The Manse
Late January 2021
The February Letter
Dear
Friends
Let
Verses of Holy Scripture be our starting point…in everything!
Isaiah
Chapter 58
“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To
loose the bonds of wickedness,
Is
it not to share your bread with the hungry,
When
you see the naked, that you cover him,
Then
your light shall break forth like the morning,
The
glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then
you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
You
shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
Can
it really be so soon after Christmas and Epiphany that Lent appears
on the horizon? It’s arrival is just around the corner – coming
soon to a Church/Hospital/Nursing Home/Home…. near you!
One
of the best descriptions of an arrival that I ever read was an
imaginary scene of little children on tip-toes just able to catch
sight, through the window in the sitting room, of their grand-parents
making their way up the long drive to the front door. They’re
coming… they’re here!
As
you and I, little children of God, look to February we can anticipate
the arrival of particular happenings which nurture our faith and
strengthen us in our daily walk with God, particularly as we enter
Lent.
On
Tuesday 2nd
we celebrate Candlemas, when we remember the Infant Jesus being
brought into the Temple by his parents and acclaimed by the elderly
mystic Simeon to be the long-awaited Messiah, the Light of the world.
It
was that Light of Christ by which saints, such as Valentinus, were
able to offer body, mind and soul.
It
is of course on his feast day we particularly think of love, the 14th
when he was crucified for the love of his faith as both doctor and
priest in 269 AD. Strangely though, his day is connected with love
because Chaucer wrote that the 14th of February was the beginning of
Spring and as such it was when the nightingale chose its mate!
As
we stand on tip-toes looking at the month ahead, with Lent beginning
three days after the 14th
on the17th, Ash Wednesday, there is much to ponder and to encourage
us on our own pilgrimage of faith as we walk in the footsteps of
Christ, the Light of the world whose presence, Simeon discovered,
gave meaning and relevance to life….and death.
Perhaps
in mid-February then, we may hear the sound of the nightingale to
herald the beginning of this period of self-examination and a desire
to serve God in even more meaningful ways: in addition to the vital
work done by those who are teaching our young online, we think of the
many who in this pandemic are serving in all sorts of different ways
and areas of care particularly in the *Nightingale wards and many
other wards of our National Health Service.
As
I return from my period of recuperation**, with
impossible-to-describe gratitude to the medical team at Ninewells, to
be with you again as we begin to walk through Lent together, I feel
the word that I would want to be uppermost in your minds is the word
HOPE:
Hope
in our faith which is a victorious one.
Hope
in the vaccine which will change the course of the pandemic.
Hope
for all that will happen on St Valentine’s Day this year.
V
for Victory : V for Vaccine : V for Valentine and, oh yes, let’s
not forget, V for Verses of Scripture.
I
wish each of you God’s richest blessings as we stand on tip-toes to
greet Spring: and we take on board what Isaiah wrote seven hundred
years before Christ: that our fast this Lent, however we can manage in these lockdown times, should
consist of bringing justice, of clothing the destitute, of feeding
the hungry, of offering hospitality [when we are allowed to do so
again], of releasing people from fear and, in response to the call of
the Lord, walking in His Light.
Be
strong. Keep well. Honour God. Serve one another. Hold fast!
John
Last
week I offered St John’s Kirk as a ‘Nightingale’ Ward to the
Health Board of Tayside, should it be required for mass
vaccinations; the prompt, gracious and courteous response was as
below:
Thank
you very much for your kind offer of the St. John’s Kirk to support
the mass vaccination programme. At the moment, there is no
requirement for this, but we will keep your generous proposal in
mind.
**May
I thank all who very kindly sent generous expressions of support :
cards, emails, messages, flowers, phone calls : in November, during
and after my time in Ninewells Hospital. Very much appreciated!
I
wish also to thank my colleague and friend Alex Stewart for all his
ministering to both Congregations during these recent weeks: So, so
grateful, Alex!
***During
these lockdown restrictions when our Church buildings are closed for
Sunday Worship- but open for Funerals- Alex and I will officiate on
alternate Sundays for the live-streamed St John’s Service at 10 am.
Should
government regulations alter during the months ahead, we shall
indicate as such on the Churches’ websites.
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