From The Editor

Follow the Editor on Twitter @LifeWorkEditor

THE Church year - and the calendar year - are marked by change and a journey from one season to the next.

Regardless of what else is going on in the world, there is a predictability about these changes and many people draw comfort from the certainty and knowledge of knowing what is just around the corner.

The shortening of days, frosts and cooler air and nature going to sleep are the prevailing signs of change for this month in Scotland.

The month of November this year begins with All Saints’ Day and Remembrance and ends with Advent, marking the change (and beginning) of the Church year.

But in 2020 we have experienced major disruption and unpredictability on a scale not experienced for generations. Whilst nature and the seasons have continued to change in timeless fashion, there have been restrictions on our freedom and lives not seen since probably the Second World War. Even during that time of conflict, many churches were able to remain open for Sunday worship, oflering consistency and weekly certainty at a time of great fear in an uncertain world.

Whilst some churches have been able to open in a limited way amid the restrictions on our lives and movement, the uncertainty and unpredictability of Covid-19 means there will likely be necessary curbs on marking these November moments.

Yet the uncertainty with which we have lived during this year - and are likely to continue to experience in 2021 - could undoubtedly be a metaphor for faith. The year opened on a positive note with no hint of the changes to our lives which lay ahead. There was a certainty and predictability to church lives. Church services took place every Sunday in local communities at longstanding set times. Yet in the space of a few weeks, church life changed beyond all recognition thanks to the global pandemic which has shaped our lives, movements and hopes and fears. Suddenly churches were closed. Congregations were no longer able to physically gather together.

“Uncertainty will remain but the love of God remains a comforting constant in a changing world.

Predictability, routine and constancy disappeared from our lives. As the seasons changed from spring to summer, there were positive signs and there was an easing of the restrictions on our lives and partial reopenings of some churches in a limited way. But the progress in change remains a fragile one and can change again at any time as happened in early autumn.

As we remember the fallen at the beginning of this month and begin the preparation for the start of a new church year at the end of the month, uncertainty will remain but the love of God remains a comforting constant in a changing world.

This article appears in the November 2020 Issue of Life and Work

Click here to view the article in the magazine.

To view other articles in this issue Click here.

If you would like to view other issues of Life and Work, you can see the full archive here.