St Mary’s & St Luke’s News and Information for 28 June 2020 Trinity 3
Sunday
28 June 2020
Trinity 3
Whilst Public Worship is suspended this Blog will take the place of the Weekly Sheet
This Sunday
Live Streamed Worship
After Church Refreshments
After church tea & coffee will be on Zoom from around 11:45am – come and join us virtually, it would be lovely to see each other again.
We have now implemented a Waiting Room on Zoom for extra security.
Join the Zoom Refreshments and chat
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75021313429 –
Meeting ID: 750 2131 3429
The latest Information on the Reopening of our Churches and Church Hall
From Bishop Keith and the Archdeacons
Earlier this week, the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, who leads the Church of England’s Recovery Group, welcomed the Government’s announcement that church buildings will be able to reopen for public worship from 04 July, providing physical distancing remains in place.
She said: “I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement today that we will soon be able to begin to meet and worship together in our church buildings again. The last three months have been an extraordinary time – the first period without public worship and the sacraments in England in more than 800 years. There will be real joy as we begin to come together again – if even at a physical distance – but I also know that many will be understandably cautious at this news.”
Read her statement in full here.
The press release from the Church of England also confirmed that detailed advice for parishes and cathedrals will be updated, as necessary, “in the coming days to reflect the detail of the Government guidance once published.”
The Government has yet to publish its guidance, and the Church, therefore, has also yet to respond. Nevertheless, we wanted to write to you to confirm that this is the current position as we appreciate there are still many questions unanswered. We will communicate any updates via the diocesan website and the Coronavirus Briefing as soon as we can over the coming days.
We are very aware that not all church buildings will be ready to hold regular services on 04 July and it is important that this happens only when you have confidence that you can do so safely. As has been the recurring theme to the guidance in recent weeks, it is permissive not prescriptive.
We also wanted to highlight new guidance from Lisa Moncur, Diocesan Registrar, who has today written directly to all clergy advising that when a church reopens for Sunday services, banns for forthcoming weddings should be read in the usual way as required by law. You can find this advice in this Coronavirus Briefing and on the diocesan website.
So, may we continue to pray as we await further guidance, and may we continue to bless and support one another as we look forward to being able to meet again in our churches.
We will write again in due course.
+Keith
Ian
Mike
- Private Prayer in Church: we are pleased to say that St Mary’s is now open for Private Prayer. We have implemented Social Distancing and other Measures for the safety of all who enter. There are restrictions in place and we only have 9 pews available, one per household. Please check our News Blog for updates and when St Mary’s is open from week beginning 29 June 2020.
- Public Worship is permissible in church buildings from 4 July. However, due to the size and layout of St Mary’s the PCC have agreed that we will not be open again on a Sunday just yet and at least until the beginning of August. We await further guidance from the government and the Church of England. Please check our News Blog for updates.
- The Streaming of services will continue, and will continue, once we do reopen as numbers in church will be severely restricted and we hope to be able to give priority initially to those who can’t access online services
- Funerals are now permissible in churches and we will conduct them at St Mary’s on request. Funerals in church buildings are severely restricted at the moment. Immediate family only are allowed, no hymns may be sung and there can be no organist in attendance. Please discuss options with a Funeral Director to see what’s best for your family and loved one. We continue to conduct funerals at the Graveside and the Crematorium.
- Weddings are permissible in churches from 4 July. They are limited to 30 people in total (including the minister) and hymn singing or an organist is not permitted at the moment.
- Baptisms are not permitted in church until further notice. Emergency baptisms can take place in a hospital or at home, though subject to strict hygiene precautions and physical distancing as far as this is possible.
- St Luke’s and the Church Hall are closed to any public access. We are working towards reopening the Church Hall in September, but this cannot be guaranteed.
From:
See our Church at Home Blog for Sunday’s Readings and resources for use at home
The Midweek Get Together
Each week Revd Mike invites you to join with him on Zoom for a get-together. The MGT was cancelled last week so we will run this again this week.
This week 01 July: Hope – a Bible Study. What it means to hope during times of hopelessness. In the Bible, hope is about waiting, not for circumstances to change but for God himself.
