Afternoon Everyone,
In light of the restrictions announced yesterday evening and explained further this morning, I thought it would be helpful to let you know what’s happening at St. Michael’s.
The PCC Standing Committee have communicated via email this morning and agreed on our way forwards. Our understanding of the restrictions for Greater Manchester, which are echoed by the Diocese too, is that places of Worship can remain open, and this is because of all the work and changes that have been implemented to make our space and what we do ‘Covid Secure’.
The question that the Standing Committee have discussed has been ‘should we open even though we can open?’ We have decided that we will continue with reopening and resuming public worship this Sunday.
In my previous update I outlined the various steps we have taken to ensure our building and activity is as safe as possible which includes encouraging social distancing as much as possible. In my previous email I also mentioned that the Church of England strongly encourages worshippers and ministers to wear facemasks during worship. The Prime Minister in his press conference today has reinforced this view and has said that face masks will be compulsory from the 8th August.
When I finished university, Jess and I went on holiday with some friends to rural France and the book I took with me was Charles Dickens ‘A Tale of Two Cities’. I’m reminded of it now by the words:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Speaking personally, this seems to sum up quite well a lot of how I am feeling at the moment. I and others have and will continue to make St Michael's Church building as safe as possible for as many of you as possible to come and be present together to worship God. For those who feel its not quite safe, I completely understand, and for those who find the restrictions and requirements for face masks in the coming days difficult, I can understand your position too. I’m fed up of not being able to share community properly, but I am looking forwards to being able to get as close to that community feel as possible, by worshipping alongside many of you this Sunday, albeit from 2 metre distances.
For those that want to stay at home but still join in, I hope that our service will be streamed on our youtube channel at 10am. The link to our channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh8Ve25UiBfXwpdumWDod7Q?view_as=subscriber
Hebrews 6:19 states: ‘We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.’ The hope is Jesus Christ, and the love of God which binds us all together as brother and sisters in Christ. This love cannot be defeated by fear, or evil, or illness, and it is in this hope and love we move forwards together.
I look forwards to seeing some of you on Sunday,
With my prayers,
Calum