By The Rev. Susan Balfour

Beloved,

Grace and peace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I pray for you daily, giving thanks to God for bringing us into ministry together and seeking God’s blessing on our common life.

My dad’s parents were both born and raised in Scotland. Granny’s family lived in Glasgow and Grandda’s family lived in a wee town called Killearn, near Loch Lomond. The smoggy Glasgow summers sent families like my Granny’s to the countryside, where my grandparents met. When WWI broke out, Grandda sought to enlist in the cavalry, and he was enrolled in the Canadian forces. After the war, Granny came to the New World and married Grandda in Boston. My Scottish roots run close to the surface.

So when I realized I could hold my installation as your pastor on Burns’ Night (the birthday of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns), I was delighted! What better way to celebrate our new ministry together, as well as a new chapter in my family’s life, than on Burns’ Night? I could honor my family’s and our denomination’s Scottish roots as well as officially inaugurate our pastoral relationship all at once.

Alas, we are not as hardy as our Scottish brethren! The prudent response to inclement weather is to postpone the installation. While Burns’ Night is a bust this year, I still look forward to a good ceilidh on March 1 to celebrate our life together.

In the meantime, I invite you to begin your evening meal with the Selkirk Grace by Robert Burns:

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat
Sae let the Lord be Thankit!

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Susan