Dear Friends,
Following on from the Prime Ministers statement I write with a further update on how this affects us as a church. First, I apologise for not being in touch sooner – I have been waiting for some official guidance from the Church of England which was released moments ago. The Bishops led by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have suspended all acts of public worship. In their words:
‘Churches should be open where possible but with no public worship services taking place. Prayers can be said by clergy and ministers on behalf of everyone and churches should consider ways of sharing this with the wider community.’
You can read the full letter from the archbishops here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2020-03/17%2003%2020%20Joint%20letter%20from%20the%20Archbishops%20of%20Canterbury%20and%20York%20re%20coronavirus.pdf
What this means for us directly is
All Sunday services and midweek services are suspended for the foreseeable future
Mothering Sunday will not be happening – Jess and I have postponed Samuel’s baptism.
Lent groups and any other church groups will not meet
The APCM is postponed until further notice.
All Easter activities are suspended.
The Archbishops are using language such as ‘the church is not closed but will look radically different’. I am not sure personally whether this is helpful language, I feel a sense of loss, maybe even grief, at not being able to meet with you my church family. I am sure we will all look for the positives and for the hope but these next few months will be different and will be a challenge.
The PCC met last night and agreed a number of actions they were happy for me to take, so I want to share them with you.
I will say Morning Prayer every day at 9am and Evening Prayer every day at 5.30pm. I invite you to join me in saying this at the same time. Attached you will find copies of the Order of Service I will use.
The Churchwardens and I are in contact to work out how we can open the building for people to come and sit in it quietly and offer private prayer. When we have a plan we will make people aware of this.
Today I have been working on setting up a Communication Network for the church. The PCC have agreed that maintaining communication amongst our dispersed community is a priority. Every member of the church is to be assigned a responsible person, who will make contact with a group of people at least once a week. We have a duty to care for one another at this difficult time and talking is a key way. I hope to role this system into action within the next 24 hours.
Over the coming few days I will produce further worship resources which I will print copies of to be made available in the Parish Centre but these will also be uploaded to the church website for you to download.
Mothering Sunday will not be happening as usual, but the Archbishops are calling the church to pray for the nation. I invite you on their behalf to join in and in particular to place a lit candle in your window at 7pm this Sunday evening as as a sign of solidarity and hope in the light of Christ that can never be extinguished
As guidance changes, I will let you know, and I will endeavour to continue to communicate with you all as often as possible. Jess, Samuel and I are already missing you, please be assured you are very much in our prayers at this time.
Last night at PCC I shared words from Romans 8:31-39
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have a God of Love, we have a God of power who raised Jesus from the dead. All is not lost, God will overcome. These words may sound trite right this moment – but trust in God, allow your faith to carry you, and when you are struggling, remember your brothers and sisters in Christ, let our faith carry you!
Please don’t hesitate to contact me at the vicarage – we are working of diverting the parish office phone to the vicarage but that may take some time.
With my prayers and the assurance we will gather again to worship our Lord Jesus Christ!
Calum
