Benefice
Newsletter
2 November 2020
We find ourselves again in lockdown from this Thursday. I don’t know about you, but the impact of the pandemic feels relentless! I am very grateful to have been able to hold our joint Patronal Festival on Sunday morning – it was wonderful to have everyone together and the memory of our worship will definitely help to sustain us during the coming weeks. Our last act of public worship was the All Souls Service in All Saints' Church, a very different style, but incredibly moving – praise the Lord, that we had this opportunity to serve those who grieve. You will find included in the Newsletter details of the worship that will be available to us via Zoom during November, as well as help to get connected, if you haven’t used Zoom before.
I would like to offer this prayer for you over the coming weeks: it comes from the booklet that the Church of England produced during the last lockdown. I will be including it in my daily prayer, as we step forward together into the next four weeks:
Keep us, good Lord,
under the shadow of your mercy
in this time of uncertainty and distress.
Sustain and support the anxious and fearful,
and lift up all who are brought low,
that we may rejoice in your comfort
knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
under the shadow of your mercy
in this time of uncertainty and distress.
Sustain and support the anxious and fearful,
and lift up all who are brought low,
that we may rejoice in your comfort
knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
No public worship is allowed in church. The only exception is funerals, and then attendees limited to close family and friends, up to a maximum of 30.
Worship will continue via Zoom in the following pattern:
- Morning Prayer: Tuesdays & Thursdays at 8.30am;
- Evening Prayer: Wednesdays at 5.30pm;
- Sunday Morning Prayer followed by Coffee & Chat at 10am.
If you have a tablet, smart phone or computer but don't know how to use Zoom, Helen Jennings has offered to help get you connected. She can be contacted on 01933 272160.
It is also possible to dial into Zoom worship via any telephone. You will need the number and a passcode which Agnes, Rev Christine or I can provide.
Churches are able to open for private prayer. These are the times our churches will be open:
- All Saints - Thursdays 10am-12noon;
- All Hallows - Wednesdays & Saturdays 10.30am - 12.30am.
Ian Barrett has offered to help with shopping or collection of perscriptions for those who are advised to stay at home. He can be contacted on 01933 274222.
There won't be groups meeting in either hall. However, the school will continue to use All Saints Hall for their nursery children and PE classes.
Our Christmas preparations will continue in the hope that the lockdown will be lifted at the beginning of December. Watch this space for more details.
We will resume the production of the weekly newsletter for November. Rev Christine will post this to those with no internet access, and if you know someone who wants to subscribe to the email version, please tell them to ask Agnes.
Those who suffer in body, mind or spirit, among them Peter B, Christian S, Sue P, Roger P, Richard H.
The housebound: Ruth S, Margaret O, Diana B.
The Church in the Province of West Indies, The Most Revd Howard Gregory, Primate and Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands; The Porvoo Churches – Norwich, Luleå.
If you would like to add a name to our prayer list, please first obtain the consent of the person you wish us to pray for. Then tell Rev Christine whom to pray for and the reason why. A name remains on the list for three weeks.
Those whose anniversaries fall on this week: Peggy Scott, Graham Alfred Thompson, Rose Lawrence, Ivy Mitchell, Graham McInnes, Harold Patrick, Oscar Pettifer, Edna Wooding, Alice Attewell, Lily Clipstone, William Poole, Robert Andrew, Walter MacNought, Beryl Sudborough, David Fletton, Peter Marshall, Barry Quantrill, Herbert Leslie Hairsine, Christopher Frederick Tredgett, Eleanor Ann Thomas, Geoffrey Bertram Woodbridge, Nora Raymond.