St Mary’s & St Luke’s News and Information for 13 September 2020 Trinity 14
Please note: the new time for September of 11am (stream begins at 10.50am)
This Sunday
Live Streamed Worship
11am (stream begins at 10:50am)
After Church Refreshments on Zoom
Join us on Zoom for after service chat and mayhem! For extra security there is a Waiting Room in place, please use a name we will recognise and wait to be let in.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/75021313429
Meeting ID: 750 2131 3429
John Molloy would like to pass on his gratitude to all those who sent him their condolences, via messages and cards, following the death of his daughter, Julie, earlier this month. It was Julie’s funeral Thursday just gone.
Please keep John and his family in your prayers at this sad time.
Did you know that you can print this Newsletter?
If you would like to print this Newsletter for yourself or perhaps someone who can’t access the internet then you can! To do this simply click the green Print & PDF button at the top right of every post and follow the instructions. Don’t forget if you are sharing paper with someone do it safely and hygienically.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all the pupils and staff of all schools and places of education who started back this month. Difficult times for all and we pray that it may be a positive experience for all concerned.
Jayne Manfredi recently posted this poem on Twitter which captures the return beautifully. Used with permission.
A Pandemic Prayer for Back to School
by Jayne Manfredi
Shepherd God, look after our lambs
as they leave the fold to return to school.
Lead them safely through corridors and classrooms
that may be familiar but have been changed forever.
Help them to remember strange new rules
and unfamiliar ways of doing things.
Guide them as they navigate friendships
that might feel awkward due to long absence and lack of contact.
Even though they walk without us through the darkest of times
let them feel no fear, for you God are with them and you shall comfort them.
Prepare classrooms for them filled with patience and joy,
playgrounds anointed with good humour, and lunch tables overflowing with grace.
Teach them to be teachable by giving them grateful hearts,
ears that listen well and lips that ask smart questions.
Let mercy and goodness follow them in all their adventures
and bring them home safely to us at the end of the day.
Amen.
Reopening Our Churches
This Wednesday (16/09): 10 am Midweek Holy Communion resumes at St Mary’s for the first time since March!
There is no booking system, however we are limited for space. When you arrive please wait to be seated. If we run out of space, apologies, but we can’t let more people in than it’s safe to do some. For the time being there will be no refreshments afterwards.
Message to members the Ladies Afternoon Group
It is with regret that owing to the Covid 19 situation we have had to cancel our Autumn Programme. We have contacted our speakers who have told us that they will be happy to join us at a later, safer date.
God bless you all. Audrey and Marian.
Chester Diocesan Events for Adults
Did you know that Chester Diocese runs a fantastic programme of events online each month which you can access for free?
Click the image to find out more.
Special Events this Autumn
Things may be different this Autumn, but we have some exciting things to celebrate within God’s Love!
October:
3 October: Rev Paul is being Priested at Chester Cathedral!! The original date for this was 20 June but was postponed due to Covid-19. It will be very different with only 30 people in total being able to be in the Cathedral! On Sunday 4 October Paul will celebrate his first communion at St Mary’s at 10:40am. Due to restrictions, it will be mostly his family and friends who will attend and we’ll Live Stream the service so we can all join in. More details to follow.
Harvest Sunday 10 October: this has moved a week due to Paul’s Priesting and it will very different this year. As we won’t all be able to meet in church we will be having a virtual Harvest Celebration! The 10:40am service at St Mary’s will be available to book to attend and it will be live-streamed so we can all join in! We will be encouraging people to make a financial, rather than a food donation (as we can’t redistribute them this year), to the charities we usually support as we give thanks to God for his goodness to us each and every day and even in the midst of a global pandemic – click on the links to go to their donations pages:
Nantwich Food Bank
Crewe Food Bank
St Luke’s Hospice
Cheshire Agricultural Chaplaincy – no online giving but there’s an address to send a cheque to
Christain Aid
November:
We will wait and see if the guidance changes, but it’s looking unlikely that we will be able to hold our Annual Commemoration Service which is normally on the 1st Sunday of November. If we can’t we will do something online.
