Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I write to you in difficult times.
 
“God is our strength and refuge, a present help in time of trouble,
therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way”
Psalm 46.1
 
The Psalmist writes these words in the midst of war and trouble. I often sing the words of Psalm 46 on Remembrance Sunday which Richard Bewes, the rector of All Souls Langham Place, set to the stirring music of the Dambusters’ March. Those of us who have lived longest can give the most compelling testimony that “God, the Lord of hosts is with us, evermore,” that God’s faithfulness to us has carried us through all of life’s crises, our own personal crises, those of our families and friends, those of our nation and even our world. He is the one who “breaks the bow and shatters the spear” of the enemy that we face. He is our heavenly Father in times of peace and times of turmoil
 
Two things are clear. Never has a virus spread around the world so quickly, aided by the very transportation systems that have helped bring the world closer together. Yet never have we had such capable resources intellectually and practically to fight it. Our prayers are with all those who are suffering, particularly for those who have been bereaved and those on the frontline trying to help those who are most vulnerable and unwell. Our prayers are also with those whose decisions, research and wisdom will help stem the tide of infections and hold the promise of returning our world to a way of life that just weeks ago we could take for granted.
 
Rodney Stark writes in his book “The Rise of Christianity” how the early church did not follow the Roman tradition of leaving the sick and dying in a city on their own and wait elsewhere until the disease had subsided. Christians moved towards the sick and the dying, often at great personal risk, tending to the sick and helping many to recover who, without their help, would have died. Not only did the survivor’s have reasons to ponder why these followers of Jesus of Nazareth has stayed behind to help them but both they and their carers might now carry some immunity that would help them in future epidemics.
 
Perhaps during this time we might as a church rediscover something of their courage, even in the face of suffering and death. I have been reflecting in recent days on God’s protection of Israel. Did God protect Israel? Yes. Did Israel experience hardship? Yes, and often hardship that flowed from them being God’s chosen people. Did Israel always have a sense of God’s protection? Read the Psalms, often the lament goes up that the righteous suffer and wicked prosper. As it was with Israel so it is with us. As it was with Israel so it was with Jesus. In our mission to share the good news of Jesus’ love we are called to take up our cross daily. “Be still and know that I am God.” In the midst of the chaos we are called to turn aside for a moment and be refilled with the Holy Spirit, re-orientated to his love and purpose, reshaped into his likeness. Recently I have started using an app called Lectio 365. It is produced by the people behind 24-7 prayer and it has been a great help to me finding space between the bewildering change of every routine and the relentless torrent of news.
 
“There is a flowing river within God’s holy city, God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.”
In some ways our lives are unrecognisable as we come to terms with restrictions that we have not experienced in our lifetime. Yet in the midst of this enforced isolation for some and the daily confronting of risk and danger for others, God is still with us, Jesus is risen and his Holy Spirit has all the resources of love, courage and strength that we will need to face the days ahead.
 
As a Presbytery we are seeking God’s help as to how we respond. Church services have been cancelled but some of our congregations will be streaming and recording their services online. Graham Duffin and the Congregational Development Team have been working to make sure everyone knows what resources are available and to try and assist congregations to rethink how they continue their life and mission within the current restrictions. And though we will not meet as a Presbytery for the foreseeable future we will find ways of making sure the local church is resourced and supported through this time.
 
God is our strength and refuge, Jesus is risen  and our hope is in him. Even in midst of this crisis. This is his church, we are his family and he will care for us,
 
yours in Jesus’ love,
Mark Nicholas,
Gorebridge Parish Church.
 

The Scottish Government has advised that because of the risk of infection with the coronavirus COVID-19, people should minimise social contact by avoiding crowded areas and large gatherings, including religious congregations, and most smaller gatherings.

In the light of this, the Church of Scotland has agreed to recommend that all gatherings for worship should cease until further notice. Other Scottish Churches are taking similar actions. This includes Easter services. This will include, but not be restricted to, house groups, meetings for youth work, and church cafes.

Click on the website of your local church to find out more. You'll find the link under the congregations tab above.

Some churches are able to offer a livestreaming of an act of worship and you will see that on their websites.  We've publishing a list of online services and other opportunities to worship. We'll continue to add new opportunities as we go along.

Some church buildings are also being kept open as a place for people to come and pray. Visit the website of the church concerned to find out when its doors are open.

A new minister and her family are beginning a new life this month in Bonnyrigg.
 
