Pastoral Message from the Ministers
Beloved friends,
Your ongoing support of the gospel and of our ministry is greatly encouraging and much appreciated. We share your delight in being able to return to the use of our buildings for public worship. Even though some restrictions still apply in relation to the number we are able to accommodate and to congregational singing, we are thankful to the Lord for a reduction in Covid-19 infections and deaths nationally, thereby enabling us to gather for worship.
Although we have been thankful for the technology that has enabled us to maintain services virtually, it is important that we retain a sense of the importance Scripture attaches to the visibility of Christ’s Church in the world. The words kahal and ekklesia, used in Hebrew and Greek respectively to describe God’s people, literally mean an “assembly” or “a gathering”, with the idea of not only being “gathered together” but also being “gathered out from” the world. The visibility of the Church in the world is itself an aspect of the witness God bears to his love and grace as shown through his gathering of his people.
In the prayer of Jesus for his people recorded in John 17, an observable unity is clearly meant by the words “that they may all be one” (v. 21 and 22), because these words are closely connected to “that the world may believe that you have sent me” (v. 21) and “that the world may know that you sent me” (v. 23). The spiritual unity of God’s people is, of course, important, but it is through the visible unity of the gathered Church that God’s love is shown to the world. We have a similar emphasis in John 13 verse 35, “by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another.”
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Beloved friends,
As your ministers we want to thank you for your continuing support and encouragement. It means so much to us. As the congregation continues to experience restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, we regret that it has not been possible for us to return to our church buildings for public worship. Although we are glad for the online facilities that enable us to maintain gospel services, and greatly encouraged and thankful that so many are participating in these, we long for the day when we can return safely to meet in our church buildings. While some congregations have decided to return to the use of church buildings, in our own case the logistics of doing so are challenging, to say the least. In any case, it would be imprudent for us to return given the sharp increase in Covid infections over the past few weeks and with an outbreak also in the Western Isles currently being dealt with.
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Dear Friends,
We appreciate how difficult the past months have been for you all. The restrictions that have been in place over the Covid-19 pandemic, while for good reasons of health protection, have nevertheless imposed a curtailment of the services and activities we loved and enjoyed together. Now that we are seeing an easing of the restrictions, we hope that we can soon resume our use of church buildings again. Meantime, we wanted to inform you about the present situation and how we see the way forward, having met as a Kirk Session on Tuesday 14th July.
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