March 2020

Dear Friends,

As we approach Easter this year it is like no other approach to Easter in living memory. Church Services have been cancelled and there will be no services during Holy Week, no early morning services on Easter Sunday morning, like the ones on Bigholm Hill just outside Beith or on the beach at Whiting Bay. Both services I have attended. These early morning services are held in quiet places, and the peace that we feel makes us all think of why we celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus had been betrayed by one of his disciples, Judas, and he must have been apprehensive of what was to come when found guilty of a set up crime and nailed to the cross. What joy we now know on Easter Sunday when the women found the stone was rolled away and the tomb empty, Jesus was no longer there. But at the time, did the women have a feeling of fear, just as we all have a feeling of fear at this time of the Coronavirus? Everyone is now to isolate to try to beat this virus. For my wife and I there will be no trip over to Arran, where we usually celebrate Easter, no hugs from family and grandchildren, hugs that are so needed when things get difficult. The time ahead will be difficult and uncertain for each and every one of us, we may have fears when illness strikes, when jobs are lost, like the fear the women had when they found the empty tomb.

However, when this emergency is over we will all be able to celebrate with our families and friends and receive the hugs we miss so dearly especially from our grandchildren.

I hope and pray that you will all be able on Easter Sunday to take time to think of the Easter story, the story that Jesus is alive and like God is with us all in good times and sad times.

May God’s blessings be with you all and your families at this difficult time.

R Allan Richardson

Moderator.