Clergy Letter

We get on the phone to each other and talk about all the things we miss; family, holidays, chatting in the coffee shops, mooching around the shops, and calling round to each other’s houses for a cuppa. We bemoan the fact that we cannot go into church for a service and we miss the music and singing hymns. Oh yes! This last year has been a big trial to us all. Now I am going to prod you in the side and make you think of the positive side of life! What can we list that has been something different in our lives that we have learnt, that we have developed, that we have become part of? We have become so much more aware of the rest of the world, all suffering in the same manner, with the same worries over health, loved ones, and vaccines. Borders are no deterrent for this virus, it doesn’t notice our skin colour, our language, or our religion. So where is the positive in this? Suddenly, we are children of the one Creation, on a level playing field with the inhabitants of the whole world.

Those of us with computers and mobile phones have become adept at Zooming, Skyping and Facetiming. The technical vocabulary is another great leap forward in our learning. Eighteen months ago if anyone had told you to look on the website, or go onto Facebook, many of us would have replied that we were not quite sure what to do unless a much younger member of the family could help us! We have become statisticians. The graphs of people with the virus, in hospital and sadly, those who have died in a day/week or month are all displayed on our television screens in every news bulletin. This leads to another growth area, compassion. We feel for the families; we share in the grief of so many, we see their pictures on the news, we despair with them when they cannot share the last moments of life with a loved one. We offer a short prayer to ask for comfort for those families. We have become a wider and remotely connected Church. As Christians in a community we have found ways to worship at home, connected by the online services, the phone and by prayer. The re-charging of our Christian ‘batteries’ cannot be done together in church, but we are ready to turn outwards and do God’s work. We have reached out to the lonely by phone calls and emails, we have donated hundreds of gifts to those who are struggling financially, we have continued to stock the food bank for those same people and we have offered small daily acts of kindness for those around us.

People will tell you that life will never be the same again, after this last year, and I hope for our sakes it will not. We have come so far in twelve months, we have changed ourselves into global, outward looking Christians who know what God asks us to do.

We still need to rejoice with each other when we can come together in worship in church, to delight in greeting each other with a hug, but I hope above all that we continue to grow in the knowledge that we are all part of one world and all children of God’s Creation wherever we are and whatever happens to us. With God’s help we will meet whatever comes our way. Keep safe and content in God’s care.