There is an old adage about hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. Seems a bit like that when looking at the news: schools in Scotland definitely planning to re-open the week after next, swimming pools and gyms in Wales re-opening from Monday, but restrictions placed on large numbers in Northern England, quarantine required of many arriving from abroad, and countries around the world seeing rises in the number of cases. Against that background the three Church of Scotland churches in Dumbarton are working through the requirements for re-opening. More details will be given in due course when plans are firmer. If you want to understand a bit of why it takes so long to re-open, have a look at the guidelines at this link: Covid-19-Buildings-Guidance-DOCUMENT-3.0-V4.pdf
(And by the time we have our heads around the latest version, the guidelines have usually changed again!)
Lord, if we are honest, back in March we hoped that by now the pandemic would be over and life would continue as it was before. But it isn’t over, and doesn’t look like being over any time soon. Help us to appreciate, rather than just criticise, the work that people are doing to cope with it. Help us to cope with our feelings: frustration, anger, despair, loneliness, grief. Help us to recognise that other people have these feelings, and do what we can to help them cope with them