Louise Purden will be ordained and inducted into her first charge as Minster of Bonnyrigg Parish Church on Thursday 23rd February, succeeding Rev John Mitchell who retired in the autumn of 2018. 

​She will be joined in the manse by her husband Richard and their children, nine year old Ryan and seven year old Christina.
 
Louise has been telling John Macgill of her feelings as they join the family of Bonnyrigg Parish Church.


​
 
“I am excited. I have spent all this time preparing and getting as equipped for the challenges that lie ahead as possible: first the pressure of exams and challenges of essays at Edinburgh University, then really get my teeth into some of the aspects of ministry during my time as a probationer, including with Keith Mack at St John’s and King’s Park church in Dalkeith. But the reality is that you have just no idea what challenges are going to be thrown at you; you have no idea what life will really look like. It feels a bit like having children for the first time. You try to prepare yourself and you try to get ready, but there is no way that you can really prepare yourself for those sleepless nights and those demands that will be placed on you.
 
There is a sense of expectancy and hopefulness – for me and my whole family. My husband is enormously supportive and my children are completely on-board and ready for the move too. It feels like something that we are doing as a unit – it’s very much not just my thing. It is our thing.
 
I was born in Glasgow and my family moved to Edinburgh when I was seven. I have lived most of my life on the south side of Edinburgh. I began by life in youth and community work at the age of 18 when I joined the organisation Youth with a Mission, spending a year in Plymouth before returning to Scotland. Most recently, before I began my training for ministry, I was a family support worker for seven years in Gracemount in Edinburgh, which I absolutely loved.
 
In hindsight you can see the youth and community work as a springboard into ministry – but I didn’t see it that way at the time. Although my father became a minister – he was a little older than me when he trained for the ministry – I was adamant for a long time that I was definitely not going to follow in his footsteps.
 
Then, one day, Dr John Young, the minster at Liberton, who was my manager at Gracemount, asked me straight out whether I had ever thought properly about becoming a minister. I remember getting butterflies in my tummy when he asked and realised it was a question I needed to think about properly.   At that point the children were quite young and Richard and everyone else I talked to were enormously supportive. So I started pushing doors to see if this was where God was leading me. It has been a rollercoaster ever since.
 
I suppose my original reluctance to become a minister was simply because I am not a fan of institutions and I wrestled with the feeling that I would become part of this massive institution and perhaps, along the way, lose sight of the grassroots stuff of engaging with people that I love so much. But my sense is that the Church of Scotland is at a point where it is ready for change and is recognising that it is all about engaging in that face-to-face, ground level ministry of connecting with communities and building relationships. There are very few other places where you can have that sort of intergenerational contact, where people can really truly care for each other and stand with each other and celebrate different achievements within their community – and I believe that is the real opportunity the Church has in our society.
 
When I was applying for the job at Bonnyrigg, the tagline for the church was that they wanted to be known as “a church of compassion”, which I really connected with. I want to be part of that compassionate voice within the community, and one that is relevant. Bonnyrigg has lots of community hubs and groups and the church is one of them. People have told me that they were baptised in the church, just like their parents, children and grandchildren. There is a strong legacy of community, and attachment to the church and the building. I want to keep making those attachments.”
​

Mark Nicholas is celebrating twenty years as minister at Gorebridge, his first charge. He has also started his year as Moderator of the Presbytery of Lothian. He has been telling John Macgill that challenges and enormous opportunities lie ahead for the Church of Scotland in Lothian and far further afield.
 
"This is a time of great change for our presbyteries, for the wider church and for our congregations and how people relate to them.

It appears to me that we are seeing the last days of religious observance. The congregations we grew up with were central to the life of our towns and villages, central to our families. But since the peak of Church of Scotland membership in the 1950s, many of our members have witnessed six straight decades of decline in numbers. It has been demoralising. We wonder if it is still possible to introduce people to Jesus Christ, to engage in mission. Many young people have no church background at all. Many others in our communities have some historic connection to church but don’t engage with the life of their local congregation anymore. The inherited faith that our children and our children’s children received from us is not being turned into an owned faith of their own.

Historically, the religious observance we grew up with was the result of mission. Yet I think many of us have forgotten how to do mission; we have lost the confidence to share our faith. But this has not changed: God’s plan to reach people with his love, to rescue them, is the local church. This means presbytery’s primary task must be to support, equip and enable our local congregations in their life and mission. We need to shape our church life nationally and regionally around the mission of the local church.  

