Dear Friends,
Here is your weekly update from All Saints....
We had a wonderful return to Parish Communion last week. It was an emotional service for many, full of endings and beginnings. I am very grateful to all who worked to ensure a safe return to the church building and helped to steward the service so that people could feel confident in attending a service safely. It was lovely to hear our choir sing, to be able to physically break bread and place it in outstretched hands and the weather was kind to us so the socially distanced picnic afterwards was a lovely ending to a special morning.
Sadly Revd Mark couldn't be with us in person as he and Lesley were taking the precaution of isolating due to a raised temperature (thankfully the covid test came back clear) but they were still able to join in the service via the live stream.
Please keep Chris, Esther, Maisy and Oscar, Phillippa and Jim and Mark and Lesley in your prayers as they begin the next chapter of their lives. I'm sure none of them will be strangers to us and we look forward to receiving their news as they all settle in to new contexts of training and ministry.
Sunday Morning Worship
Morning Prayer is available at 9.00am to view on https://www.facebook.com/allsaintsloughborough live streamed from the church building
Parish Communion will be held in the building at 10.30am. For those unable to attend in person you can also view the service live streamed here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNymtzHV8G_EfZprXch9RIg
At the end of this email I have relisted all the instructions from last week so you can remind yourself of how things will work.
Sunday Evening Worship
Tomorrow evening at 6pm Revd Emily will be ordained priest at Leicester Cathedral and I do hope you will be able to watch the service via the link here https://buff.ly/2Uj3bpZ
Next Sunday Emily will be preside for the first time at Communion which will be our chance as a church family to celebrate with her. Our preacher on this occasion will be Revd Dr Stuart Burns, Director of Mission and Ministry in the Diocese who has been a mentor to Emily for many years. We are delighted he is able to join us.
Annual Parochial Church Meeting
Wednesday 30th September at 7.30pm we shall be holding our annual meeting. This will be both a physical meeting in the building but will also be accessible via Zoom. More details will follow but for now please put this date in your diary.
Church Electoral Roll
If you are not already on the church roll and would consider All Saints your church community please consider joining the electoral roll. This mean you are eligible to vote at the annual meeting and can if you wish stand for any of the church officer roles. It is also a really helpful way for us to have a sense of who considers All Saints their church. Contact [email protected] to ask for a form.
Shaped by God Together
Lastly our Bishops Martyn and Guli have put together a short video setting out a call to prayer and an invitation for us to use these coming months to really listen to God and one another as we seek to discern how the Church will need to adapt over the coming years. These months of lockdown and closure of our church buildings have brought in to sharp focus both the opportunities and the challenges that we face as a Diocese. Please find a spare 15 minutes and have a watch of this https://youtu.be/urbmztLu3JA and then have a look at the invitation to contribute stories of your own experience over the last few months. Details can be found here https://www.leicester.anglican.org/about-us/sbgt/gathering-stories--generating-insights.php
Further details of things happening through the week can be found in the September Herald the link to which I emailed out earlier this week.
Yours in Christ
Wendy
A reminder of the details for those attending the church building for worship
Doors open at 10.00am
Please use on street parking or the Old Rectory Museum unless you need close access for mobility reasons.
Please wear a face covering, clean your hands as you enter the building and be ready to give you name and contact details.
Stewards will take you to a seat ensuring we adhere to social distancing.
The service is being recorded and live streamed for those who cannot attend in person. The majority of the time the cameras will be pointing to the front of the church but there will be some shots of the congregation during processions and at the start of communion. If you would like to ensure you are not seen please let the stewards know as you arrive and they will seat you appropriately.
Orders of service can be downloaded and viewed on our church website. If you are able please either print your own or use a tablet/smartphone to view it. There are two versions available one set out as single sheets and the other as a booklet. There will be a limited number of printed copies available in church including some large print versions. If you use one please take it away with you to bring back next week.
https://allsaintsloughborough.org.uk/jml02/on-line
The passcode you need to access the church Wi-Fi is 73372028
The toilets will be open and managed by a steward.
Sadly we are unable to offer a distinct provision for children at this service with our usual Little Saints group and the Trinity Room is not accessible. Children are of course most welcome to come to the service but they will need to remain seated with their parents.
For the distribution of communion please remain in your seat until instructed to move by a steward. You will be invited to sanitise your hands, remove your face covering and go forwards to receive the bread. You will then be able to re-sanitise your hands before replacing your face covering and return to your seat via a one-way system. All of this will be directed by stewards so please don't worry and take your time. If you have not yet been baptised or received into taking communion you can still come forward for a blessing and indicate this is your wish by keeping your hands at your side.
Congregational singing is still not allowed but there will be live music led this week by Kate, Will and Graeme.
At the end of the service please stay in your seat until a steward invites you to leave. This is to ensure we keep social distancing as we leave.
If you are bringing your financial gift with you to the church building you can you donate this as you leave either in cash, cheque or you can now make your gift by card payment.
After the service please do not linger in the church building but save conversation to outside remembering to continue to respect social distancing as you do so.