To the nation4 November 2020Dear Friends,These are deeply challenging and difficult times for us all. When we are surrounded by fearand suffering, it can be hard to feel hopeful. This coming winter feels like it will be longer anddarker than usual.There is a story in the Bible where Jesus and his disciples are caught in a storm. The disciplesare understandably terrified as the wind and waves threaten to overpower them. ‘Why are youso afraid?’, Jesus asks. This year, we too have been caught in a storm which often feelsoverwhelming. And yet we can look to Jesus, in the boat with us, who calms the storm andcomforts us in our fear.We are writing to share our belief that whoever you are, and whatever you happen to believe,you are loved by God. Beyond measure. We also want you to know that we are praying foryou, particularly asking that Christ’s love will comfort us, calm our fears, and lead our nationand our world through this terrible pandemic. Starting this week, we have asked every churchto pray each day at 6pm. We invite you to join with us. You’ll be able to find simple resourceson the Church of England website and social media channels.There are three other responses that we want to encourage everyone to consider -First, let’s be calm. By only buying what we need and not hoarding, or by reaching out to ourneighbours as we did during the first lockdown, we can be stronger together in ways that areimpossible if we go it alone. When things go wrong - as they always will with such complexchallenges - let us look for good and right ways forward together.Secondly, let’s be courageous. There are many reasons to be fearful at the moment, but thestory of Christ calming the waves calls us to give our fears to Jesus and have faith in Him. TheBritish willingness just to get on with things is one of our very best characteristics – let us notbe paralysed by fear. We will all need each other's courage in the months to come.Thirdly, let’s be compassionate. So many of us are holding so much pain - our own and thepain of those we love. We will need to be gentle, kind and patient with each other. In the firstwave we showed we are a nation of compassion and kindness. Let’s dig deep and keep thatlove for our neighbours strong in this second time of struggle.Even though there is much darkness around us, there are also many points of light in the weeksahead. This Sunday is Remembrance Day. As we remember the courage and sacrifice of those whogave everything for this nation in war, we are also reminded of the possibility for hope afterdestruction, of new life after suffering. In the coming weeks, there are great religiousceremonies. For Hindus, Sikhs and Jains there is Diwali, the festival of light. Sikhs willcelebrate the birth of Guru Nanak. The Jewish community will observe Hanukkah. ManyMuslim communities have just celebrated Eid-e-Milad, the anniversary of the birth ofMuhammad.Soon it will be Christmas. At his birth Jesus was also called Emmanuel. It’s a word that appearsin lots of carols. It means ‘God is with us’. And this is the message of Christmas: in Jesus, Godis with us, sharing our darkness and our struggles, bringing comfort and joy. It is the source ofour hope. As the Bible says: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did notovercome it.” (John 1:5) Let us shine in the darkness of this winter.May God bless you and keep you, and all those you love.The Most Revd & Rt Hon Justin Welby The Most Revd & Rt H
Generous Giving – As Christians we continue to give generously at Harvest time and throughout the year.To encourage us this year, we have a guest speaker, Sally Bossingham, on Sunday, 11 October at both St Helen's, Sharnford, 10.00am, and All Saints Sapcote, 11.00am.Sally is from the Generous Giving team in the Leicester Diocese.
Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) – Our Annual meeting, <span style="font-size: 1rem;">delayed from March, will now be held on Sunday, 18 October at </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">All Saints Church at noon. </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Please bring your own packed lunch and </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">drink.</span>The meeting will include reports and elections for Churchwardens, <span style="font-size: 1rem;">Church Council and Deanery Synod.</span>Our Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2019 will be available <span style="font-size: 1rem;">before the meeting.</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">All are most welcome to attend.</span>
To: Members of the benefice of 4 Sharnford RoadSapcote, Sharnford and Wigston Parva Sapcote LE9 4JN16 July 2020Dear friends,How are you? I hope you are all well.Church is Changing, what’s happening?About a month ago I sent you details of how our church buildings in Sapcote and Sharnford were opening for individual prayer. This was conditional on our implementation of controls to ensure that people are as safe as possible. It was wonderful to meet a number of you there! We have also kept people up to date with developments, via the re-introduction of our weekly news sheet (by email or post). In our news sheet we indicated that we would open these two buildings for worship on Sunday July 19th for Family Holy Communion, and the purpose of this letter is to give you more details. Also, I hope that this letter will help you to decide whether or not to join in with any of our forthcoming worship. Please note that Messy Church isn’t able to meet physically at the moment, there is no plan for midweek Holy Communion because of cleaning restrictions and St. Mary’s Church, Wigston Parva remains closed due to very limited capacity. We have no weddings booked for 2020, no baptisms are being booked at the moment, but we do have provision to host funerals, on Wednesdays only, with limited numbers.Our worship for the next few Sundays will look, sound and feel very different to what we experienced at the beginning of 2020! Both church buildings have facilities/signage to encourage good hygiene and social distancing. Order of service cards will be placed on your seats- you can take these home and bring them with you to worship next time, or leave them in a box on the way out. Worship will not include singing and will be shorter in duration.For Holy Communion there will be no sharing of the peace, and there will be no wine. I will ensure that Church of England guidelines are followed, eg requiring you to stand to receive bread wafers whilst keeping your distance from myself and others. We are also required to keep a list of those who attend. Although this will seem strange at first, I hope and pray that we will meet with God and be encouraged in our Christian faith. Over the months, as restrictions allow, we will re-introduce missing elements of worship.St.Helens Church changes.We are going to trial a 10am start each Sunday to see if it can work for us. This will mean that I will leave very soon after our worship in order to lead worship at Sapcote at 11am.We plan to hold worship at 10am each Sunday as follows :Family Holy Communion at 10am on Sundays 19 July, 30 AugustFamily Worship at 10am on Sundays 2 August, 6 September. No refreshments afterwards.Morning Worship at 10am on Sunday 16 AugustMorning Prayer at 10am on Sundays 26 July, 9 August, 23 August Morning Prayer will be a short service led by myself from the front. It will be followed by time for individual prayer for those who want to pray longer.All Saints Church changes.We plan to hold worship at 11am each Sunday as follows:Family Holy Communion at 11am on Sundays 19 July, 2 & 30 August .Morning Worship at 11am on Sundays 26 July, 9 & 16 & 23 August, 6 September.The projector will not be used and any prayer ministry will take place, at a safe distance, after our worship has ended.Worship with us at home?All Saints Church has a wifi connection that may be good enough for us to livestream our 11am Sunday worship via Zoom. This means that anyone with a phone can listen in to our worship. To find out how to do this please talk to Dave Harrold on 07786985932 before Sunday. Also, if you are online and have Zoom, or can download Zoom, you can join our 11am worship online. The codes to join are the same as for our midweek meeting, namely meeting number 81762098875 and passcode(from Dave Harrold) . If you are on email you will find attachments to help follow our worship This Sunday I will also host a chat via Zoom after 11am worship starting at 12 noon and ending at 12.30pm using meeting number 6269841420 and password “Chat”.Your responseAlthough risks of spreading Covid 19 in our buildings are being minimised, they can’t be removed altogether. Therefore, each of us must consider carefully our own situation, and decide whether or not to visit our church buildings- especially if we have underlying health conditions or are shielding others with such health conditions. The Church of Englandwebsite has a lot more detailed information. If anyone is in any doubt, please stay at home and continue to pray at home for the time being. Please could you respond to this letter to let me know whether or not you feel able to return to worship? If you can join us physically, or via Zoom, I will see you there and take that as a yes! If not, it would be really helpful for me to know about your personal situation. So, please reply to me via email micknorman@msn.com, write to me to the address at the top of this letter or phone me on 01455-272215. I would be really delighted to hear from you whatever your news.My prayers are with us all as we continue on this ever-changing road to recovery.With all God’s blessing during these challenging times.Rev Mick