I was born in Edinburgh and brought up in Dalkeith, so I have not strayed far!

I wanted to be an engineer like my father. But at the age of 16 I came to the realisation that Jesus was risen from the dead and he had a claim on my life. One December day I fell to my bedroom floor and asked Jesus into my life. That one decision profoundly changed the direction of my life. The faith I had inherited from my parents, Clive and Iris (who both served as presbytery elders), became an owned faith. I started praying and, right from the start, wondering if my heavenly Father was calling me to a life of full-time Christian work. I was also praying whether Diane, who was a leader at the Scripture Union at Dalkeith High, was to be my wife. I am delighted and privileged that both these things came to pass.

Over the next few years, I sensed a call to stay in Scotland and then more specifically to ministry in the Church of Scotland. I was a probationer at Penicuik South and Howgate before moving to Gorebridge 20 years ago. We arrived with three children and now have eight. My family have been integral to the life and mission of Gorebridge Parish along with its members and elders. I am so thankful for them all!

So this presbytery is dear to my heart and, indeed, the only presbytery that I have served. It is privilege and a joy to be asked to be its moderator.

One of the things that we say here at Gorebridge is that the primary task of an elder is discernment: is it good with God, is it good with us? As we gather as a presbytery, ordained as elders, ministers and deacons, we are all called to discern God’s guidance together.

I know that God has a vision and purpose for Lothian Presbytery, and we can discern what it is when we work together. I would use the example of our Congregational Development Team. Initially it was established as part of our response to planning for a future with fewer ministers. It has become far more: a visionary response that asks how we seed best practise across the presbytery and how we help congregations to ask those bigger questions of themselves.

I believe we have lost confidence as a Church which, ultimately, expresses itself in a form of unbelief: we imagine that culture, society and public thought have moved away from us, especially our younger people, the three generations who are largely absent from our congregations. We fear we have little to offer. My experience is that nothing could be further from the truth. As I engage with younger people, they want to explore first order questions, they want to know about God, life and death, good and evil, and they are captivated by Jesus. I would love us to regain a humble confidence, a boldness, in sharing what we have in Jesus. We are the bearers of genuine good news, good news they need to hear.

If we take the risk of moving our churches onto a mission footing then we will see fruit. The decline that we are currently going through will not only arrest, but it will reverse, because we will be fulfilling the great commission faithfully.

If we are prepared to reach out and serve the people in our communities who need help, if we can do evangelism alongside that broader mission of bringing the love of Jesus practically to people in need, then again the Church will turn around because we are fulfilling the greatest commandment faithfully.

If we are prayerful and visionary as a presbytery we can, by God’s grace, do extraordinary things together. The blueprint for church is right there in Acts 2. Every year I return to this passage encouraging our congregation to be fully devoted to Jesus, to be a loving family for one another and to dedicate their lives to reaching those who don’t know his love for themselves. What would it look like to have a presbytery full of congregations dedicated to an Acts 2 vision of church, gathering together to love, encourage and support one another in pursuit of our callings? That would be the Kingdom come here on Earth as it is in Heaven. I am absolutely convinced that if we let him, he will show us how, we will discern it together."

A new minister takes over the reins at St Mary’s church in Haddington following a unanimous vote of the congregation when she preached as sole nominee.
 
The Reverend Alison McDonald, who has served over twenty years as minister of Musselburgh: Northesk, will be inducted to the charge at a service in St Mary’s this evening (Thursday 1st August).
 
Alison says she was struck early on by the clear commitment of the congregation to build on its work with the wider community of the town.
 
“When I met the nominating committee,” says Alison, “I was impressed by their vision to be an even greater positive force at the heart of the community. I am excited by all the creative possibilities of worship in the beautiful church building itself, I am looking forward to progressing some of the ideas that the congregation have for the space, and to working in partnership across the town.
 
“When I preached as sole nominee, the people of St Mary’s couldn’t have been more genuine, warm, welcoming and friendly. I felt that they were looking forward to me beginning ministry with them as much as I am looking forward to becoming their minister.
 
Haddington St Mary’s has not had a permanent minister since the death of Jennifer Macrae, who served the congregation for ten years. Session Clerk, Alison Meikle, says their hope was to find someone who could continue to build on the work that Jennifer had been leading:
 
“During the vacancy it was a difficult time and it was a challenging time, but we didn’t stand still. There was a lot of moving forward.
 
