01/08/21

ST MARY & ALL SAINTS WITH ST JOHN – NOTICES

Weekly Notices, Readings & Sermon– 1st August 2021

Ninth Sunday After Trinity

“Our vision is to follow Jesus by learning His ways and sharing His love”

We seek to enjoy fellowship together as we worship God, grow in discipleship, develop in ministry and reach our community with the gospel.

We value welcome, worship and witness.

Please Continue to Check the Prayer and Worship section for the readings and sermon for each week. The rota schedule for worship leaders is now back live on the website. We also have produced a copy of the Morning Prayer Service and a copy of the service of Holy Communion. Please select the appropriate service for the link.

 • Covid Restrictions : We are still waiting for the Church of England and the Diocese of Manchester to issue guidelines on what we may or may not be able to do, should the country proceed with Step Four of the government’s plan to “return to normal”.

 • Those of you, who haven’t been in church or on Zoom services may be wondering what’s happening on the matter of the appointment of clergy to the new Team Ministry in Rossendale. The situation is that nothing has been announced, and the process in still ongoing, with those involved sworn to secrecy.

 • This Sunday's, service is Morning Prayer, led by Pam at 11:00am in church and on Zoom.

• Please contact us via email - stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com if you wish to join the service.

• Please use the order of Services mailed out previously 

• Covid Restrictions : Many thanks to everyone who stayed behind in church and on Zoom last Sunday to discuss the way we will proceed in the coming months following the easing of government restrictions on Covid. Following on from the meeting, the PCC has decided that we will work along the following lines and review the situation at the end of September :

Masks in Church

• Masks must be worn

  • When walking around church

  • When singing

  • When coming up for communion

• Other than that, masks can be removed when  seated.

• We will maintain the social distancing in church as we currently have it.

  • Certain pews will remain blocked off

  • No more than two people or one family group per pew

• The nominal capacity (based on two people per pew) remains at 30, plus the leader.

Booking In for Services

It was suggested at the meeting that we drop the system of booking in for services. The suggestion was made that it was "a bother" to have to book a seat and that seats could be allocated on a Sunday morning upon arrival.

Upon reflection, the PCC is against this move for the following reasons :

• Sending an email, a text or a WhatsApp message, or making a phone call to book a pew is not an unreasonable burden. It takes a maximum of 3-5 minutes.

  If you're thinking of coming back to church now that we are singing again, as a reminder, here are the ways you can book in

  • By phone on 07825 379 645

  • By SMS (text message) or WhatsApp message to : 07825 379 645

  • By email to: stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com

• Having a booking system allows us to plan how to ensure the maintenance of social distancing within and between pews at the service.

  We have a mixture of single people, couples and family groups of 3 or 4 coming to the service. The booking system ensures that couples, threes and fours can be seated together.

• Removing the booking system would place the burden on the person taking contact details not only to ensure that the correct contact details have been taken for everyone for our track and trace lists, but also to ensure that couples and groups can be seated together.

  We believe that this creates more stress on the person "signing people in" (nominally the sides person) at a time, when they may want to be collecting their thoughts ahead of the service.

• The booking in system provides us with an indication of which pews are likely to be vacant at a service, thus allowing the sides person to direct any "walk-ins", who have not booked, to a vacant pew.

• We believe this will become increasingly necessary, as we return to normality (or whatever the new normality is).

• While there is no "deadline" for booking in, early booking is greatly appreciated.

• People who do not book in will not be turned away, unless the nominal capacity of 30 attendees has been hit.

• We are continuing the Virtual Coffee Morning each Tuesday morning on Zoom from 10:00-11:00am (or longer if required). Why not come in and say hello to everyone. Zoom details by emailing: stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com.

• With the changes to Covid regulations on 17^th May, the Café On The Hill will be allowed to reopen, once a risk assessment has been made, and a Covid-secure system has been established. Watch this space for further information

• Little Angels is now on summer vacation until September. It looks as though the sessions will be fully booked-up, if capacity restrictions remain as they have been for the past month. The Little Angels group will start up again on Wednesday 8^th September after the summer holidays.

• The changes to restrictions also mean that, once risk assessments are done and Covid-secure systems established, we will be able to restart Junior Church, and Community Lunch.

• Of course, we do need volunteers to run these, especially Junior Church, which will be without Vanessa Rayner.

• At some stage in August, we will be having a clear out of all the items, which have amassed around the church, but which are no longer needed (i.e. in the gallery and the vestry areas). Watch this space for further details and the date, once we know when the restrictions are to be lifted. Volunteers will be most welcome.

• There are still two vacancies on the PCC. If you are interested in having a say in how the church is run, then please contact Mike. This is not much more than a commitment of a couple of hours per week.

• If anyone would like to make a donation towards flowers in church, please see Jean Ellison. Thank you.

