Dear Friends and Members of St. Margaret’s Parish,

We do indeed live in an interesting time. The technological expertise of mankind means we can send men and women into space and even venture to have astronauts walk upon the moon, we can aspire to even further space exploration with thoughts of travelling to the planet Mars. Our understanding of the chemical, biological and physical world about us has known little bounds until a tiny coronavirus now named Covid-19 emerged recently and has almost brought our known ways of living to a grinding halt. The worlds of business and commerce, the arts and entertainment, the fields of medicine and education and our known social interactions are all currently finding themselves challenged and changed by this virus which has crossed from animal to human host with serious implications for human health.
The spread of the Covid-19 virus and our lack of immunity has meant a retreat from every day life in many ways. The Church as an institution within society is affected too. Only today, the Church of Scotland announced that from the 17th March 2020 and until further notice – meetings of church organisations and congregations should be halted to comply with Government regulations regarding the mass gatherings of people which would permit further possible transmission of the virus should people be in those gatherings be infected. Government advice is that all people should keep their contact with other persons to a minimum for the time being, if ill to self isolate and seek medical advice. From today and until further governmental and scientific advice allows us, we will require to observe a social quarantine.