Hymns, Homelessness and Hope

Over these last few months, while Jane and I have not had our normal Sunday responsibilities we have worshipped in a wide variety of places and settings and – with only three exceptions – have not gone to the same place twice.

As you might expect, our experience has been varied. But we have never come away without having been glad to have joined with others in worship.

Last Saturday evening, as Jane has been abroad for a week, I was trying to make up my mind where I would go on my own the next day. I had made my mind up, but in the event my night’s sleep was interrupted and disturbed by one of our dogs who has developed an upper respiratory tract infection. When I did get back to sleep I ended up sleeping in! No time to get to my chosen church.

So I did something I have never done before... I watched a livecast on facebook from the congregation of a colleague and friend. I was surprised at how engaged I was with the worship, and how meaningful and moving I found it.

During the service one person spoke to promote a local charity. Some years ago, she had found herself unexpectedly homeless having had a good job and what she thought was a stable domestic situation. Then her husband suddenly left her and she found herself with nothing. As she spoke it was clear that she was also someone with a strong faith, and while she had undoubtedly faced great trauma and suffering and uncertainty, she had lost neither faith nor hope. Now, years on, she could see what she had been unable to see at the time; something of the presence of God and indeed God’s guiding and protecting hand in the midst of the dark times.

I found her story deeply moving, but also both comforting and challenging.

And if watching a live service on my phone was an unusual experience, the afternoon brought another! I watched Songs of Praise on the telly! That is something I have not done in years and years! And – unexpectedly – it came from Edinburgh and again focussed on homelessness, with footage of the Sleep in the Park event in Princes Street Gardens. There were plenty of images of the outside of my former church, interviews with folks I knew, hymns from Stockbridge Church in whose congregation I spotted many familiar faces, and – once again – a testimony from someone who had been homeless but for whom faith and hope had brought meaning and a change of circumstance.

And again – for me – comfort and challenge.