Dear Friends,
This time a year ago, we were living in a different era – pre-pandemic. Little did we know, little could we imagine how the world would be so different a year later. Although we hope and pray that we may have turned a corner in this country with infection and death rates falling, and the vaccination programme achieving impressive results, many questions remain about when and how we may emerge from this.
This year we are better prepared to enter Lent and approach Holy Week and Easter. We will have services in one form or another. We have become more proficient in the use of technology and zoom. We are keeping in touch and supporting each other in different ways. Some things we don’t miss and others we miss dreadfully.
When the people of Israel were defeated in war and many were taken into exile into a foreign country, all that was familiar was taken away. They had to live and adapt to change on every level. There were times when they were not allowed to worship freely, they knew what it was like to be oppressed.
During that experience, the hope that they might return to their homeland, their normal way of life, ebbed and flowed over the decades. Some decided to make the place of exile their new home and they settled, married local people and built homes. Others clung to the hope of going back; others asked the question, why had God allowed all this to happen?
When the exile was over, not all returned, they had made the place of exile home. Those who did return did not experience a glorious time, much had changed and needed rebuilding. All had to grapple with what God required of them. Which is a question for us too for this Lent and beyond.
Peace
Tim