Such a lot has happened!

How we have coped — and are coping — in these difficult times.

Our last newsletter was delivered to your door in March, just before we all went into lockdown together. Our March Newsletter was an optimistic one; several of us had just come back from the pilgrimage of a   lifetime which had taken us from Jerusalem to Galilee as we had walked in the footsteps of Jesus.

We had also just completed, as a congregation, a mission plan which set our in some detail all that we were about to attempt in our parish. In fact immediately before lockdown we had held a congregational buffet lunch to launch our plan. All of that had to be abandoned as we started to live in a world in which we were no longer even allowed to go to church and worship on a Sunday morning.

Not, of course, that we disagreed with the decision which had been made to keep us all safe — it was just  all so unbelievable: one day we were filled with enthusiasm of all that we were going to do and the next we were in lockdown. For us that has proved to be not nearly so difficult as it has for people in other places in our country. It has been brought home to us how fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful place. We have been able to enjoy walks in our glorious countryside and our area had not been affected nearly as badly as have many other areas. What must it have been like to live in a small flat in a big city?

Keeping in touch with our members.

We have also tried to keep in touch with each other over these times, not least during lockdown with a weekly Zoom meeting after church. I say ‘after church’ and that needs a word of explanation. As soon as the lockdown began we started to produce a church service which we put online. Because it was online anyone could have drawn it down at any time, but we asked all of our members to access the service in their homes on Sunday morning at 10.30 a.m. — the time of our normal Sunday Service. It was good to feel that although we were in different places, we were still worshipping together. After the service everyone was allowed five minutes to make themselves a coffee and then we all joined together for a Zoom Coffee and Chat.

Preparing Online Worship

We have brushed over quite quickly the putting of a service online each week. In fact this was a major learning experience. A small recording studio was set up in the summer house at Mount Pleasant — a couple of lights and a couple of cameras with everything    being recorded onto tape (we were using equipment which was bought in the 1990s).

The completed tape was then taken to a computer room  which had been adapted to allow the film to be edited using a sophisticated video editing programme. It was here that the music was prepared at well. We thought long and hard about what to do about music. Some other congregations have drawn down musical items from the internet (and these look fabulous) but we were concerned about copyright and so we prepared every item of music individually, writing a midi-file of each tune, converting this midi-file to a wav-file, then matching the music file to a set of pictures which matched the words of the hymn (often of our local area and also using the pictures we had taken during our recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land). Finally we prepared the words of the hymns and superimposed

them on the pictures. In reality, we created many short films, each of them of one hymn, which we can fit into our Sunday service. To date we have created about one hundred and fifty such films!

Most of our services have been recorded in the summer house at Mount Pleasant but occasionally we have   recorded the service in the Church itself — with the added challenges of an outside broadcast! We did this at Easter and at Pentecost and on each of these occasions we also held an online service of Holy  Communion. Each of our members had wine and bread already to hand in their own homes and we shared   together in our own different places. It’s not something we would have thought of doing before lockdown but difficult times challenge us to adopt different solutions and these services were certainly appreciated.

Sometimes we are asked how our online services differ from what we used to do in church. Probably our services have become a bit more educational — we have spent a number of weeks journeying right through the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, using maps and pictures, something which it is harder to do in our church building.

Childrens’ Online Worship

While the children in our congregation were in lockdown, we also provided a special service for them. Each one of these films consisted of a story, a short prayer and a song and many of the congregation have told us that they enjoyed these as well. We quickly  developed a shape for these stories, imagining that a group of children were spending time with Jesus’    special friends, the disciples, in the weeks after the very first Easter. It was a framework which enabled each disciple in turn to tell a story and seemed to work very well. Also during lockdown a team of congregational members put up a daily reading, thought and prayer on our website. These were very much appreciated.

And then our World Expanded!

We were well into lockdown when the minister of Gordon, Greenlaw, Legerwood and Westruther retired and, after a delay caused by the virus regulations was able to move to his new home in Orkney. We were asked to take over the care of these congregations which, it had been agreed, would not get a replacement minister for Mr. Nicholson now that he had retired.

Initially this meant that we started to put out several versions of our online service with one branded for each of these additional congregations and in some cases we were able to hold Zoom meetings as well. Meanwhile, we had a great deal of planning to do.

First of all we had to discover what each of these    congregations wished for the future. One of these congregations, Westruther, wanted to close down. It had been struggling for the last few years and had regularly had a Sunday congregation in single figures. It was arranged that once we came out of lockdown a Presbytery Service would be arranged to close the church formally, the congregation and parish area becoming part of Gordon Parish Church (as incidentally it was until 1647)!

The other congregations wished to continue with the worship patterns which they had adopted over previous years. There would be a service each week in Greenlaw, twice a month in Gordon and once a month in Legerwood.

It was also agreed that each of these congregations would set out on a journey which would lead to their becoming more and more responsible for their own worship, mission and pastoral care. This journey, which is also the journey on which our own Fogo congregation is on, will take at least a couple of years and will be supported every moment of the way, not just for a couple of years but into the long term as well.

But how were we to make this happen? The first thing that we did was to recruit a ministry team to provide the support and initially to conduct services in these churches because it was not felt appropriate to expect congregations to run their own  services immediately —  not least because of the covid-19 difficulties, the start of a new ministry in a difficult situation after Tom Nicholson had had to leave without any of the farewells which were planned, and after a twenty-five year ministry, and to enable us to build up trust with our new friends.  A team of four retired  ministers agreed to take on responsibility for this — joining our minister were Rev. Dr. Ken Walker, Rev. Veronica Walker and Rev. John Hunter. (You will maybe remember John Hunter as a son of the Fogo Manse — his father was minister in Fogo during the middle years of the twentieth century and he is delighted to be back sharing with us in this adventure.) Over recent months John has conducted our service on the first Sunday of every month.

