The reminder arrived from the optician – “it is now two years since you last had an eye test – please contact the practice to arrange your eye test.” “It can’t possibly be two years since I had an eye test,” I thought to myself. Probably because of the last 2 years during which we have lived with so many differing practices of living, work, leisure and worship, my sense of time has shifted out of focus. So maybe I need to book that appointment.
I wonder when I do go – what will have changed – will my vision be the same, have deteriorated, or improved? Will I need a new prescription and new lenses with which to view the world? How will my perspective be altered as a result of the answers to these questions?
Looking around at our world as we expect to emerge from most Covid restrictions on 21/03/22 – almost two years to the date since our first ‘lockdown’ of the modern era, I am struck by the changes that these two years have brought. It’s all change here.
Our practice of Church life has changed significantly – we have had to move ‘online’ and embrace technology to continue to worship, albeit with some degree of familiarity but also with some new patterns. Some of our meetings as office- bearers have been ‘in person’ – some remain ‘online.’ Our central Church has embarked on a very serious process to reduce ministry posts across Scotland. This has led our Presbytery to a new round of Planning for Mission which will dramatically alter the delivery of ministry in our area. It’s all change here.
On the world stage, the Western world has been rocked by the events in Ukraine. We saw what happened in Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria and were touched, but somehow what we see in Ukraine feels quite different. What can we do and what do we think about the threat of European violence and the economic impact of this war in our own pockets with rising costs encircling us? It’s all change here. I do not have any answers or clarity of vision on these issues, but I am concerned over them and praying for insight as to what part I and you might play for God in this. Amid the changes all around us, more fervently than ever I cling to the promise of Jesus that he is our true constant refuge in times of uncertainty.