We also await guidance on celebrating Remembrance Sunday (08/11). We will have a service in church, but it will be limited numbers and we will live-stream it. We will also officially open the new work around the War Memorial on that day. We have a shortfall of a couple of thousand pounds on this project, if you can help to cut this please click here or speak to Revd Mike, it would be good to get it in balance before the opening.
News from St Paul’s Pantry Food Bank
148 people were fed in July providing 1,332 meals. Donations of food received in was 1740.44 kgs. We are currently out of sugar and decaffeinated coffee and low on sweetcorn, meat pies, long-life cakes, tins of potatoes, soups in a cup and savoury snacks.
We are open Mon- Fri 10-2.30. for you to drop of donations at our rear gates.
Thank you for those who have donated toward our roof repairs, we are still awaiting a full report from a roof specialist, meanwhile towels, buckets and the wet floor sign are being well used!
Please continue to pray for us as our Trustees seek a way forward to our new normal in our project areas.
Take care, Cheryl
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/StPauls
The latest Information on the Reopening of our Churches and Church Hall
An Update for St Mary’s, St Luke’s & The Church Hall
- Public Worship will resume on Sunday 6 September at St Mary’s at 9:30am (prebooking only), please don’t just turn up as you may not get in! Due to the very limited space we have available you need to book in advance – click here to see details of how to book along with other important information
- Face Masks are mandatory in Church for all services and the Church Hall excluding those with a valid exemption or who are taking part in or are leading the service (as long as physical distancing can be observed)
- Private Prayer in Church: St Mary’s offers times in the week for Private Prayer, these change each week please see below for this week’s times/dates. We are now Covid-19 Secure having followed the government and Church of England guidelines.
- Funerals are permissible in church and we will conduct them at St Mary’s on request. Funerals in church buildings are severely restricted at the moment. As per government regulations immediate family only are allowedand no hymns may be sung. 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. Please see the CofE guidance on funerals for more information.
- Weddings are permissible in church. They are limited to 30 people in total (including the minister) and hymn singing or an organist is not permitted at the moment. Please see the CofE guidance on weddings for more information. To find out more information on booking a wedding at St Mary’s please click here.
- Baptisms can go ahead providing appropriate steps are taken to minimise risk and are limited to 30 people including the minister. At the moment we are working with families who had Baptisms cancelled to rearrange dates. We will not be taking any new bookings at the moment until we have rescheduled those that were cancelled. It will be 2021 before we take new bookings. Please see the CofE guidance on baptisms for more information.
- The Church Hall has been made Covid-19 Secure – you can read our Covid-19 Secure Policy and Interim Booking Procedures here . The new ‘Rule of 6’ doesn’t apply to the hall as it’s a Covid Secure Venue, but all groups who use it should adhere to their own guidance to keep it’s members safe
- St Luke’s, worship and lettings: We are conducting a new Risk Assessment in the light of recent guidance and will update this post as soon as possible.
- As changes to the guidance happen we will update this information accordingly – you can see the full guidance on all of the above at: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches
From:
The Government re Church Halls – multi-purpose community facilities
Funerals
Funerals this past week
None
Funerals still to take place
None
Please keep their families in your prayers.
Giving to our church Online or by Phone Banking
It’s simpler than you may think
Online One off giving
You can give via our very simple online giving partnership with Give a Little and Sum Up. Simply click the button below. Sum Up take a small transaction fee from what you give.
Giving via your bank
You can give via your bank via online banking or telephone banking. If you do it this way we receive 100% of the money you give, there is no transaction fee. Here are the details you need to make a payment directly into the church bank account. For phone banking you may need to take a look at a statement from your bank and it normally has the details of how to do this on the back. You can give once or set up a monthly payment. Please remember to never give passwords over the phone and only call the official number on your statement.
Account Name: St Mary’s Wistaston PCC
Sort Code: 08 92 99
Account No: 65067004
Ref: << your initial & surname>>
Easyfundraising
A very simple way to give, if you shop online or do click and collect, is through Easyfundraising – it doesn’t cost you a penny as by using Easyfundraising a percentage of what you but gets given to the church.
In total we’ve raised over £1600 through Easyfundraising. For more information on this please click the button below.