October Pastoral Letter
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
A message from Revd Pamela Strachan
BEIRUT
Conditions in Beirut grow worse each day. After the enormous explosion on 4 August which killed nearly 200 and left 6,000 injured the city has struggled to bring order from the chaos. Hospitals and schools as well as winter food and medical supplies have been destroyed; the country’s infra- structure is on the point of collapse and the cabinet has resigned en masse.
I have been reassured to hear from friends and colleagues at NEST (Near East School of Theolo- gy) where I studied in 2018 but although they have survived the blast, their accounts reveal the extent of the damage and the suffering being endured throughout the city – as well as the chal- lenges ahead. Over 300,000 have been made homeless.
NEST has appealed to friends for support and solidarity. You will see a fuller report in our Sep- tember Magazine, and also news from Sylvia Haddad, who runs the school in the Sabra-Shatilla refugee camp which both Finlay and I have visited during our respective visits to Lebanon.
Thank you for your support and prayers.
Pamela Strachan, OLM
If you wish to contribute, our Treasurer, Ronald Ireland has arranged to receive cheques through the Church office.
Please make cheques payable to Peebles Old Parish Church of Scotland, clearly marked on the back: BEIRUT NEST Recovery and post them to the Church Office at High Street, Peebles, EH45 8SW
Alternatively, a contribution can be made through Christian Aid. Further detail for the Beirut appeal, here please https://www.christianaid.org.uk/
August Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends
France is a favourite country of ours. Over the years there have been many excellent holidays in the country. Brittany, Paris, Chartres, Carcassonne, Bourges, Toulouse, Poitiers, Tours, Avignon, Annecy – each has provided (some more than once) the centre for touring surrounding towns and countryside. We have close friends who live in a small town outside Toulouse, so some of our visits have been close to living like locals – which is always a different experience.
Sadly, in many country villages visited, a visit to the local church has proved sad and depressing. The sense of emptiness and abandonment is sometimes very tangible. Like a rose well past its full bloom, gently decaying while still giving glimpses of its former glory, the church will stand in a village square, bypassed and feeling forgotten. An occasional funeral may come to the churchyard, and bring a crowd, but on a Sunday worshippers are few, and the interior seems always dark and musty.
Historians could sketch for us the reason why the Church in rural France has come to this. Why church attendance is dying out.
There are parts of Scotland, where there are similar concerns. Many of our rural Borders churches labour under the same sense of becoming meaningless to the general population. Not all of them by any means, but we do detect signs of disconnect. How many children and grandchildren no longer are to be found in the pews where their grandparents sit?
It’s part of the task ahead of us, looking towards days when Covid-19 is under some degree of control, to encourage people to take up again the habit of church going. After all, several months of no church for some will lead to a breakdown in a life-long habit. And yet, the congregation gathered in worship is a powerful factor in the nurturing of faith. Our religion has always recognised that worship is best done together. The cry of the people of Israel by the waters of Babylon could well be our cry – “how can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land”. In other words, can we really truly worship God in a society where church attendance is falling away?
The answer in ancient Babylon was the emergence of synagogue worship. Although far from the Temple in Jerusalem, the faithful could approach God in prayer and praise.
As you’ll read elsewhere, for the very best of reasons neither the Old Parish Church or Edddleston are likely to open for Sunday worship for a time yet. But as soon as it is wise and careful of the health of our people to reassemble we assuredly will.
If that is going to be a joyful moment, then think on these things. How can each one of you contribute to a good return? Think on that question. Pray about it. What can you say to your friends and neighbours to perhaps get them thinking about it too. We need a feeling of calling, and an intentionality about our return. Just to drift in and think that things will carry on as before, well that may be too weak a response as, together, we seek to reboot church! For the glory of God, and the spiritual sustenance of the people.
Grace and peace,
John