Minister’s April 2020 Message
Dear Friends,
Amidst this uncertain and scary time our usual pattern of Sunday worship and other gatherings has been put on hold but that does not mean that Greenbank is no longer functioning as a church. Worshipping together as a church will continue each Sunday, albeit in a different format. Details of how to participate are given on page 1. A printed copy of the service can be emailed to you on request. Although distribution might be difficult, if you can do this safely and within the limits of government guidelines, please free to share copies of the service with those unable to connect into the services each Sunday.
I have asked our elders to be in touch with everyone in their districts to check if help is needed. Please let your elder or me know if there is any way we can help at this time, even if this is simply a weekly phone call to check in. It is important that you and others know that the church is there offering hope in the face of fear. The current crisis affords each one of us an opportunity to live out our faith by actions of love and kindness to others.
There is a wider community effort being made to assist anyone who needs help at this time. We have linked in with Voluntary Actions East Renfrewshire and a local list of volunteers has been collated. We have leafleted most of the people in our Parish giving them our church contact details; telling them that they do not need to be a member of the church to contact us for help and letting them know that that even in isolation, they are not alone.
Jane, our Church Secretary is working from home at this time. If you have any queries about anything to do with church; want to help; need help; or know someone who needs help; please email Jane at greenbank.office@tiscali.co.uk or contact me directly at any time jroddick@churchofscotland.org.uk
The Manse telephone number is 644 1395.
This week, I discovered that the children in our community have been drawing pictures of rainbows and placing them in their windows. Rainbows are often used as a symbol of peace and hope because they generally appear when the sun comes out following a heavy rainfall. Rainbows serve to remind us that there is hope and light to follow even after the dark times. When I heard about the children’s rainbows I was reminded of the lines from George Mathieson’s hymn: “I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain. That morn shall tearless be”.
In the midst of uncertain and scary times and a season when we think about Jesus’ death on the cross, our faith proclaims that God’s love is stronger than death and despair. In our life with the risen Christ, we are invited to do more than hope for a bright future and trace the rainbow through the rain, believing that Easter love revealed by our God through His Son will never let us, or this world, go.
Your minister,
in love and service,
Yours,
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