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The post COVID-19 Briefing 09/07 appeared first on The Parish of Capel and Ockley.
Category Archives: The Church
IMPORTANT: Instructions for attending services
For the time being there are some restrictions that will be in place. Here is a list of instructions:
- Only 2 people to sit in each pew that is open (or one household and if room a single person). Every other pew will be cordoned off.
- Hand sanitiser which will be by the door to be used when you enter and leave.
- For the moment no refreshments will be served but do feel free to bring your own water bottles.
- It is asked that you don’t spend too long in the church building after the service as it has to be cleaned and sanitised.
- At Capel the toilet will be open and disinfectant available for you to wipe all surfaces after it has been used.
- Unfortunately we cannot sing hymns but there will be music from our organist and Bob with his guitar.
- The services will be on a sheet given to you when you enter church along with the weekly sheet – do take these home with you.
- No collection will be taken but donations including cash can be left on the plate.
- For the collection you can also use the GIVT app.
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Issue 40 – July 2020 Services due to begin again!
A full issue containing lots of usual features: – national and local
news, together with the usual Junior InSpire, Prayer Diary, puzzles and
much more!
Isssue40_July2020_website.pdfPost expires at 1:08pm on Sunday July 4th, 2021
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COVID-19 Briefing 02/07
Nine new curates started their ministry yesterday, with three more to come in September. In a simple but moving Zoom service, each received a temporary licence as a Lay Worker, and was commissioned to ‘Lead the people in public worship, to exercise pastoral care, to evangelise and preach the Word of God, to administer the elements of the Holy Communion and to perform all other ecclesiastical duties belonging to that office’. Their ordinations as deacons are due to take place in early October, when restrictions on our corporate worship should be somewhat more relaxed.
Reading those words on their licences, I was struck by how every aspect of that commission has been radically reshaped over the past few months: public worship, pastoral care, evangelism, preaching, administering the elements at Holy Communion and – for that matter – ‘all other ecclesiastical duties’! Clergy who have been celebrating a whole variety of ordination anniversaries during this Petertide (Beverly and I have notched up 45 years between us) have never had to think so hard on their feet as over this time. And while the easing of lockdown is exciting and hopeful on one level, with the prospect of combining worship online and in person, it also poses many extra complexities as well. In particular I would wish to reiterate: please don’t feel pressurised into taking on an impossible workload or into too hurried a return to more ‘normal’ congregational worship; and please ensure that you build both rest and holiday into the coming weeks and be kind to yourself in amidst the particular pressures of these extraordinary days.
And in all this I’m reminded of a kite: an object designed to catch the wind, wherever its gusts would take it; but an object too that needs to be firmly grasped in a human hand if it’s properly to fulfil its purpose.
The kite is the church in the metaphor – or maybe your ministry and mine – ducking and diving in quite such tempestuous times. But however expertly we negotiate the challenges and opportunities of this season, our true security lies in the knowledge that we’re held in the hand of Almighty God, ‘rooted and grounded in love’ ‘in the words of the great apostle (Ephesians 3:17). As one of the prayers in the ordination service puts it, we therefore pray for one another: ‘Through your Spirit, heavenly Father, give these your servants grace and power to fulfil their ministry. Amen’.
Bishop Andrew
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COVID-19 Briefing 30/06
‘One More Step Along the World We Go’
Every year we invite all the Year 6 children and their teachers from our Church Schools to come to the Cathedral to take part in a special Leavers’ Service. This normally takes place over 4 days with 6 services and over 900 children per day!
The aim of the services is to mark and celebrate the children’s time at primary school and their transition to their new secondary schools.
When they arrive, the children are invited to engage with four prayer stations set out around the cathedral: Regret, Wow, Thank You and Please before they sit in the nave for the formal service. At the beginning of the service the children bring their special school ‘standards’ (their school logos on a special banner) to the front of the cathedral.
Seeing the children walk to the front of the cathedral with a mixture of pride and in trepidation is one of my favourite parts of the service – the enormity and scale of the cathedral can be daunting for some of them but they all want to come and represent their Church school!
