It's so sad that our Christmas services and festivities have been so badly affected by Covid again.But, though they may be ‘affected’, the joy that Christmas brings as we celebrate the Birth of the Saviour remains true and undimmed.May you experience that joy – and find peace and love – this Christmas time in spite of it all!Elsewhere on this page you will find A Service for Use at Home at Christmas and the readings to go with it. This can be used any time you like – at midnight or early in the morning or in the odd ten minutes during Christmas Day – and I hope you find it helpful.To recap on the situation regarding services ...Sadly, the St Andrews Midnight Holy Communion and Christmas Day Family Service are cancelled.‘Come and Behold Him!’ continues in St Andrew's Church – an opportunity to see the enhanced Christmas Crib Scene and for the children to take away a small gift and a Christmas story book.Everyone welcome – 4-6pm today and on Christmas Eve – with Carol Singing in the Churchyard from 5 pm on Christmas Eve. The Crib will be in place at least until Epiphany.The services in the smaller churches are all going ahead as planned and advertised – though we have reinstated face coverings throughout and greater distancing.There will be a service of Holy Communion at St Andrew's (Common Worship) on Sunday 26 December at 11am ... to which everyone is welcome.May I wish you and yours a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year...Steve
<div>Despite the cancellation of our carol service due to the worsening Covid situation, we have decided to hold a service of <b>Holy Communion at 11 in St Andrew's</b> tomorrow morning (Sunday 19th) and you are very welcome to join us.</div><div>To help mitigate any risks - even though we will be a much smaller gathering than we would have been at the Carol Service - we will be asking those attending to avoid mingling inside the church, to increase their social distancing back to two metres and to be extra careful with face coverings and sanitizing.</div><div><b>But it's Sunday! We are not locked down! We feel we should offer a service</b> – even if it's not the one we had planned.</div><div>If you'd like to come to it and feel comfortable in doing so, it would be lovely to see you.</div><div><b>PLEASE PASS THE WORD AROUND!</b></div>
We are very, very sorry to have to announce that this year's Carol Service, which was to have taken place at St Andrew's on Sunday evening, has been cancelled due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus. Reverend Steve says: 'The Covid situation has changed very rapidly since we started planning our Christmas services and the sudden arrival of Omicron has taken us across the line of acceptable risk. 'The announcements by the First Minister of Wales last evening and today confirm that we should not be encouraging folk to mix with large groups of strangers in indoor settings.Please pass the word around, take good care of yourselves and STAY SAFE.'It seems likely that we will also have to cancel our Midnight Mass and Family Services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning, but if so we will confirm this closer to the time.
Services in the Presteigne Group of Parishes this Sunday 12 December (Advent 3) are as follows: 9.15 Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer: traditional language) Knill11.00 Holy Communion (Common Worship: modern language) Presteigne
