2020 September 6 - Pew News
Worship for the week ahead('remote’ through the medium of ‘Zoom’, except Sunday evening) Monday 7 Sept 2020, Tuesday 8, Wednesday 9, Friday 11 Thuesday 10 September 2020 Sunday 13th September 2020 The Rector writesThank you for the continuing hard work of Churchwardens and Deputies, and the wider Standing Committee, as we navigate our way through our present challenges and seek to make good decisions for those who enter our buildings or access our activities. It is a far from easy time, and we find ourselves balancing competing interests and differing viewpoints among ourselves as well as the population of our village. I am always open to hear from any with a personal interest in what we may do; though I cannot always promise to deliver! It was especially nice this week to have a visit on my doorstep from a lady who comes down to visit family in this part of the world, once or twice a year, and invariably attends any acts of worship that we can offer (in the Parish Church or Woodmancote). She demonstrated her continued affection for our churches and shared news of her own church up in the north-east. She was a socially-distanced reminder of all that unites us. With this month of September we have undertaken a promised review of our opening arrangements, and have freed up our activities a little: too slowly for some, too fast for others, perhaps. I have held off sharing the following self-indulgent cartoon for a couple of months, but I think I can safely use it now to express wryly the process of weighing (and worrying) that has been going on across the parishes of this land. It’s a gentle joke: and I don’t underestimate the pains of those who suffer headaches more generally. With this week, we have elected to extend the opening hours for the Parish Church; and also to put down a marker that we will have a physical service (Zumba praise?), or ‘gathered service’, on each Sunday that we can manage - which means 6th, 13th and 20th, in September. For arrangements forward into October, please watch this space. Amongst this, we can read some Banns soon, the first since March, as the joy of weddings is increasingly seen again in the churches of these islands. Our epistle reading for today, reminds us ‘Love your neighbour, as yourself’. God grant us each the grace to do so. NoticesAny gathered worship which we are to offer requires new and unfamiliar things of those participating. Please honour the constraints that apply, including the bringing of a face covering for any gathering indoors; and the use of Sanitiser as directed on entering and leaving the Church. For Prayer Book services, you are invited to bring your own copy of the BCP. Choir Practices. We are pleased to recognise that these are beginning again, with caution, this week after many months in abeyance. Our thanks to Stewart Taylor and others who have held things together in the meantime, encouraging the keeping up of human contact, and planning towards future possibilities. Potential new members of the choir should approach Stewart to explore this possibility. There are present concerns regarding the lychgate and the adjacent stretch of the churchyard wall. The lychgate has been secured with props, pending repair works, and is safe to pass through. Notices and cones ask drivers not to park alongside the section of the wall which requires a more complex and lengthy repair process. Rectory Lawn - anybody wanting to make use of this space for a family or recreational event (that complies with latest government guidance), please have a word with Andrew or Karen Doye who would be delighted to make it available. The Annual Church Meeting (‘APCM’) will take place at 11am on Sunday 25 October 2020, either by |
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