PASTORAL LETTER


Dear Friends,

Here we are seven months or so into our Covid situation, and sometimes the whole thing seems like a roller coaster. Numbers down, then up again. The threat hanging over us of a renewed period of restriction with all the family and individual angst that brings with it. The building is not open for Sunday Worship, but elsewhere in this magazine you will find an article describing the things that are alive and well around church in spite of the building being closed.

As always, I am grateful for the little stories I hear of individual care and concern expressed for friends and neighbours – especially those who need particular thought. Thank you for making a difference.

After a year spent as our Interim Moderator, Very Revd Finlay Macdonald, during which he has brought the church to the brink of important steps in the way ahead, has demitted the post. Rather in the style of Moses, who had to hand over to Joshua for the final push across the Jordan. (He will be reading this and laughing at his Locum’s flights of fancy.) More to be said, but for the moment these two. Finlay’s work in preparing the way for a stable move forward has been wonderful to behold. His many acts of wisdom and kindness (some of them unseen) have brought positive enhancement to the situation. Secondly, as a colleague, I pay tribute to Finlay’s kind friendship and guidance. He has made my time here a great and enjoyable experience.

On my own front, I continue as Locum for the meantime. I have to take two months (unpaid) leave of absence to undergo treatment for Prostate Cancer – and they will start on the 15th October. It may be that I will be able to be back for Christmas. I realise that the timing could have been more helpful. But there we are.

When a new Interim Moderator is appointed, it will be up to him or her to determine practical steps on the way forward. But in the meantime, Pamela and I and the Kirk Sessions will continue to serve the people of God in the best way possible.

Grace and peace,

John