• Don't Forget our next Virtual Quiz Night will be on Friday, 6^th August, at 7:30pm. Once more, Peter and Laura will be hosting a quiz hour to tax our brains and have some fun in doing so.

• A message from Lorraine regarding Home Communion :

I have now restarted Home Communions. 

If you would like a visit, please let me know. Thank you.

• If you don’t have Lorraine’s contact details, but would like home communion, please contact Mike, Denise or Elaine, who will pass your details on to her.

• Prayers for the sick : If you or any of your loved ones are in need of prayer, please do contact the church via email or phone.

Re-Opening Church After Lockdown  

Please see the RE-OPENING OF CHURCH page for further information as Church will operate differently.

• As a reminder to everyone. Moving forward:

• If you are feeling unwell, or if you, or any member of your household are awaiting the results of a Covid-19 test, please do not come to church.

• Please pray for all families within our parish, who have been affected by Covid-19.

• Please follow the guidelines posted in and around the toilet. This includes sanitising your hands both before and after using the lavatory.

• Please do keep all those shielding or unable to join in physical or online services in your prayers, and remember to give them a call to see how they are doing. The Sunday readings and sermons will continue to be included in the notices. No notices will be handed out at the services.

PLEASE SEE THE RE-OPENING OF CHURCH PAGE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

 A REMINDER : Although we are holding services in curch, many of our church family are still not in a position to go out and socialise. If you are feeling lonely and down after so many weeks of our social isolation, you’re not on your own. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF PICKING UP THE PHONE to any member of the church leadership team or Pastoral Team. It’s OK not to be OK. We have a loving church family, and plenty of help is available.

•   HAVE YOU GOT THE CHILDREN AT HOME ? DO YOU WANT THEM TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE BIBLE STORIES THEY’D BE HEARING AT JUNIOR CHURCH ? Check out a website called sermons4kids.   https://sermons4kids.com

• Also, DON’T forget to have them follow the Facebook page set up by our Family & Community Worker, Claire. – select the link for ARK – Anglican Rossendale Kids on Facebook. It’s GREAT !!!

•  Although we’re now broadcasting our services on Zoom, there are still other places to take part in worship, if you can’t make it to the Zoom service .

Here are just some of the other options

• At 08:10am, the Sunday worship on BBC Radio 4. 
• At 9:00am, on The Church of England’s Facebook Page and live streaming on Facebook and YouTube as well as on the CofE’s website, both live and recorded. The bread that satisfies "I am the Lord your God." Join us for this week's national online service, led by Rev Jody Stowell from St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Harrow.

•   Please do use the internet and social media, especially Facebook, to follow what the broader Church of England is doing during the crisis. Alternatively, the Church of England has launched a FREEPHONE service, Daily Hope, which you might find helpful and uplifting. Even if you just want to hear some hymns being sung, why not give it a call ? It’s free - call on 08008048044!!

•  As Christians, we are called to love our neighbours. We can do this in many ways, despite the enforced isolation in which we find ourselves.

• Give someone a call to check that they’re coping with the situation.

• Pray over the phone with a friend.

• Pray alone or with the other members of your household for safe deliverance from this epidemic for your families, those whose work puts them in danger of infection and those who lead our country through this crisis.

•  Pastoral Care Matters : We are facing worrying times at the moment.

• Our Pastoral Team is still working and are more than willing to provide a listening ear or to pray with you over the phone. If you are forced to self-isolate and need someone to do your shopping, this can be arranged. If you feel the need for support, please email us on stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com, or call Elaine, who will act as coordinator for the Pastoral Team.

•   Dates for PCC Meetings in 2021 :

• 7^th September 2021

• 9^th November 2021

• 11^th January 2022

•   A note to those members of the church, who make their donations in cash :

You may not be aware of this, but the church, under certain circumstances, can claim Gift Aid on cash donations, even if you are not a taxpayer or are not registered with the church for Gift Aid. This is “free money” to the church, to the tune of adding a quarter to the money you have donated.

• There are restrictions, though, which have not been helped by the fact that the church has been closed. To overcome the restrictions, we would be most grateful if you could :

  • Use cash, rather than cheques.

  • Use one envelope for each week.

If this is not possible, please write clearly on any envelope with money for several weeks, which weeks the contents of the envelope cover.

• Many thanks in advance !!!!

We would also ask you to please consider switching to donating through standing order. If you wish to do so, here are the bank details :

Account Name : St Mary & All Saints with St John's

Sort Code : 09-01-53

Account Number : 75875484

• If you have any Notices to be shared, please email them to stmarygoodshaw@yahoo.com by Thursday evening, so that they can be included on the Sunday Notices circular. If you wish to receive the notices electronically each week, please speak to Mike or email the above address.