Good Evening Friends,
Sorry, its me again! In just over 24 hours’ time England will once more be in lockdown, so I thought I would share some thoughts and plans that are slowly coming together.
Lockdown Rules
At present, places of worship will be closed for acts of public worship except funerals. Therefore there will be no Sunday services or Midweek services in church until December. We are allowed to open the church for individual prayer, and at present this will happen on a Monday morning from 9.30am to 12pm and Thursday afternoons from 1.30pm to 3.30pm. I am looking into the possibility of opening the church on a Sunday but am still working on that. Looking back at the last lockdown, and the visitor numbers we recorded, there wasn’t a great take up for using the church to pray which is why the wardens and I have decided to open on quite a limited basis to start with. If there is greater demand, we will look to open the building more often.
With being required to stop most of what we do, we will be furloughing our administrative staff and I am already looking forwards to welcoming them back. Please don’t hesitate to contact the Churchwardens or myself if you have questions you would normally have directed to the Parish Office.
Wednesday 4th November
Our service on Wednesday 4th will be a service of Holy Communion which is slightly different to the published rota. Mark and I felt it important to mark the last service for 4 weeks with Holy Communion. This service will also be livestreamed to YouTube.
Remembrance Sunday
Over the last 2 days I have recorded services for Remembrance Sunday and Armistice day. As I have mentioned before, Stockport Council are advising people not to gather at War memorials in the borough on Sunday and Wednesday next week, and so there will be no services there. The recorded service for Remembrance Sunday will go live on YouTube, Facebook and our website at 10.45am and at the same time on Armistice Day. At 6.15pm on Sunday, another service will be published that will include more of the worship pattern we follow each week, rather than just the remembrance focussed worship.
Worship in Lockdown
We will move back to having a weekly service recorded and shown on our social media channels and website. As YouTube governs when we can publish something, our normal Sunday service time for in Lockdown (this Sunday being different) will be 10.15am. (You get a little longer in bed). If anyone would like to be involved in these services do let me know.
Mark will resurrect the midweek Zoom service on a Wednesday at 10.30am, which you can join from 10.20am. The login details will be published in SMT on Saturday.
I will endeavour to restart my daily reflections and Jess and I will share a conversation on Thursday’s too. With all of this, I will try to make sure these videos are displayed across our social media and our website.
Funerals for Basil Wheeldon and Revd Canon Rex Hack
Basil’s funeral will take place on Monday 9th November at 11.30am. I expect that this service will last around 40 minutes and then the family will make their way to Stockport Crematorium. Should you wish to pay your respects to Basil, you might wish to line Robins Lane from the church door towards Bramhall Lane South from around 12.10pm.
Rex’s funeral will take place the following day on Tuesday 10th November at 1.45pm. I expect this service to last around 45 minutes and then the family will make their way to Macclesfield Crematorium. Should you wish to pay your respects to Rex, you may wish to line Robins Lane as above from around 2.30pm.
In both circumstances, please remember to social distance with 2 metres between you and people from outside your household. If there are delays in leaving church or the cortege departing, please accept my apologies now.
Day of Prayer
I invite you to join me in a day of prayer for our community, nation, and world on Saturday 28th November. The church will be open from 10am to 4pm and there will be resources available to guide you in prayer. These resources will also be made available for use at home. I do hope you will be able to join me in setting that day aside to pray.
Finally, although our community gatherings have been put on hold for the time being, please know that you are not alone, even if, at times, it feels like it. If you want someone to chat to for whatever reason, even if its because you just want to hear someone else’s voice, please pick up the phone and give me a call. If you fancy coming to the park and watching Samuel run rings round me in the playground, let us know, and we can tell you when we expect him to drag us down to the park. I know that this lockdown might be harder than the last because of the dark evenings. St Michaels is an amazing community of truly inspiring loving individuals. Let’s supports one another in prayer, phone calls and fellowship however possible that is. I miss you already – I can’t wait to see you all again soon!
Jesus said “and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” God is with us, I am praying that you might know his comforting Spirit with you, his light in the darkness, and his joy in the frustrations.
God Bless,
Calum