Normally I would be in church at this time on a Sunday morning — in fact in the years since I took over at Fogo I have only ever missed one Sunday morning service and that was because we were in the Holy Land together.
This has been a very strange week. Strange because we are now all in lockdown, at least it seems that everyone I know is isolated in some form or other, it could that’s because everyone I know is quite old! And strange because we have been told we cannot any longer have services in church. And this came just as I thought that our service was really quite a safe one as regards the virus. We had put sanitizing gel by the door and everyone could have their own box-pew so social distancing would happen naturally. Of course, it is right that these precautions have been taken and we must all do everything we can to stay safe.
But people need to worship as well and congregations need to stay together. I wasn’t sure quite what we ought to do. I checked what some of our neighbouring congregations have planned. Our friends in Duns are experimenting with some kind of conferencing system which sounds quite exciting; while Andy at Eyemouth and Coldingham is streaming his service, presumably with a small group of folk all observing social distancing. Neither of these options is open to us because they both require internet access and that is something which we don’t have at Fogo. So we are putting something up on line and leaving it there just for Sunday. If we are able to, we shall replace it during the week with a reading, a thought and a prayer.
There is nothing more important than keeping our congregation together and I would love to hear ideas from you all about what we should be doing.
I broke off from writing this blog to drive down to church because I wanted to be there at the normal worship time. I met John B who was also sitting quietly in church. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place and one can feel the prayers which have been offered there over the centuries and over recent years.
I’m already getting feedback from our service this morning and everyone seems to have appreciated what we have offered. (Although Rachel has insisted that I have to trim my moustache and learn how to smile — I’ll try!) Please remember that if there is anything that anyone needs, we have folk here who will be delighted to help. Please keep safe and do remember that God loves you,