning service |
Seminary Session Room |
|
Saturday 26th |
After the evening service |
Kenneth St Session Room |
Schedule of Communion Services
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Friday 25th August |
|
|
Prayer Meeting at 8.00am in Kenneth Street Session Room |
|
|
English Service at 7.30pm in Kenneth St Church and live on YouTube (Channel name - Stornoway Free Church) |
Rev Euan Dodds
|
|
Gaelic Service at 7.30pm in Seminary and live on YouTube (Channel name - Free Church Seminary Stornoway) |
Rev D.A. Macdonald
|
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Saturday 26th August |
|
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Prayer Meeting at 8.00am in Kenneth Street Session Room |
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Gaelic Service at 11.00am in Seminary and live on YouTube (Channel name - Free Church Seminary Stornoway) |
Rev D.A. Macdonald |
|
English Service at 7.00pm in Kenneth St Church and live on YouTube (Channel name - Stornoway Free Church) |
Rev Euan Dodds |
|
Lord’s Day 27th August |
|
|
Prayer Meeting at 8.00am in Kenneth Street Session Room |
|
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Gaelic Communion Service at 11.00am in the Seminary and live on YouTube (Channel name - Free Church Seminary Stornoway) |
Rev D.A. Macdonald |
|
English Communion Service at 11.00am in Kenneth St Church and live on YouTube (Channel name - Stornoway Free Church) |
Rev Euan Dodds |
|
English Service at 6.30pm in Kenneth St Church and live on YouTube (Channel name - Stornoway Free Church) |
Rev Euan Dodds |
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The Congregational Fellowship will meet in the M.A. Hall following the evening service. |
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The Communion Cup
The insert in the bulletin has been produced by the minister and approved by the Kirk Session. The Session recognises that some in the congregation have a preference for the use of larger cups for the wine at the communion, and this paper seeks to allay fears that the use of alternative individual cups may not be biblical. It also refers briefly to the importance of giving due credence to the health-related fears some have in relation to sharing larger cups, and thus how we should be accommodating of biblical alternatives to what might be our own preferences.
Recovery from the Covid pandemic has been a challenging time for congregations and individuals, not least in relation to the Lord’s Supper. One beneficial consequence of the pandemic has been the need to examine practices of long standing, asking ourselves why we were doing things a certain way and what changes, if any, might be necessary considering the circumstances we now face in the aftermath of the pandemic. This, in turn, has brought us to the question of “essentials” – what, in any existing practice, is essential to its validity.
Regarding the Lord’s Supper, the question at issue might be stated as follows - “what is essential to the Lord’s Supper, the removal or alteration of which would invalidate the sacrament?” For example, “is the passing of a larger cup, or cups, an essential aspect of the administration of the Lord’s Supper?” Or, to put it in other words, “does the use of individual cups, which removes the passing of a larger cup, or cups, between communicants, remove an essential feature of the communion? This is important, because, for one thing, if the practice of using individual cups is unbiblical, not in keeping with the requirement of Scripture, the Session should not have authorised it.
We should note that the term “the cup” refers primarily to the contents of the vessel, or vessels, used, namely the wine, not to the vessels themselves, the wine being the substance which represents Christ in his death. It is common to find a figure of speech in the Bible called “metonymy.” The term is used when one thing stands for another. For example, in Revelation 1 v 12, we read “I turned to see the voice that spoke to me”, where “the voice” means “the person speaking.” Because of the established relationship between the “voice” and the person who utters the voice, the one is put for the other.
So also, in the phrase “this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22 v 20), the term “the cup” is used to mean the contents of the vessel, the wine. Even though the container is mentioned, the contents alone are under consideration. In Matthew 26 v 28 the words are ‘and he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”’ Similarly in Mark, ‘And he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”’ Lastly, we read in 1 Corinthians 11 v 23, ‘In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”’
In all these references above, the most important thing to focus on is not the fact that the singular (“the cup”) is used, but that the term “the cup” refers to its contents. The one wine that is used is what matters, whether it be in one cup or more, not how many cups are used. Luke 22 verse 17 states of the “cup” given by Jesus to the disciples ahead of the meal, “take this and divide it among yourselves.” the passage does not specify how this was to be done, but the Greek word for “divide” literally means “divide it out.”
If we were to give a strictly literal interpretation to the use of the singular (“cup”) in the New Testament passages referring to the Lord’s Supper, we would need to insist that only one cup be used every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. This would be more in keeping with the phrase “the common cup” - a term not used in any of these passages. For practical reasons several cups have been used in the administration of the Lord’s Supper, over many centuries. So, if the wine can be divided into several cups, as was the case with our congregation before the pandemic, there seems to be no valid reason as to why this cannot be individual cups, unless one takes the view that passing the cup(s) by communicants to one another is essential to the validity of the sacrament. At the institution of the Lord’s Supper by Jesus with the disciples, it would appear that one cup was passed between them, although there is a view that “divide it among yourselves” refers to each disciple pouring from one larger cup into a cup belonging to him. But even if we accept that one cup was passed around between them, it is a large exegetical leap then to conclude that the passing around is itself an essential aspect of the Supper.