Wistaston & Rope War Memorial Project completed
An article and photos by Jonathan White
The names of the sixteen local men who died in the two World Wars are commemorated on the Memorial cross in the grounds of St Mary’s Church, Wistaston.The area around the Wistaston & Rope War Memorial in the grounds of St Mary’s Church on Church Lane in Wistaston has been modernised respectfully and made safer to visit. We must never forget the ultimate sacrifices made from the two warfares. We will remember them always.
Read more…
The War Memorial is in an elevated and prominent position adjacent to the chancel of St Mary’s Church and consists of a rough-hewn stone Celtic cross on a tapered rectangular plinth. The memorial was built after the First World War and was dedicated on 20th February 1921. The inscriptions on the memorial contain the names of the sixteen men from Wistaston and Rope who lost their lives in the First World War and the sixteen men from Wistaston and Rope who lost their lives in the Second World War.The project work around the War Memorial began in March 2020 and completed in June. Numerous improvements have been made to the site. The path to the memorial and around the memorial has all been widened and tarmacked and the rope top terracotta edging has been reset. A cast-iron safety railing has been added adjacent to the memorial to make the area safer for viewing and for the laying of wreaths. Cart-stone sloped paving has been added between the safety railing and the top of the existing retaining wall. Shrubbery hedging surrounding the memorial has been removed or trimmed back. The cross and its inscriptions, the plinth and the flagpole were not affected by the works. The enhancements will make it easier and safer for villagers and visitors to pay their respects to the fallen.There is also a new area set aside to develop a place to remember non-combatants who lost their lives during the two world wars and those who have died in the service of the country since the Second World War.The £12,500 project was organised by St Mary’s Church in partnership with Wistaston Parish Council and Rope Parish Council. The consultants were Graham Holland Associates, Architects & Historic Buildings Consultants – grahamhollandassociates.co.uk – and the Contractors were GB Davies Ltd – gbdaviesltd.co.uk .The significant improvements were funded by St Mary’s Church, Wistaston Parish Council, Rope Parish Council, with donations from Bentley Motors and from members of the public. The Church has underwritten the financial shortfall of the project by £3,000, donations toward the refurbishment and the ongoing upkeep of the memorial would be gratefully received. Please address any donations to St Mary’s PCC, The Church Office, Church Lane, Wistaston. CW2 8HA. Or give securely online at: bit.ly/stmaryswarmemorial Rev. Mike Turnbull, St Mary’s Church, Wistaston, said: “I am so pleased that we have finally completed this project in partnership with Wistaston and Rope Parish Councils. The refurbishment of the paths and surroundings will enable current, and future generations, to continue to remember, with gratitude, those who have given their lives that we may continue to live our lives in freedom. This is an important part of our village’s history and should never be forgotten or neglected. I am pleased that we have been able to make it accessible to all once again. Next time you are walking by St Mary’s, please do take a walk along the path to the War Memorial, we want it to be visited and valued by the local community as a place to reflect and remember. We would be grateful for any donations that people are able to make that will help the church to continue to enhance the area around the War Memorial.”
You can make a donation to this project here to cover the financial shortfall and for the upkeep of thr area: bit.ly/stmaryswarmemorial
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Funerals
Funerals this past week
Eileen Muriel Chilton
Bert Watkinson
Jacomina Alida Day
Upcoming Funerals
Please keep their families in your prayers.
The cracks are where the light gets in
https://youtu.be/ttx0BuGkX4U
Bereavement, unemployment, sadness… it might feel like the darkness is closing in.
Yet despite the suffering and difficulties, perhaps it is just the start of the journey to something better.
Archdeacon Ian reminds us of the first chapter in the Gospel of St John: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” and says, “whatever darkness you might know in your life today, I hope you can hold on to St John’s promise.”
Looking ahead to the time when we can meet for public worship again, Ian says: “I hope that we will return with a greater awareness that Christ is not locked down in a building, however beautiful that might be, his presence, his light, is all around us illuminating this world he has made and if we just look we will see and we can wonder…if we have learned anything, let it be that our buildings are but one small part of the full revelation of God and we should not allow ourselves to become obsessed with what happens in them.”
To keep in touch with the church, it’s news and updates and be kept informed of resources which you can use at home for prayer and worship, then please join our Prayer & Communication email list via this link: http://eepurl.com/gbKZ5b