The Leavers’ Services are the highlight of the Education team’s calendar and we know that for many of our Church schools, this rite of passage, is also a memorable and special event which marks the beginning of the end of their time at primary school.
There is something very special about seeing so many children and teachers arriving at the steps of the cathedral in their coaches at the beginning of the day. Many of the children will not have stepped foot inside the cathedral and you can often hear them say ‘Wow!’ when they walk through the door and look upwards to the ceiling and the Chancel.
This year because of the pandemic, we are not able to welcome the children to the Leavers’ Services. Instead we have adapted the prayer activities and the other parts of the main service so they can be delivered in school or at home with social distancing measures in place. This year’s theme is based on the ‘Road to Emmaus’ and explores the journey of the disciples as they walk with Jesus as they travel. Bishop Jo will be talking to the children as part of special video recorded for the services.
The Leavers’ Services resources and videos are available here: www.cofeguildford.org.uk/education/christian-distinctiveness/religious-education/leavers-services if you would like to watch them or refer to them in your own Church services as the school term draws to a close. There are resources for Year 2 children leaving infant schools as well as for Year 6 pupils. Some colleagues use the ideas in community schools and independent schools, please do encourage your local schools to use them.
I commend them to you and would like to thank all those that involved in preparing them.
We look forward to being back in the Cathedral and being able to sing ‘One More Step Along the World I Go’ as the children walk down the main aisle of the cathedral with beaming smiles on their faces!
Yours in Christ,
Alex Tear, Diocesan Director of Education
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weekly news sheet 28/06/2020
Dear all
I do hope you have all enjoyed the wonderful weather this week, preferably sitting on a comfortable recliner in the shade, I think we hit 33 degrees on Thursday so it definitely felt tropical!
Many of you will have heard that our churches can open for services from next weekend. As you can imagine that requires us to make sure we comply with all the Covid-19 safety precautions. The Church of England and our Diocese have been issuing their requirements during this week with some details still to come, we hope to be able to hold services next Sunday 5 July. This will be confirmed later in the week with another email which will include times of services and any special conditions we need to adhere to.
It will be a delight to be able to welcome everyone back to church in person, but we do understand that some people will not be able to come yet as they will still be self isolating so we will continue these weekly emails and are looking at recording the church services for you to watch online.
This week’s service is available on our website:
www.capelandockleychurch.org.uk/services/services-on-line/ <www.capelandockleychurch.org.uk/services/services-on-line/>
The weekly sheet, the weekly readings and Revd. Liz’s sermon are all attached to this email.
Revd. Liz has asked me to draw your attention to a Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast that is taking place on Tuesday 30 June. The details if you would like to join in are below:
It is taking place on Tuesday morning 30 June 2020, 8.30am to 9am. The event will be chaired by Marsha de Cordova MP and will include prayers led by parliamentarians, hymns led by special guest singers and a keynote address by the Bishop of Kensington, the Rt Revd Dr Graham Tomlin. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, their desire is to bring together parliamentarians, church leaders and Christians from across the UK to pray for our country, the NHS and other key workers, Parliament and the Government, as well as reflect upon the message of hope, peace and loving service that the Christian faith brings to our society in this moment.
The National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast is taking place online and is free. To receive the details to the live session you’ll need to register on event brite – through this link.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/national-parliamentary-prayer-breakfast-2020-online-tickets-103348271462 <www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/national-parliamentary-prayer-breakfast-2020-online-tickets-103348271462>
I look forward to being able to greet many of you in person next weekend.
With much love
Debbie von Bergen
debbievonbergen@icloud.com
07774 784008
Post expires at 3:16pm on Sunday June 27th, 2021
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Third Sunday after Trinity
The 12th on-line reflection in our series.
The corresponding readings and news sheets are here.
Blessings
Revd Liz
Post expires at 7:35am on Sunday June 27th, 2021
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Lockdown reflections
Dear all,
As I write I have just watched our parish’s latest online worship which happened to be Cafe Church led so ably by Bob along with the band reading and singing. We have come such a long way from our first online offering when it took me all day to record my offerings; constantly making mistakes and starting all over again to the point at the end of the day I had virtually lost my voice and had a dreadful headache. Any ideas of being a television presenter very swiftly left my mind I can tell you as I coped with the dog gnawing a stick beneath my feet, the cat suddenly making an appearance and even worse swinging on the camera stick as I yet again tried to follow my script!! I later learnt of course if I went wrong to keep a short pause and to pick up where I left off. We discovered there was such a thing as editing!