Moving Out of Lockdown

So far we have described our plans for coming out of lockdown but now for the reality. Once a date for reopening had been given to us for our churches we immediately had to complete a detailed risk assessment and make arrangements to ensure that anyone coming to worship in Fogo Parish Church would be safe.

The toilet was removed. This was partly because toilets were no longer to be available because there was a risk in their being used by several people between deep cleans and partly because it was recommended that every church should have a one-way system with folk leaving through a different door than the one by which they entered.

A number of small green men signs were made and placed on seats which could be used, with red men signs on those that should not be used: that way social distancing would be observed. A sanitising station was set up and a routine for those arriving at church established. Everyone is met at the gate by an elder and asked to walk to church in a socially distanced fashion. Members are met at the church door by another elder who ensures that everyone is wearing a mask, takes their contact details (which, in accordance with the law, are held for twenty-one days) and allows them into church where they are met by another elder who allocates them to a seat. At the end of the service, we exit in the same way.

Having established a system that works, two of our elders helped establish a similar system at our sister congregations and a worship pattern began. There is a service every Sunday in Fogo, Gordon, Greenlaw and Westruther on the first Sunday of every month; every Sunday at Fogo and Greenlaw, and also on the third Sunday in Gordon, and our ministry team moves around the churches so that we are getting to know the different congregations.

But worship is not how it was! The major difference is that we are no longer able to sing. I don’t think that any of us had quite understood what a difference this would make to our worship. We still listen to hymns, we still follow the words, some of us read the words out loud, others hum gently to themselves. How we shall develop as time goes on, we don’t yet know.

Also our numbers of people coming to church are  lower than they were because, not unnaturally, many of our folk are still shielding and are unwilling to take the risk of coming to meet with other people. For this reason we continue to offer an online service each  Sunday. This service is normally, but not always, a reflection of the service which our minister is conducting in one of the services throughout our  grouping.

Moving Forward

You may remember that before churches were allowed to open for communal worship they were permitted to open for private prayer. Quite a number of people regularly made use of our church for this purpose.

You may also remember that very severe woodworm and rot was discovered in the former Hog gallery in the church and, as a result we had to strip out the old pews and make significant repairs to the loft. What has now been done is to convert that gallery into a quiet meditative room. We think that it is very beautiful and will be extremely useful for us, not only when we come out of lockdown but also at present when people are often feeling like going somewhere special for   private prayer. We recognise that having such a facility upstairs is not ideal. We have had a handrail installed on the steps but we would like to know at once if there are people who would wish to use this facility but who are unable to use the stairs even with the existing handrail.

There are a number of other changes which have happened within our church in recent weeks. We have already mentioned that the congregation at Westruther decided to close their building. Much of what was within the church went to Gordon Parish Church which has now taken over responsibility for the parish of   Westruther. The communion table and lectern was originally offered to Greenlaw Parish Church but, after considering the matter, the Kirk Session there thought that their own existing communion table should be    retained because it matched the pulpit. It was then    offered to us and we have accepted that generous gift because the increased size of the table is much more appropriate for us now that we have a larger chancel than we did before. The lectern matches the communion table (as well as our new font) and is something of which we have been in need for a long time. Our existing communion table now has the place of honour in our new quiet room in the former Hog gallery and so everything has worked out  perfectly! I know too that it is important to the folk of Westruther that their treasures remain in this area and continue to be used in worship.

The other difference you may notice (but only if you look very carefully) is that the church has now been equipped with broadband. This is to  allow us to start to stream our Sunday  morning services. This might be as an alternative to a pre-prepared morning service online and will allow people who are at home to share in what is happening in church as it happens.

It will also enable us to interact with other churches in our group. Gordon and Greenlaw will shortly be equipped with large televisions similar to the one which we have and, once the system is up and running it will be possible for all of us to share in a sermon (for example) preached in one church and watched in all three as it happens.

These are difficult times but we have moved forward as well and we look forward to welcoming you to your Parish Church — there is a warm welcome waiting for you!

We hope that in our next Newsletter we will be able to report that some of our activities will have restarted — we shall certainly be able to share our Christmas plans and hope that you will join us. In the meantime, do keep safe and well and remember how very grateful we are to all of you for your support.

From the Minister’s desk

My remarks in this newsletter need to be words of thanks. It would have been so easy for our church  family to fall apart in the face of all of the current difficulties, but, in fact, we have become stronger and everyone has been ‘going the second mile’ to help each other and others of whom they are aware.

I must thank everyone who has joined us online and those who, now that we are back in church, have been joining us Sunday by Sunday. Many congregations have discovered that without a congregation meeting Sunday by Sunday their finances have slumped    alarmingly. That hasn’t been our experience. Our  treasurer has received cheques through the post and quite a  number of our congregation make their giving by standing order. This has been hugely appreciated because our costs haven’t dropped during lockdown — really because our two major expenses are the insurance of the building and our heating (which is a twenty-four hour a day permanent system).

I have been able to share with several folk in our parishes at difficult times and I appreciate how difficult these times have been. As well as meeting and talking with folk, we have had several funeral services and, also, one very, very happy wedding. Even in the middle of this pandemic life goes on.

At present one of our concerns is how to celebrate Christmas. I love Christmas carols but it looks as though there will continue to have some very special services and I am committed to ensuring that this Christmas in church will be just as special as it has  always been. We shall celebrate God’s love in sending his Son into our world to bring us back to him and we shall find appropriate ways of doing this — so watch this space!

Do remember, that no matter what the situation is, I am here to help and am always available. You can catch me on 01361 882254 or on my mobile ‘phone on 07582 468468. I would love to hear from you and to listen to what you have to say.

“You are always welcome at Fogo Parish Church”