Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At times like this I am reminded of a hymn by one of the greatest hymn- writers in the English language – Charles Wesley. He writes: “And are we yet alive, and see each other’s face? Glory and thanks to Jesus give for his almighty grace!” He goes on: “What troubles have we seen, what mighty conflicts past, fightings without, and fears within, since we assembled last! We will certainly be able to sing that with gusto when next we meet, and, we trust, also say with Wesley:  “Yet out of all the Lord hath brought us by his love; and still he doth his help afford, and hides our life above.”

As George Morrison says in his excellent blog this week on this site

Fear penetrates our lock-down …!   The remedy is to ask Jesus for that faith which is not prompted by sight and is available to those who seek it. 

Sandra and I have been blessed by the daily five minutes videos of daily devotions produced by the Solid Rock church, Drogheda, led by Nick Park. On Saturday morning, Nick reminded us that in 1 Kings Chapter 18, Elijah saw God’s great miracle and victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Yet in the very next chapter we read in verse 3 that the mighty prophet was afraid and ran for his life! What a contrast! Alone – yes, self-isolated! – in the desert he just wanted to curl up and die. But God came and ministered to him and strengthened him. Not once but twice. We are all different and with different needs and God will minister to us in the way that we need to take away fear and give us faith as we wait upon him.

As Elders, we are also here to minister to you. Please do not hesitate to contact us through all the ways set out on the Contact Us page of this site. Let’s pray for each other and stay connected.

May God richly bless you this week.

Jon Blackwell

For the Elders