Friends,

These are not easy times. With the latest guidelines from the Government regarding church services and other related activities we are now facing an unprecedented challenge. No one I have spoken to recently can ever recall a time when they were not able to attend a church service on a Sunday morning or visit a needy neighbour in their Elders District. Some folks I have spoken to have made comparison to wartime experiences and the kind of fear that invoked in people. For the Christian community this is a serious challenge to our faith but one that we should be well equipped to rise above. 

I was preaching last weekend and heard about a local initiative being set up in Furnace on the shores of Loch Fyne that would ensure that no one would go without and I am sure there are many other examples throughout Argyll. The local church needs to be at the forefront of this serious challenge and we all need to play our part, however small this might seem. There are guidelines being issued on a regular basis as the situation unfolds and it is important we all adhere to the latest version of these. However, there is something more the church needs to consider and which I put to you now. We need to generate a groundswell of prayer and I am proposing that at 12 noon every Wednesday starting from the 25th March that everyone stop and have a moment of prayer. Prayer points will be emailed to all on the Presbytery mailing list immediately prior to each prayer time and I hope you will join me at that time. Of course, if the timing doesn’t suit please feel free to use the prayer points at another time. 

The Moderator of the General Assembly has called for this Sunday to be a National Day of Prayer and I commend this to you. As an Interim Moderator of a vacant parish I am planning to send a short message and prayer to my congregation each week and invite them to consider this at the regular worship time on Sunday. If anyone would like a copy of this do let me know and I will happily share.

We all need to place our trust in God at this time and positively look forward to the time when the virus is defeated and we can retake our seats in the churches we love so much and to share fellowship with those whom we have missed. With God’s care and our concerns rooted in prayer that time will come, and all will be well again.

With every blessing

Douglas Allan
Moderator