vicar

Parish Update 3

Good Morning Everyone!!

(How  long into this before I can start writing a letter like Paul did?)

Just a few more updates for you – I will try to keep them coming over the next few weeks.

Worship

  • Tomorrow morning the Archbishop of Canterbury will lead Morning Worship from Lambeth Palace. This will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Worship at 0810 and all BBC local radio stations in England at 8am and will premier online at 9am on Sunday. You can also find it tomorrow morning on the Church of England website and facebook page.

  • I will offer a short reflection from church which will be filmed and uploaded to the following:

    In the coming week I will start producing more resources to enable you to study scripture and worship God at home. These will go onto our website. If you struggle to access these, please let me know and I will send you some through the post.

Mothering Sunday

  • The free poses of daffodils that we normally give out are available outside church today and tomorrow. I have put some out today and kept some back to put out tomorrow. Government advice remains people need to socially distance themselves but going for a cautious walk or a drive is acceptable.

Light a Candle for Hope and Solidarity

  • The Archbishops are calling on all Christians and the wider public to light a candle and place it in their window at 7pm on Sunday 22nd March (tomorrow). Will you join me in lighting a candle in hope and solidarity? If you have facebook share your pictures with us!

Pastoral Care

  • Last night I began launching our Pastoral Care Network. What I have done is started with the Electoral Roll and split it into groups of 12. If you are on the electoral roll you should start to receive a phone call on a weekly basis from either a PCC member or someone else in church who has volunteered to support this network. We may not be gathering together but we are still a community – we are still the church. If you want to speak to me please do give me a call – and I will work my way through the electoral roll but I wont be able to do that every week, hence a wider group supporting the effort.

  • If you don’t get a phone call in the next 7 days or become aware that someone hasn’t been getting contact, please let me know. There are people in our church who aren’t on the electoral roll who may have been missed. I apologise for this in advance.

Foodbank

  • The church building is now open everyday between 9am and 12pm and 3pm to 6pm. Should you wish to donate anything to the foodbank – leave it in the usual place and we will get it there for you!

Thank you to everyone that has sent kind messages of encouragement.  They certainly have been an encouragement.

Jess, Samuel and I continue to pray for you all – stay safe – see you soon!

Grace, Mercy and Peace,

Calum

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Message from the Vicar - Coronavirus Update

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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