Dear friends,

It’s hard to believe that so much has changed in such a short space of time.
We are now all having to change our routines.

Many thanks to those who have volunteered to help with picking up and distributing food. This will start next week. We will do 2 food shops a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, based on any requests received.

As we’re no longer meeting on a Sunday, and people are isolated, there will be two video messages produced each week and published on our website.
The Sunday video will be similar to a Sunday morning sermon/message.
On a Wednesday, I anticipate we’ll look at a certain theme or series.
There will also be some practical information too (like a Church notice!)
This way, in the absence of Home Groups and Church services, it gives two occasions for input every week, which seems to be what most find helpful.

I have found the personal timing of all of this very strange: Announcing that I’m moving on Sunday, followed by Church services being suspended on Tuesday.
I hope that by having regular contact via the online videos will maintain that sense of journeying together.

I am still able to visit people with certain restrictions. The easiest and safest way to do so, though unusual, is to have a conversation on the doorstep, where I am at least 2 metres away. While this is unconventional, I did it this morning and it worked. We kept our distance, a little like seeing someone in the park, and yet had a conversation. So where possible, and where necessary, I will be trying different ways of maintaining contact.

There is some confusion about what it means to suspend our public services.
For now, our Funerals and Weddings can be conducted.
But all worship services, including those over Easter, will not take place.

In all of this, I see a certain parallel with Jesus entering the desert for 40 days, that we remember especially during Lent. We are not physically in the desert, but many feel the uncertainty and fear that Jesus would have felt at points during his experience that we remember during Lent.

The good news is that he came out of it, stronger and more focussed.
May this period of relative isolation, somehow build our faith and clarify what journeying with Jesus means.

Blessings,
Phil