“We’ve welcomed quite a few new members who have joined us in the last few months, both people moving into Haddington and others who have lived her for a while. We have ordained twelve new elders, many of them younger people in our congregation, some with school-age families. We’re looking at opening up the church for wider use by the community. We are very lucky that we have quite a thriving Young Church and we’d like to attract more young families to join us, perhaps also having somebody who can work with parents and children in our wider community. And, of course, we have just completed a project to completely overhaul the lighting within the building in the biggest programme of work we’ve undertaken since the restoration of the church nearly 50 years ago.
 
“We were delighted that Alison answered the Call to be our minister. She has so much experience both as a parish minister and in the wider church. Things that struck a chord with us included her interest in working with families and across our growing community, her deep interest in music – which is so much part of worship at St Mary’s – and her commitment to ecumenical relations: St Mary’s works closely day-to-day with all our neighbouring churches.
 
“Her interests and ambitions fitted perfectly with ours.”
 
Alison McDonald was ordained in 1991 in Budapest, Hungary, into a new post as Associate Minster at St Columba's Church of Scotland and Mission Partner with the Reformed Church of Hungary. She returned to Scotland in 1994 and became Associate Minister at Mayfield Salisbury Church in Edinburgh, where she had a particular remit to develop ministry among families. She was called to Northesk Parish Church, Musselburgh, in 1998.
 
Alison has been involved in the wider work of the Church both in the Presbytery of Lothian, where she was elected Moderator for a year in 2004; and at the Kirk’s General Assembly, as Convener of the Ecumenical Relations Committee from 2013 to 2018. She is on the Governing Board of the Conference of European Churches and a Trustee of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. 
 
She had got to know Jennifer Macrae well over many years working together in East Lothian.
 
“Jennifer was an excellent colleague for whom I had a high respect and regard,” says Alison. “She was a wise source of good advice. It is an honour to follow Jennifer. I know she has forged a good path and has left a strong legacy.”
 
In moving to Haddington, Alison McDonald steps down from being minister of Northesk in Musselburgh.
 
“It has been a privilege to serve as Minister of Northesk and the communities of Fisherrow and Musselburgh. I am grateful for their love and support and thankful for the journey of faith that we have been on together over the years.”
 
Alison’s husband, the Reverend Sandy Horsburgh, is minister of Dalkeith: St Nicholas Buccleuch. He too will be moving to Haddington so that, from today, the manse of St Mary’s will also be the manse of St Nicholas Buccleuch.
 
All are welcome at Alison's service of induction which begins at 7pm this evening (Thursday 1 August) in St Mary’s.

The congregation of Penicuik: North Parish Church have welcomed the Revered Graham Astles as their new minister.
 
Mr Astles, a former IT & management consultant who was previously minister of St Andrews Bo’ness and Jedburgh Old & Trinity, replaces the Reverend Ruth Halley who moved to a parish in Stirlingshire in October of 2017.
 
In their search for a new minister, the congregation of Penicuik North said they were seeking a collaborative leader to share and develop their visions of mission and outreach to the community and beyond.
 
Graham, who is married to Eunice with two adult sons, has been telling us how his life in ministry and beyond has equipped him to answer the Call to serve the congregation and wider Penicuik community.
 
“I grew up in a family that was at that time at least nominally Christian. We would go to church perhaps twice a year, if that, but no strong spiritual connection. Then, when I was 18, I moved to London to go to university to study electrical engineering and I must have gone through some sort of crisis of identity, as young people often do at that time, and really began searching for truth.
 
I suppose I had been searching for something for a few years even before then and was into all sorts of weird and wonderful things. But then I came to faith at university through a mission by a local evangelical church and, from very early on, felt the call into ministry.
 
When I set up my business the driving force was to provide some sort of funding to allow me to follow that call. But what you tend to find is that a business, particularly when you have staff, takes up so much time that the freedom that you hoped you would have had to do other things just isn’t there.
 
Eventually I reached the point of saying: “Okay Lord, maybe I’m not called to ministry. Maybe my role in the church is to give money to help other people in ministry instead.”
 
At that point the country went into a bit of a recession. It was the early 2000s, clients lost confidence and stopped commissioning work from us and, in the end, the business had to close.
 
