Hope for the future
In the series considering the stories of people whose lives have been shaped by encounter with the Church of Scotland in some of Scotland’s poorest areas, Neill Shaw offers the story of William.
OVER the past few months, we have travelled around various Priority Area parishes, stopping to listen, get to know people and hear some of their life stories.
They described how their lives have been impacted for the better by the presence of their local Church of Scotland church and the faithful folks who lovingly serve their communities. In this article, we meet William, who has found renewed hope and made new friends because of his local church.
It was a cold autumn day when I met William. I had to scrape the ice from my windscreen, and the heater in my car seemed to take an eternity to produce any warmth. The church centre, at which William is a regular attendee, however, was cosy and welcoming and the homemade lentil soup was just what the doctor ordered! William and I sat down with our coffees – the conversation felt natural and free-flowing. William told me he first came to the church for a meal when he had no money or food but that the embrace he found kept him coming back. “I come here on the first and third Sundays of the month for dinner. They put on a worship service with a meal, and that makes a massive difference – just having a place to come, be with people and get a warm meal.”