Dear Friends,My original diary for this month of October was full of dates for the various Harvest Festival Services that we usually hold at this time of year. It is a sadness that we are not able to offer the gatherings that are so important to our rural communities across our churches this year.My suggestion, nevertheless, is that we mark Harvest-tide in our Mission Community Eucharist next Sunday: 11th October. The hymns and readings and prayers with have a Creation and Harvest theme and I will echo that in the You-tube service too – so please feel able to forward it to anyone who might be missing our annual gatherings.Rather than bringing produce to church, I suggest that we direct our giving to the Freedom Centre in Barnstaple and our local food bank now based in Lynton. I will give further details of how to give next week. If anyone would like to suggest other recipients at this time, do let me know and we can share them via this weekly letter.Let’s pray for all who farm and fish, giving thanks for their dedication on which we depend. Let’s pray for a better understanding of our own role in caring for the Creation of which we are a part and on which we all depend.God blessSamantha
Dear Friends, I have had notification that the next meeting of the Deanery Synod is on Zoom at 7.30pm on Thursday 8th October - there is an open invitation to all congregation members and if you are interested in taking part I can send you the link. The speaker for this meeting is from the <a href="https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/">Children's Society</a>. Let me know if you'd like to attend, God bless Samantha
Dear Friends,After a refreshing time of annual leave (though it felt slightly different due to the current circumstances), it is good to be back.Many thanks to all who have managed things while I was away, especially as it was a period in which government guidance changed. Currently these changes allow us to continue to hold communal worship with the precautions we have in place, if you want to keep up with the ever-updating Church of England guidance it is available on this link:https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churchesLet’s continue to pray for wisdom and co-operation across the world as together we seek to care for one another and find healing, recovery and the eventual effective management or eradication of the virus for everyone.Two weeks away from my phone and email inevitably leads to a backlog of messages that I need to work through, and though I am keen to respond to any of you who have been in contact as quickly as I can, it may take a few days to get back to you. If anything you have sent me is really urgent – do feel able to phone or email again now I am back.God blessSamantha
THE 1662 Book of Common Prayer has arrived on Amazon smart speakers, helping users to say morning and evening prayer and to learn more about its history.On Thursday, Cambridge University Press, which publishes the Prayer Book, announced that Alexa smart speakers would now be programmed with a new “skill” — one of the voice-driven apps — called the Cambridge Prayer Book. The idea is to help people to pray and worship at home during the pandemic.Users can now ask Alexa to: “Say morning prayer”; “Say evening prayer”; “Pray the Lord’s Prayer”; “Give me the Apostles’ Creed”; and “Recite the Grace”.The services are read by clergy from St John the Evangelist, Cambridge, close to the publisher’s headquarters. In place of a congregation, responses are said by members of the Cambridge University Press choir. There is also a small selection of Bible readings.https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/18-september/news/uk/new-alexa-skill-to-help-say-the-office-from-the-prayer-book
