As you may have heard, the Irish government has issued some new directives which prohibit indoor gatherings of more than 100 people. Whilst we do not currently attract these numbers, we feel that it would be common sense to not meet during these restrictions. Our reason being there are a number of people with underlying health issues within the congregation, a number have had lingering coughs etc. for a number of weeks, along with current water issues within the toilet facilities at the school making keeping good hygiene practices more difficult at this time. We will therefore not be meeting at St. George’s NS this coming Sunday.
We are looking at means by which we can record and distribute sermons via soundcloud but we won’t have that ready by this coming Sunday. Watch this space.

We are mindful that during such restrictions it would be easy for us to become isolated, we do not want this to be the case. Please keep in touch with each other even just to say hello. We will also be organising opportunities to meet up outside, keeping in mind current protocols with keeping distance and physical contact in mind.

We ask that everyone continue to follow good hygiene practices in terms of keeping safe distances from one another, avoiding handshakes and staying home if you are feeling unwell.

These are indeed unusual times. In the first few verses of Psalm 46 we read:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

This Psalm reminds us that while circumstances around us may be unpredictable and changing, our God is unchanging, unfazed and unsurprised by what is happening. Indeed he is our fortress – a safe place to go to in times of turmoil. Let’s continue to be praying for the vulnerable in our community, for the health services as they deal with the fall out of this virus, and that God would meet us in our times of worry and anxiety.

Psalm 46 continues by inviting us to “be still and know that I am God”. Perhaps in these coming days we have something of an opportunity to draw close to him and find him not distant, but “ever-present” and closer than we ever thought?