Just before lockdown I think our last service of worship was in fact Blues Cafe Church at the Crown where our theme was whether Jesus, were he physically here today possibly be King of the Blues? It was an amazing time when lots of non regulars joined us of all ages, with faith or none, to explore his story in terms of an itinerant blues singer. As Bob said yesterday in our online Cafe church he would rather be at the pub than recording at home. Which made me think just how amazing yet again our village has been during these past weeks, what with coronavirus angels, key worker scarecrows, VE Day celebrations, 100th birthdays, our wonderful two shops Capel News and Carters which always seem to have loo rolls or whatever else the supermarkets have run out of! Big breath here – and that’s not to mention our marvellous team at the medical practices, our teachers at the schools and everything else that has taken place or has somehow been enabled to happen despite lockdown conditions. Last but definitely not least has been the tremendous effort and love shown to us all by Vanda, Vicky and their team at the Crown who have worked their socks off preparing take aways for us all, a fab weekly online pub quiz, and their beautiful garden which will be open for business following government guidelines from the 4th July. And yes we hope the next Cafe Church will be live in the garden at The Crown! There may also be a version of Flix reopening at The Crown as well I believe. It is all very exciting!
We are hoping very much that before long, live services will resume in church as well as online recordings. By the time you read this there will be a link for a children’s worship service on our parish website, courtesy of our friendship with Reigate Baptist Church. Please do pass this information onto friends and families who may like to tune in. Funerals are allowed to be held in church – certain restrictions will apply – and I hope you all now realise the church is open from 10 till 4 each day at Capel for individual prayer and reflection. At Ockley the church is open 10 till 4 on weekends only. This is because at the end of the day we try to wipe down any surfaces that visitors may have touched to try to keep down any infection. Hand sanitisers are available and visitors are asked to clean their hands on entering and leaving the building. You will notice that we ask you to only sit on certain pews to enable all of this to be doable. Nevertheless I am sure you will find our beautiful churches as welcoming as usual!
As things begin to loosen and get back to normal if we can say such a thing, its interesting isn’t it to reflect on what positives, if any there have been before the busyness and demands of pre-lockdown life take over. I wonder whether there is anything you would like to keep of your lockdown routine? I guess it will be different for each of us but I suspect some common threads will be around having more time for the things we didn’t have time for before. Will we take the joy of meeting other people for granted any more? The realisation that humans are not really made for isolation, that we are made to be in relationship and in community and how resourceful we can be to somehow still make that happen. Many of you have badly missed coming to church to worship and I have missed you very much too. There is nothing like the personal contact of seeing everyone, of worshipping together and supporting each other in our ups and downs through life, not to mention several much loved church members who sadly died during this time… Perhaps this brush with Covid 19 has made you think about your own mortality and whether there is anything in this whole God stuff or has it simply been too ‘stuffy’ for you in the past, irrelevant?
The world is changing and I hope continues to change post lockdown and most particularly in issues of race and equality as shown by Black Lives Matter. There is a chance for us all to reflect and to educate ourselves in all these issues. In a recent gospel reading Jesus states he didn’t come to bring peace but to bring a sword. A shocking statement for some to read perhaps but the point is where there is injustice and inequality a metaphorical sword is needed to root out sickness in society. Get away from any so called ‘stuffiness’ you think you’ll find in church and realise that Christ was and is a revolutionary who plans that people of every tribe and tongue will be united around God’s throne. Faith in Christ is never more relevant than it is today!
With my love and prayers
Revd Liz
PS Some midweek opening at Capel Church will be restricted due to the new lighting scheme being installed courtesy of the Friends of Capel Church. This will last from 20th July for approximately 7 weeks or so. The church will be open as usual at weekends.
Post expires at 8:19pm on Tuesday June 22nd, 2021
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COVID-19 Briefing 25/06
As we approach the time that we usually celebrate ordinations in the diocese, my particular prayers at this time are with clergy – and amongst them, two groups.
