Minister uplifted as true spirit of Christmas shines through
People are making a greater effor t to reach out to others this Christmas, a church minster has said.
Morningside Parish Church in Edinburgh will not stage its usual Christmas Eve service this year due to the pandemic, but it will hold a smaller, socially distanced ser vice on Christmas Day, live streamed.
Very Reverend Derek Browning, minister of the church, said: "There has been a lot of talk about Christmas being cancelled this year.
"Yet what I am seeing and hearing all over the community, and all of the Church, is quite the opposite.
"People gathering on doorsteps to ring bells at 6pm on Christmas Eve, people phoning round or 'Zooming' friends and family to make sure there is some kind of connection over these days.
"Neighbours looking out for those on their own, or who are frail.
"This year, people are making a greater effort to reach out, and that's wonderful.
"At Morning side Parish Church, we're sad not to be celebrating Christmas Eve in the usual way, with hundreds attending, but we are holding a smaller Christmas Day service, and will be live-streaming these services on these days, and on the Sundays afterwards, until we can all meet again.
"This year of all years, kindness is the theme."
Mr Browning said children at South Morningside Primary School had made "Boxes of Kindness", filled with cards, gifts, cracker jokes and stories, and had asked the church to deliver them to older people living alone.