Lockdown

Since the end of February, I have been on sabbatical - enabled to lay down some responsibilities in church life, to be refreshed in the Lord. I've enjoyed and benefited from a slower pace, opportunity to read, carry out a course, think, pray and attend a conference. In March/April, sabbatical morphed into furlough as lockdown began. I still had some time to read, but had to balance looking after the kids and also managed to apply for the vacant charge of Moodiesburn Paris

Today the activity of the church looks very different from it did just one month ago. In the middle of a lockdown due to COVID-19 churches are no longer able to gather together for worship, prayer and activities. As a result we have had to rethink what we do, with alot of activity moving online. The change has been sudden, and has caused us to ask - what is church? There is a lot of good that has come from the changes, new opportunities have opened up. Despite it's challe

It's true of so many things, we never realise how much we need or value something until we loose it. Think of your health, car, job or even toilet roll. We can go even more basic -food, water, and air. All things which we need - things which we probably don't value as we should... that is until we loose them. We are living in very unsettling times. The pace in which 'normal life' is changing is frightening, as normal freedoms - things which we have taken for granted for