Week beginning: Sunday 26th July 2020

 

                                   NEWSLETTER

 

 

Hello friends,

 

We hope you are continuing to enjoy more freedoms as lockdown restrictions continue to ease.

 

The ability to be able to meet with friends, go shopping or have a meal in a café or restaurant has been very appealing to a lot of people however, many are experiencing a real sense of fear and anxiety at the prospect of being in close proximity to larger numbers of people, having been so restricted for so long.

 

From media reports it would seem that most shops and public places are being very strict with hygiene and social distancing issues.  This is most certainly the case with the church.  It has been somewhat frustrating for some folks that we are not yet gathering as a congregation under the same roof for weekly worship however it is imperative that every Health and Safety aspect of opening up the church is looked at fully. 

 

To that end, under the guidance of the Glasgow Presbytery, the ministry team, Douglas, Kirsteen and Naomi will be carrying out a full Health and Safety survey with added input from the Session Clerk, Douglas McLaren and the Property Convener, Jess Mitchell.

 

Once this has been completed and all suitable arrangements have been put into place, the Kirk Session will reach a verdict on the date of our first worship service.  We are aware that some Church buildings are already open for a time of personal reflective prayer but when we open it will be for a full Sunday morning service albeit in a different format from when we last met in March.

 

While it is very understandable to have reservations about coming back to Church, and indeed some congregations are exploring the issue of not reopening in the next few months for various reasons, we have to be lead by Scriptures that speak into our situation and use these as a basis for our prayer lives.  We are reminded that in the letter to the Hebrews we are instructed to ... “not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”(Hebrews 10v25)

We have been “meeting together” in that we have been watching the same online   service and having the Monthly Healing Service held via Zoom but there is something very powerful when we are together physically.  We know that “ ... where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18 v20)