I am sure you have heard on the news this afternoon that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have advised that all Sunday Services be suspended until further notice. This means simply that we will not be gathering as a church for the foreseeable future. This really saddens me, but we have to do all we can in following the advice from the Government, Public Heath and the national Church.
This also means that all church activities are suspended, Sunday Superstars, Youth club, Street Club, prayer groups, Lent group, housegroups, home communions, pastoral visiting, Create Art Group. Many of our hall users have emailed me to say that their groups are not meeting, therefore I will be switching the church heating off from tomorrow. I know how disappointed many of you will be, but please remember it’s not forever, and perhaps there are other creative ways you can be a group? I can help you with that if you wish. Just let me know.
We are still All Saints, and we are still a family, so looking after one another is one of the most important things we can do to get through this together. Please pray for each other, keep in touch with one another and pray for me and the PCC as we make decisions about the present and the future.
There will be several things on offer to you to keep us all in contact:
1. A weekly newsletter from me sent to you by email. This will give you prayers, reflections, updates on what is happening from the church’s side of things.
2. Twice weekly podcast - if you open Spotify (google it) and look for All Saints Canterbury you will find a podcast I made on Sunday. We are going to make several podcasts in the short term which will contain Morning Prayer, Midday Prayer and Evening Prayer. We will include links in the newsletter.
3. Sunday Worship: we are planning something very creative for this. We will be making YouTube videos of our services for you to watch at any time, but in particular on Sundays. We won’t be live streaming services, but our aim is to send you a link to the Youtube video at 10.45am each Sunday morning.
4. Pastoral Care - we will divide the church into small groups appointing a member of the PCC to look after each group. Their task will be contact you each day(wish), pray for you, make sure you’re ok and if you need anything. If there is anything you do need, this person will be your point of contact. My group will be the PCC.
5 The church will remain OPEN in the day time for private prayer, so please do feel free to pop along, light a candle and pray. We will move the candelabra for this purpose. We will also put out some prayer stations for you to use.
6. If there is anything you need, please DO NOT HESITATE to ask.
We don’t know how long this lockdown is going to last. It may be weeks or a few months, but please remember we are the church, we are All Saints, God loves us and has got us! Please do read Psalm 91. God is good.
You are all in my prayers, you are all much loved, please do not be too disappointed, we have to look out for each other in these days of uncertainty! I will be in touch again later this week.
With all my love, and many prayers,
Phil