If the objection is then made that without the cup(s) being passed around, the sharing aspect of the Supper is reduced, if not lost, it should be remembered that the sharing is a sharing “in” something; all those taking communion share in the one bread and the one wine used. What is important is that each communicant has the same bread and wine that every other communicant has. It can still truly be said of each of these cups that “this cup is the new covenant in Christ’s blood.”
Some people might say that individual cups do not adequately portray the level of unity which exists between communicants during the Lord’s Supper. However, it should be noted that what constitutes the unity of believers in the Lord’s Supper is that they are united to Christ, and to one another in Christ, a principle enunciated by sharing together in the one bread and the one wine irrespective of how many vessels may be used (1 Cor. 10 v 16-17).
It would be destructive of this unity of believers as outwardly shown by their participation together in the Lord’s Supper if, by insisting on a communal cup, or cups, we exclude those who are in consequence unable to participate due to vulnerable health. People who have auto-immune deficiencies, for example, have a very real fear of using a communal cup. We cannot address this very real fear by insisting that obedience to God and personal faith ought to outweigh such fear. If an alternative to the communal cup is available, as long as it does not constitute an unbiblical practice, it may legitimately be used.
If we were to attempt to preserve our symbolic unity in the Lord’s Supper by insisting on the use of “the common cup”, thereby excluding some Christians from taking communion because of fears over their vulnerable health, we would be fragmenting the very unity we are keen to promote. It is more in keeping with Scripture that we adopt a biblical alternative to what we might regard as our preferred method of administering the communion, for the sake of the greater good and God’s glory.
There is an analogy here with Romans 14 v 13 – 15 v 4. The apostle Paul was dealing with a situation in which there were differing opinions about what believers could eat. There is a similar passage in 1 Corinthians 10 v 23-32 over whether a believer could eat meat that may have been used in idolatrous worship but afterwards was sold in the marketplace. Paul’s conclusion in Romans 14 v 13-15 is,
“therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.”
For the “strong” (those who have no fears about eating all foods) to insist on actions that the conscience of “the weak” (those who do have such fears) would regard as problematic, would be to encourage them to go against their conscience, a matter of serious weight for the apostle. Instead, he insists “we who are strong have an obligation to bear with (i.e., “support”) the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15 v 1). Significantly, in 15 v 3 Paul refers to Christ our supreme example in order to reinforce this.
On the other hand, this practical consideration must never become a reason for any fellowship of believers to defer to “the weak” at every turn. That would turn the conscience of “the weak” into an instrument of bullying.
John Calvin in what he called On the proper celebration of the Lord’s Supper wrote,
“As for the outward ceremony of the action - whether or not the believers take it in their hands, or divide it among themselves, or severally (which in Calvin’s time meant 'separately, individually') eat what has been given to each; whether they hand the cup back to the deacon or give it to the next person; whether the bread is leavened or unleavened; the wine red or white - it makes no difference. These things are indifferent, and left at the church's discretion" (Institutes, Book IV.43).
The use of individual “cups” will not be to everyone’s liking, nor will the passing around of larger cups. It is surely the case, however, that whatever position we take individually on this, we have no warrant from Scripture to make it a cause of division.
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God (Romans 15 v 5-7).
Sunday School and Explorers
We hope the children are enjoying being back in school after a lovely summer holiday. As usual, Sunday School and Explorers will start in September. We look forward to seeing you all back soon. Keep a look out for booking information which will follow soon. We ask that all children are registered at the start of each school year.
If you know of someone who would like to start either of these groups for the first time, please speak to one of the teachers or leaders, or email the church for further information.
Death
We were sorry to hear Brian Wright of Columbia Place had passed away. We extend our condolences to his widow Christine, his daughters Janet and Jenny, and Jenny’s partner Ian. We also remember Christine’s brothers Jimmy, Ian and Kenny as well as all others in the extended family, along with his neighbours, friends and colleagues.
2024 Keswick Convention Trip
The High Free Church congregation hopes to arrange a coach trip to the 2024 Keswick Convention for the week of 13th – 20th July.
Booking early is necessary for accommodation. There is an information sheet at the front door with contact details for all who are interested.
Women for Mission
Women for Mission are delighted to announce that the final total for the 2022-23 project, Refuge & Strength, came to an amazing £44,419.91. The national committee would like to thank everyone for their financial and prayerful support.
WfM Ultimate Recipes cookbook
The reprint of the combined cookbooks, published in December 2022, is due to arrive any day.
Please speak to Donna or Johan if you would like a copy reserved for you. It is priced at £18 which also includes access to an online version of the book.
It is a great present for students who will be leaving the island and going to college and university.
