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.”
Hebrews 10 verses 24-25 give us important features of why we visibly gather together. It is so that, as the AV translation puts it, we may “consider one another.” (The same word is used in 3 v 1 for our “considering” of Jesus and means “to give a studied attention to.”) The purpose for our “considering one another” is that we may “stimulate one another to love and to good works.” All this is clearly set in the context of congregational life - “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching” (v. 25).
The primary reason of gathering as a congregation is to worship God together! Through this we express our love for him, receive help from him, stimulate one another to love and to good works, and at the same time we give testimony to the world that God exists and that “he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11 v 6).
The temptation to be satisfied at home with worship online is a very real one, after many months of doing this. Unless we are for good reason unable to leave our homes to go to church, we need to overcome this temptation, for all the biblical reasons mentioned above. Gathering for worship, like every element of Christian living, requires our active commitment and discipline.
We hope that the remaining Covid-related measures will soon be removed so that the congregation can again enjoy full attendance and unrestricted praise. Kenny and I, therefore, wish to lovingly exhort those of you who have not yet been back to church since restrictions were eased, to join us in the public worship of God. There is no priority given to any individual or group in the present system of booking a place, a requirement we hope we can soon dispense with. Equally so, we would love to see those of you who did not previously come to church, but encouraged us so much by joining our online services, gather with us in congregational worship.
Jesus says in Matthew 18 verse 20, “where two or three have been gathered in my name, there am I among them.” This is more than a promise; it is stating a permanent fact. Where Jesus is present, in the midst of his worshipping people, is where we all, surely, want to be.
God’s grace and peace be with you all.
James Maciver, and Kenneth I Macleod.
