Coronavirus
Last updated on 08th January 2021 at 16:01
For the first time, churches are permitted to remain open for worship during a national lockdown and there have been discussions in each parish about how this might be done safely.
Before I set out how we will proceed during this period, I should reassure you that I will continue to release services online each Sunday.
Should you wish to attend a service, there will be a said communion every Wednesday and Sunday at Fownhope. Woolhope will also have a said service each Sunday. We will suspend services at Checkley and Brockhampton for the time being, but Mordiford will continue to have a service once a month.
I’ll carry on advertising upcoming services on the daily emails.
All churches have again been risk assessed, and changes have been made to seating arrangements where necessary to reinforce two metre distancing. I should stress that those attending should follow the normal procedures as to social distancing, face-masks etc. We are under strict orders that people must not mingle before or after the services.
Some might wish to come, but not receive communion. If that is the case, then please simply hold the service booklet as I come around with the wafers or gently shake your head at me.
I appreciate that there is a lot to digest here, but God is still God and is still worthy of our praise. Whether online or in person, we can still join in worship and lift up our nation to him in prayer. In the Book of Common Prayer, there is a collect which has the title "In the time of any common Plague of Sickness”. If nothing else, this should remind us that the church has been in pandemic before and bent its knee in prayer. Let that be our resolution during this latest lockdown.
Chris
