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Light a candle

And, here's a lovely idea from Liz. Would you like to join in with lighting a candle every day at 7. 30 pm and pray for the world and all our friends and families as we share this difficult and life-changing time together. We do this out of love for all

Keeping in touch

Keeping in touch It's important to 'keep in touch' with each other when actual touch becomes difficult and precious. These notices will continue to go out weekly and, if you have anything you'd like to pass on to your fellow parishioners, please feel free to email me and I'll pop it in. Perhaps you took a photo of lovely spring flowers. Perhaps a sentence or phrase from one of the readings or hymns really 'spoke' to you. Please keep it short and sweet and send it to me, patblackledge1@btinternet.com . Christian names only will go on the notices though anonymity is an option if preferred. Just get in touch. People have been putting up rainbow pictures to help raise a smile as others go past on their rare outings.

Let us know how you are doing.

If you have a smartphone or tablet and are able to take a short video, it would be wonderful if you could send a little minute-long video saying hello, so I can edit them together and share them on the youTube channel. It's really important that we get to see familiar faces. It's very simple, and I'll give you a few brief questions to answer, so you don't have to think of something terribly creative. And I'll walk you through how you send the videos to me, so the technically anxious among you don't need to worry! You can watch a video about this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FrEksNJsgY I'm also keenly aware that there are some people who are not online and so are not going to be in a position to share the live Eucharist with us on Sundays. I'm looking into how we can make DVDs of these if that is suitable for some, so they can share this way. I believe our churches are going to be shut for quite some time, so hopefully ways of coping will keep emerging.

Letter to the congregation

Dear all Well what a difference a week makes. Our country has become a place with a very different feel to it than it did a week ago. I feel that the restrictions are a necessary evil. It was clear that a large percentage of the population had not appreciated the risk this virus has brought not just to the vulnerable but to all of us. My suspicion is that these restrictions will last at least some weeks, but not necessarily months - in order to bring people into a frame of mind where they can act as responsibly as necessary. It does however cause a great deal of anxiety and concern for many. The very feeling of isolation becomes far more intense when it is a country-wide lockdown, rather than a self-imposed isolation. Such a thing strips one of the ability to do good, it de-skills us in engaging in the dignity of generousity, and it leaves us with a lot of time on our hands, which can give us plenty of cause to worry. We are made as communal creatures, and it feels unnatural to be alone. We speak a geat deal in Lent about our "time in the wilderness". Perhaps this is our time to enter into that troubled place - a place where we have to face our demons of anxiety and worry and the emotions that arise from them. But we never face them alone. God is with us, he has been with us before we knew it, and he was in the wilderness long before we entered it. There is literally no place we can go to where God is not there, and if we remember that, it will save us from unnecessary anxiety and concern. We must continue to pray - for each other, for those whose lives and livelihoods have been turned upside down, for those who have nothing, for those for whome the little they have had is being taken away. But even in the wilderness new life flourishes. Since sending out a number of "I can help" leaflets I have been flooded with offers of help - more than requests for it - and the food bank will still be operating, despite many of the regular churches being unable to continue. There is huge good will, waiting for a chance to blossom, and this crazy opportunity has seen it come to the fore. I have also been given a large number of donations to the work of the food bank from those who cannot physically help, but who appreciate and wish to support the work that it does. And i want to say a personal and sincere thank you to those of you who have taken time to phoen or write to me, to ask about my own health and are concerned. The last few days have been very very busy, but in some ways I have been able to actually do my job better than I have in years - with no meetings in Edinbrugh or round about, I have been able to focus on my core task - loving the children of God, helping the vulnerable, and caring for those who have no-one to care for them. In a strange way, it has been a blessing. There is much more to say - but there is also plenty of time to say it. Keep caring for one another, and never, never feel alone. Call me if you do. We may have to be physically apart, but our love for one another is stronger than that. Our church building may be closed, but our congregation is still very much alive. God bless you all. Pip

Love in a time of Corona

Hopefully if you are able to, you have connected with our new church YouTube site. The link is here. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJkxEgnglnze4SeN4I54Ecw/featured On it you will find a few messages from me, and also the Eucharist in which we can share for this Sunday. You will also find the live stream of the wedding of Andrew and Anne yesterday - a delightful and very unusual thing it was, in these straitened times. But love blossoms in the thinnest of soil, and the wedding was a happy and beauitufl one. There were two elements which caused sadness for the wedding party. The first of course was the circumstances which prevented most of their guests being able to come. The second was that the groom was Andrew Alfey, Jennifer Hamlin's son - and I'm sad to say that Jenny's husband, Gordon passed away on Friday evening. Please pray for Jenny at this time. Details of the funeral will be forthcoming, but I suspect that it will be a private affair under the circumstances. Please pray also for our sister chruch St Andrew's in Kelso. Bob King has had to go into isolation, as one of their members has tested positive for the virus and been taken into hospital. In the days and weeks to come, the power and danger of this virus will come to feel very real and very close. As indeed it is. But there is something more real, more powerful, and more essential to our being, which is the God of love which causes everything that matters to us, to come into being. Today we celebrate Mothering Sunday, the life of the Blessed Virgin, whose life was filled with tragedy, and who is remembered with great and lasting joy. So my challenge to you all for this week is to count your blessings. Literallly, write them down. Spend five minutes each day wirting down the blessings you have and have had in your life. And when you feel anxious, look at them and thank God for them. When I do this, it reminds me that if God has done all that for me thus far, then he will guide me still. My love to you all. Pip