On Sunday 14th. August, 2016, I arrived at the Church earlier than normal to set up for our Joint Holiday Club Service. To my dismay, I discovered that overnight our premises had been subject to wilful vandalism with several windows having been broken. Since then there have been a number of further incidents. Thankfully, our neighbours around the Church have been vigilant in alerting the police who have attended the buildings and spoken to a number of individuals.
Having set up for the Service, I then went back to the Manse before returning for the Service later on. As I was closing the boot of the car, something caught my eye – it was a new fountain pen I had been given some 7 weeks previously, which I had lost the day after I had been given it. My dismay at the damage at the Church was dimmed by the discovery of that which had been lost. I was reminded of the line, “never let a passing cloud ruin a sunny day.”
The recent spate of vandalism will pass. It is not a new phenomenon; Jim Tonner assures me that this was a weekly if not daily occurrence in the 1990s. So I remind myself to remain hopeful that this too will pass. Or in a modern take of the words of Julian of Norwich, “In the end all will be well. And if it is not well, it is not the end!”