Dear Caroline,
Welcome to the weekly news bulletin from All Saints. I hope you have had a positive week. I know a few of our folk have had their vaccine now which is wonderful to hear and a small sign of hope. Read on for news of tomorrow's worship and things coming up....
Sunday Worship
Tomorrow we mark Candlemas, otherwise known as the Feast of the Presentation. In our liturgy we recall the story in Luke's gospel of Jesus being brought to the temple by Mary and Joseph 40 days after his birth, where he is recognised by Simeon and Anna as the one who would be a light for the whole world. It is a good day to give thanks for the faithfulness of the most elderly members of our congregation, those who through a lifetime of prayer and worship have eyes to see where God is at work in our world.
Candlemas takes its name from the tradition of blessing the candles that were to be used in the home and the church in the year ahead. It is a pivotal moment in the church year when we turn from the crib of Christmas towards the cross of Easter. I do hope you will be able to join us for worship tomorrow at any of the three services:
9.00am Morning Prayer on https://www.facebook.com/allsaintsloughborough
10.30am Family Worship (Diddy Disciples) for all ages using songs and story to explore the theme of the day. Zoom only. Contact [email protected] for zoom log in details.
6.00pm Choral Evensong live streamed from the church building on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNymtzHV8G_EfZprXch9RIg
Preacher: The Very Revd David Monteith, Dean of Leicester
Cantor: Motje Wolf, Acting Director of Mission through Music
Organist: Simon Headley, Principal Organist
The order of service for Evensong and details of the words for the morning service are both attached to this email. You can join the morning zoom call from 11.00am for a half hour social time too.
Shrove Tuesday 16th February - Pancake Party on Zoom?
Given that we wont be able to have our traditional fish n chip supper in church this year I wonder if we might get together on zoom and have a bit of general silliness instead? I'm sure we could still have a pancake flipping competition, perhaps a quiz or maybe each of us bring some entertainment to share - a joke, a poem, a song a juggling routine?! Let me know if you would like to do this and whether in the day or evening. All ideas welcome.
Ash Wednesday 17th February
The Church Wardens and I have decided we shall open the church building for private prayer on this holy day to mark the start of Lent. You will be able to come to church between 10am and 12 noon and between 4pm and 6pm. There will be a simple liturgy of confession available to pray through quietly on your own or I will also be available to pray with you and pronounce the words of forgiveness. This will all be done with covid secure measures in place so please remember to wear a face covering, sanitize your hands and keep 2 meters distance from those not in your household. We shall also live stream on YouTube a Communion service from the church that evening for you to make your spiritual communion at home. Details of Lent worship and ways in which you can engage in this year's theme will be shared next week.
Pastoral Care and ongoing Prayer
If you would value an occasional or regular phone call from someone from church, or know of someone who might, please get in touch with me directly so I can let our pastoral team know. Prayers are said every day by the ministry team and we are very happy to pray for people by name. Please contact [email protected] to pass on details. You can join in with daily prayer throughout the week on our Facebook page at 9.00am and 7pm. The service we use can be found here https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer
You might like to try Pray as you Go https://pray-as-you-go.org which is a 15 minute audio service including music, bible reading and a guided meditation. It is also available on Spotify. Personally I have found it very helpful over the last few months especially when I've found it hard to pray.
Don Clarke
Sadly I need to share the news of the death of Don Clarke who was a former Church Warden at Holy Trinity and who some of our church famiiy will remember well. Please remember his wife Joy and their family in your prayers over the coming days as they prepare for his funeral.
Ministers Muse
My weekly look at the Sunday bible readings continues on Tuesdays at 12.15pm on YouTube. This week the passages are Proverbs 8.1 & 22-31, Colossians 1.15-20 and John 1.1-14. My guests are Fr Paul Cartwright, Anglo-Catholic Priest based in West Yorkshire, David Welch, Head of Mission Enabler team in the Diocese of Guildford and Revd. Sue Willetts, Vicar of the Good Shepherd in Loughborough. If you watch live you can join in the conversation via the comments.
And if you're still reading....next Sunday we have a new schedule for Sunday mornings which will stay the same until Easter. After the usual Morning Prayer there will be Diddy Disciples at 9.30am on zoom followed by a social time at 10.00am. Then at 10.45am a more formal liturgy will be live streamed on YouTube. I very much hope this will allow for everyone to be able to access and enjoy worshipping together over the coming weeks.
Yours in Christ
Revd Wendy