Ironically, that freed me up to begin to pray about whether I should go into ministry. I remember distinctly praying one Friday evening: “God, is it right that I begin to pray about going into ministry.” I was seeing whether I had permission to even begin to look at it. I asked God to somehow give me a plain, clear answer.
 
As a family, we were worshiping then in Gorebridge church with Mark Nicholas. I was the treasurer there and an elder. The following Sunday both the clerk to the board and the session clerk came to me separately and asked if I had thought about going into ministry. For me, that was the very clear permission that this was  something that I could run with and that the time was right.
 
So it was gradual and it was long planned. When I began studying for the ministry, it was at the end of a cycle that had included laying it down before God. And He allowed me to take it up again.
 
I was ordained into Jedburgh Parish Church in the Borders in 2007. I spent many happy years there and my children grew up there. I enjoyed being involved in the community, it life, festivals and Common Riding. Three years ago, we were called to St Andrews in Bo’ness, a busy parish with lots of different things going on, lots of management of others and pastoral work.
 
I had got to know the people of Penicuik North when I spent some time with the congregation during my enquiry and assessment, now called ‘discernment’, period. They are forward-looking and very lovely and kind, and Eunice and I felt that this was a church where we could help, and could get really involved in pastoral ministry. We simply felt it was worth pushing the door to see if it opened up.
 
I see my role as being to help the congregation discern what shape the church should be moving towards in the future, particularly in the light of the challenges that we face as a Church nationally and the decisions of this year’s General Assembly. How can we reach the community with the Gospel of Jesus as part of the local church within the town and as part of the national Church across Scotland?
 
It is early days yet to talk about where we will go together. The people of Penicuik North are keen to reach out to the community and to bring something of the Kingdom of God into the town. How that shapes up, and what form that takes, we can work out together.”

Rev David D. Scott, minister of the Parish of Traprain, stood down as Moderator of Lothian Presbytery after leading a service of communion in Prestonkirk, East Linton, at the end of September. Here are his reflections on a year at the helm.
 
 I have to say that I enjoyed being Moderator and, compared with some of my predecessors, I’ve had an easier time in terms of moderating the meetings because there weren’t any really big, controversial issues under debate.
 
The biggest joy has been to be able to offer what I would call “the Ministry of Encouragement”. Because the Moderator leads the devotions before meetings, there is an opportunity to encourage presbyters and I really tried, in particular, to focus on encouraging those delivering a ministry of Word of Sacrament by what I said in the devotions.
 
As well as welcoming and supporting people presented to the Presbytery at its meetings, the Moderator also gets the opportunity to give charges to new ministers and congregations. During my time, we had two inductions and an ordination, as well the admission of a Reader, and in of each of these services my role was to give a ‘charge’ the person and their new congregation: advice and guidance, encouraging them in their new work. It was a great opportunity to really think about their work, to make visible what they were embarking on, explain it and, perhaps by articulating how important it is, allow everyone to see its true value.
 
So, I think, perhaps, what I enjoyed most was that Ministry of Encouragement, being in a position where you could be able to encourage other people in their ministry because those with jobs to do within the Church sometimes don't hear enough words of encouragement because they are busy encouraging others.
 
Being Moderator was a bit of a double-edged sword. The opportunities to encourage and support others was one edge. But the other is that Moderators are a bit like farmers. Farmers work under the scrutiny of their peers. Everybody sees what is happening in the fields around them and in their neighbours’ fields – everyone can judge how well a farmer is doing. The Moderator has to preach, for example, to his or her peers – which is quite nerve-wracking because you know that you are preaching to people who are themselves preachers, who know what it's all about and can make a judgement on how well you are fulfilling the task. Luckily, a number of my fellow presbyters are very good at being supportive in their comments and saying words of thanks.
 
I suppose I am glad that the year is over. Being the Moderator is extra work and it is also hard work because you want to do it diligently. But I'm also glad that it's over because it underlines what I said at the beginning of my year: that in the Church of Scotland we value corporate leadership. The world doesn't understand that, but we do. So, the mouthpiece of the Presbytery, the Moderator, the person who chairs the Presbytery meetings and leads their services, changes because he or she is a corporate leader and not an individual spokesperson as, for instance, a bishop is. In this way we avoid creating celebrities!
 
I have to acknowledge that it was an honour to be called to do it because, although every presbyter could be the Moderator, there aren't enough opportunities for that to happen. So, above all, it is an honour, and also very humbling, that the Presbytery should have put its trust in me to do the task.