First, those who have been preparing for many years for the ordinations that were meant to happen this Petertide. Ordinations will now happen on 10 October. Please do remember all of them in your prayers – particularly some ordinands who will be moving into their parishes at this time ahead of their commissioning as licensed lay workers by Zoom next Wednesday 1 July.
Secondly, I’m praying for all clergy who will be busy managing the implications of Tuesday’s announcement by the prime minister. Theirs is not an easy task at this time. For above all the practical implications of a gradual return to our church buildings, there is an increased awareness of the need to serve a new community – those who have joined us virtually.
One of the blessings and challenges of 20 years ministry in Wales was bilingualism. Every time I led worship, I would need to establish whether it was to be exclusively Welsh, exclusively English, or bilingual. Leading bilingual worship was always the most rewarding and challenging. It required the skills of a jazz musician in being able to improvise, respond, and connect with the particular needs of the context and occasion. I feel there’s an element of bilingualism that is facing England now too as we attempt to minister to both a physical and virtual church. Like most cases in Wales, there probably isn’t usually the capacity or resource to offer both languages exclusively, and so we’ll need to learn to be jazz musicians. And as we do that, we’ll need to help and support each other – not beating ourselves up when we get it wrong or driving ourselves into the ground by doubling our work in attempting to minister to both communities exclusively.
Every time we commission new leaders in the Church of England, we hear of our task to ‘proclaim afresh in every generation’. For me, those words have a new poignancy. As we approach Petertide, we wonder at the ways in which the distance between the world of Peter and our own is increasing at an alarming rate. And yet, Jesus speaks to us with the same words as he did to Peter: ‘do you love me… feed my sheep’. That’s the task of the priesthood of all believers – encouraged and enabled by the ordained priesthood. It’s not one that any of us can accomplish in our own strength and so we pray particularly at this challenging time, for clergy and all of us, that we may daily increase in the Holy Spirit more and more.
Archdeacon Paul
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COVID-19 Briefing 23/06
Flag raising marks the start of Armed Forces Week 2020
A flag raising ceremony took place at 10.30am on Monday 22nd June outside Guildford Cathedral to mark the start of Armed Forces Week. Mr Michael More-Molyneux, Lord Leiutenent of Surrey raised the Armed Forces Day flag with the Very Reverend Dianna Gwilliams, Dean of Guildford.
They were joined by Shahid Azeem DL, High Sheriff of Surrey; Anthony Samuels, Chairman of Surrey County Council; Colonel John Baynham, Deputy Commander of 11 Infantry Brigade South East and Steve Owen Hughes, Chief Fire Officer and Veteran. The Rt Revd Andrew Watson, Bishop of Guildford was also present.
Also in attendance were Maj-Gen Tim Sulivan CB CBE DL, Brigadier Paul Evans OBE DL, Col Patrick Crowley DL and Canon Peter Bruinvels CC.
Sadly, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the hundreds of events taking place cross the county to celebrate Armed Forces Week have been cancelled.
Mr More-Molyneux said, “Armed Forces Day is a chance for us all to show our support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community. From currently serving troops to service families, ex-service personnel and Veterans and Cadets.
“Surrey is considered very much by the MoD as a ‘military friendly’ county and as Lord-Lieutenant, I am very proud of that reputation. Having seen at first hand, our local forces supporting the NHS in the fight against COVID-19, I am very pleased to give a very public ‘thank you’ to them all today for a job really well done.
Surrey hosts four Army bases with 6200 service personnel and their families as well as 1,274 service children living in Surrey, four Reserve Centres with over 200 Reservists and nearly 2,750 Tri-Service Cadets. Additionally, Surrey is home to over 42,000 ex-service personnel and Veterans.
The Dean expressed her delight at hosting this celebratory event at the Cathedral “‘It is always a great pleasure to host military events here at Guildford Cathedral. We have held many memorable events in partnership with the military.”
Surrey County Council is celebrating Armed Forces Week by asking residents to post photographs of them and their loved ones who have served our country to their Facebook and Twitter.
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