Saturday 30th. May, 2020

It has been a strange week with my mother in hospital until yesterday afternoon when she was delivered home to us, now recovered from her infection and deemed fit enough to move around with the assistance of her family and carers. We have also had two deaths in our extended family, both elderly and, to a certain extent, expected but still very sad and, with the current necessary lockdown conditions, difficult. I have certainly learned quite quickly how difficult it must be for some folk at the present time. It’s not easy to be in hospital and to have no visitors. It’s not easy to have a loved one in hospital and not to be able to visit. It’s not easy to have a loved one die and not to have been able to be with him to hold his hand nor to plan a funeral the way one might have wished. But, of course, we all understand why it is essential that we all accept the rules and live by them for the benefit of ourselves and of everyone else.

This weekend is Pentecost when we shall celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church and, in a very real sense, the birthday of the Church. I think and have always thought that this is one of the most important festivals of the Christian year and for this reason I and my camera recorded our service for this weekend from our Church. Social distancing didn’t come into it. I didn’t see another soul (except for Rachel who visited me briefly to do the reading). It is interesting that the right of a minister to visit his place of worship is specifically allowed under the Scottish covid-19 legislation.

Our service includes Holy Communion really because for me it is inconceivable to celebrate Pentecost without communion and, in these days of lockdown, there is no other way that we can do this. Although I prepare and film the service during the week, it is still quite a worshipful experience for me when I sit down with Rachel to share in the service at 10.30 on a Sunday morning. I really like the idea that although we are all in different places we are worshipping together in our own place.

I was asked how Sunday could still be special for me when I had spent all week preparing and delivering the service on video. I can tell you that it is, and when you think about it, it is no different than before when I would live with a service during the week leading up to Sunday, when everything that had been prepared would be shared. in Church. It was still special, in fact in Fogo Kirk it always was very special, and there were many times that I left Church having felt that God had been very close during our worship together. But it is also really special to see everyone’s faces at our Zoom Coffee and Chat!

I’m grateful to Tom and John who have been advising me on the development of our website and social media. I’ve been looking at what our sister congregations in the Borders provide, and learning from them. I always knew that the Church of Scotland had its own facebook page; what I didn’t realise until a couple of days ago is that there is a special facebook page for the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The reason why I am telling you this is that on Pentecost Sunday, through that page and, I suspect, through the webpage of the Church of Scotland, the Moderator is leading a country-wide service for the Festival of Pentecost. I understand that this service is embargoed until tomorrow but I will endeavour to provide a link so that our folk may tune in to it at some time tomorrow. Now there is an advantage of our online worship, one can share in it whenever one wishes. One can even revisit it a second time to see if the minister really said what you thought you heard! And one can share with several different congregations in their worship on the same day without leaving the comfort of your own home.

Of course, there are other wonderful advantages as well, not least that elderly folk who are now housebound can share in worship; and folk who aren’t sure if they are yet ready to visit a church can have a sneak preview of what a church service is really like.

For all of these reasons what we provide online is really important and I would value your feedback and suggestions of how we can improve what we offer. I am so aware that one of the marks of our regular Sunday worship was the huge amount of participation in every service — something which is no longer possible, partly because of lockdown and partly because of our limited experience and resources (which is another reason why it is good to share with the Moderator in a service which will have participation and which will have had a great deal of resource and expertise devoted to its preparation).

I spent this afternoon sitting in the sunshine in the courtyard with my mother enjoying her first full day back home. Rachel brought us afternoon tea, using the silver tea and coffee pots and with tiny, crustless sandwiches. Olive and Digger joined us. It was very pleasant.

Have a good week!