Dear Frends,
Sunday Worship 7th February
Tomorrow we begin a pattern of worship and prayer that will remain the same for the coming couple of months whilst we are not meeting physically in the church building. I do hope you will feel able to worship with us at one or more of these services:
9.00am Morning Prayer on Facebook. Lasting approximately 20 minutes this service is said every day of the week. Prayers are said for all those who have asked for the prayers of this church and you are welcome to put your own requests into the comments as we pray together. Tomorrow morning Revd Emily will be leading from her shed which regular attenders at Facebook Morning Prayer will be very familiar with!
9.30am Family Worship exploring the theme of the day in story and song. Perfect for young children but not limited to those of younger years - young at heart will also find this an accessible and moving act of worship. Our theme tomorrow is the Baptism of Jesus. Join us on zoom for this half hour act of worship, please contact [email protected] for the zoom link.
10.00am Church Coffee and Chat
You can join the call above from 10 for a chance to catch up with one another and say hello.
10.45am Morning Worship live streamed on our Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNymtzHV8G_EfZprXch9RIg
Each week this 45 minute service will be led by different people from their homes and include hymns, bible reading, sermon and prayers. The order of service for tomorrow is attached to this email. Our music tomorrow will be led by Motje and Tim Wolf and I shall be preaching. Similar to the service we had the other week when we celebrated Reader ministry this will be a service of the Word.
11.30am Individual Prayer
If you would like to receive prayer after Morning Worship you can use the zoom link below to be prayed for. Tomorrow Revd Emily will be holding this space for people for half an hour at the end of the service. Only one person will be let in at a time so it will be a private space to receive prayer. This won't be a social space so please don't use it to drop in and say hello, it is simply for anyone who would value a quiet moment and to be prayed for. This is a ministry we used to offer in the church building before the pandemic and we feel we should try offering it again in this form. You do not have to share any details if you don't wish it is perfectly fine to simply come and ask for prayer - God knows what is on our hearts. Please contact [email protected] for the zoom link.
Sunday 14th February
Next week the pattern will be the same. The theme at Family Worship will be The Week Before Lent (Jesus gives up everything for us). At the 10.45 service we shall be marking Racial Justice Sunday and launching our Lent theme for this year. Then at 6pm Martyn Davison and members of the choir will lead a service of Evensong on Youtube.
Tuesday 16th February Shrove Tuesday zoom Pancake Party 6pm
Come and join the fun. Contributions of music, poems. etc all welcome and we think we might have a quiz lined up to. More details next week.
Ash Wednesday 17th February
The church building will be open 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 myself or Emily 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.
Church cleaning Saturday 13th
If you can lend a hand to help get the church ready for reopening on Ash Wednesday please contact Penny White on [email protected] who is overseeing the church cleaning. This will be done in a covid secure way and we suggest that those in the clinically extremely vulnerable category or who are vulnerable due to age don't volunteer on this occasion.
Thank you for reading this far! From next week we are going to try a new way of sharing news. On Wednesdays there will be a weekly newsletter emailed out with general news about church life and then on Saturday we shall send a brief email with any relevant zoom links in and a brief reminder about Sunday worship. I hope this will make it easier to digest information and stay connected. If you have any thoughts or feedback on how things are going as a church do please drop me a line and don't be afraid to reach out and ask for help even if that is just a conversation.
Best Wishes
Revd Wendy