Dear Friends,
As this month’s magazine goes to print, the country continues to make its way cautiously out of lockdown. We see restrictions easing on different sectors of society and we are grateful in the first instance for the successful rolling out of the vaccination programme. Many of our parishioners have received one, if not both, of their vaccinations and this helps to give a sense of protection as we enter more fully into various activities again.
The church, like many other organisations, has been working behind the scenes to prepare the ground for returning to face-to-face activities again. As we welcome back people to public worship we have continued to focus on people’s safety. We are all deeply grateful to our volunteers and Churchwardens who continue to steward our arrival and departure from Sunday services.
There are new processes in place like an online booking system for the 11am service to manage our numbers to ensure we are maintaining social distancing. It has been encouraging and uplifting to ease the restrictions on singing and many have spoken to me about how good it feels to be able to sing God’s praises again behind our masks.
In the past months, some of our volunteers who work with children and young people have been refreshing their training in Safeguarding Trust, the church’s policy for child protection, in anticipation of returning to face-to-face activities after the summer. This week we hope to honour our children, who have been participating in Sunday School over the past 16 months over Zoom and using resources for learning at home about the faith prepared by our Diocese, in a special family service and prize-giving. We are especially grateful to our dedicated teachers who have moved beyond their comfort zone to make this possible and do everything to keep our children together during these difficult months. It’s exciting this month to be able to record some baptisms which have taken place for the first time in over 16 months and over the next few months we hope to see 3 couples getting married in church. It has been particularly challenging for couples making their plans with all the changing restrictions and many couples over the past year have had to cancel or postpone their weddings because of the pandemic.
Over the summer months we hope to conduct further risk assessments and have conversations with our organisations and leaders about the best way forward in resuming these face-to-face activities. I am particularly grateful to the Select Vestry as the church’s trustees who have been vigilant in overseeing our governance and compliance with all the exacting regulations. We understand that people feel frustrated at not being able to meet together and that many too are feeling understandably cautious at the prospect of coming out again after shielding for such a considerable time. Many people are considering not just their own wellbeing but also the wellbeing of more vulnerable members of their families especially those with underlying health conditions. For this reason we have to be constantly vigilant and cautious and ensure that people’s safety remains our priority in recommencing activities.
Throughout this past 16 months there have been very strict regulations governing visitation in hospitals and nursing homes and clergy have not been allowed to visit except in exceptional and extreme circumstances. As these restrictions begin to ease and we are now allowed to visit by making arrangements with wards and nursing homes, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want me to visit as I would be delighted to do so.
I have paid tribute before to our parishioners who have been so faithful in making phone calls to stay in touch with people throughout this difficult period. Please don’t allow those contacts to stop as they have been such a lifeline of support to many people. Parishioners have been so appreciative of the calls they have received from fellow members of different organisations and even having calls from people they didn’t know previously. These contacts have lifted the spirits and boosted morale through difficult times.
Technology has made a huge difference to so many through the livestreaming of services and the availability of the dial-in opportunity to listen to services on the telephone. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to those who make these things possible for us. Going forward I think our future will be a hybrid mixture of in-person worship and the continued provision of recorded services for those who are unwell or shielding for various reasons. Some activities may continue online like the provision of the Alpha Course and prayer meetings and some other meetings.
If there are people who might have an interest in getting involved in technology in church, perhaps learning about how to operate our web cameras and stream services, please do get in touch with the Rector. We are very keen to train more people in the use of this equipment.
We take this opportunity to wish everyone a good summer. Whether you are going away or enjoying some time off at home, we hope you will have the opportunity to be refreshed and to reconnect with family and friends if that opportunity is there for you.
Our services will continue on Sundays at 11am and 7pm over the summer months.
With very best wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Jonathan Pierce (Rector)
Telephone 028 90793822