News
Harvest Gifts Harvest donations for local charities.This year we asked our congregation to donate to two local charities. As a result we have sent
A great result - thank you to everyone who donated! | |
Harvest See some pictures from our harvest Zoom coffee ane worship which followed our harvest service in church.
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Harvest gifts Harvest gifts We are not able to hold our usual service for Harvest Thanksgiving this year, as due to the Covid19 restrictions in force we are limited to a maximum number of 50 people at each service. However, we would still like to receive your gifts for families in need. What charities are you supporting? This year we are collecting for both WelCare in East Surrey and the Caterham Foodbank. How can I give my gift? We do not need any gifts of food this year. Please give your gift in the form of a cheque or (for WelCare only) a supermarket voucher. You should make your cheque payable to either WelCare in East Surrey or Caterham Foodbank. Put your cheque for either charity, or your vouchers for Welcare, in an envelope and mark it Harvest. your gifts can be brought to a church service from now until Sunday 4th, or you can drop it to the vicarage by Wednesday 7th at the latest. Thanking you all in advance for your generosity. | |
Cancellation of Special Services During the autumn there are in "normal" times a number of special services. Given the current restrictions in force as a result of the Covid19 pandemic, numbers are currently limited in church services so that we can maintain social distancing. Despite the size of the building, once we have socially distancied it is not possible to sit any more that 50 people at a service. Sadly this means that this year we are unable to hold the following services, both of which would normally have congregations of 200-300:
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Face Coverings to be mandatory It has been announced today by the Prime Minister that from the 8th August face masks will be mandatory in church and enforceable by law. We'll clarify this further once we have fuller details from the Church of England and the Diocese. | |
Face Coverings Following the new rules set by the government, the Church of England has now updated its guidelines. It is now advising that all those attending worship in church should wear a face covering. While it is not compulsory, we would encourage all those attending services at St. John's to wear a face covering during worship from this Sunday (July 26th) if possible. Thank you for your understanding. | |
Posted Services Now we are back in church it isn't possible to record the parish mass for showing on Sunday. The church needs to be kept empty for 72 hours prior to the Sunday parish mass, otherwise we have to clean the church. We are currently looking into alternative ways of bringing the Sunday service to you live. In the meantime, we will be recording each Sunday's gospel and sermon for you in the Vicarage and posting it each week at 10am on Sunday. | |
Opening the Doors Returning to the ChurchMost of you will be aware that the government has now said that we may return to worship in our churches for public worship from the 4th July. So what are our plans at St John's?We are aiming to be ready to re-open for our weekly Sunday mass from the 5th July. We are currently assessing what it is we need to do to get the church ready. It will not, of course, be 'back to normal' as there will be restrictions in place. We will be ensuring that social distancing is observed and that sanitisation facilities are available. For the time being there will be no singing. We'll be able to give a clearer picture of how things will work once we have received any fianl instructions from the C of E and the Diocese on reopening. We are also planning to restart our Thursday morning 10am mass from 9th July, again with all necessary precautions in place. Having services on Sundays and Thursdays will mean we can have three days between each service. The only exception to that is for any funerals or weddings we might have, in which case the church will be cleaned before and after each of those services. We are still waiting for permission to restart baptism services. Coming back into church will mean a change to what we have been offering online, as we cannot film in the church on Saturday and then hold a service on Sunday. Not everyone will be able to come back to church, of course. And so we are looking at what other options there are for us to provide spiritual support for those who won't be able to return to church yet, so you can still join with us each Sunday. | |
Windrush Day -- 22nd June The Bishops, Archdeacons and Dean of the Diocese, together with our Area Minority Ethnic Anglian Concerns Committee (MEACC) leads, are calling the people of the Diocese to observe two minutes’ silence at 11.00am on Windrush Day, Monday 22 June. Bishop Christopher writes: “I rejoice at and take pride in the diversity within the Diocese of Southwark which I see as God’s gift and blessing. We have stood strongly with the Black Lives Matter campaign and we want also to lament past and present injustices and wrongs, celebrating the gifts and talents of people of Caribbean heritage and the many ways they have enriched our churches and parishes. “As we spend two minutes in silence let us contemplate the lives lost in the slave trade; lament the racism and racial inequality built into our national systems and structures since that time; and consider what action we can take to confront racial injustice today. “Let us make Windrush Day 2020 a day when we as a Diocese pledge to change structures of inequality in the Church as we seek to implement our vision of increasing the diversity of lay and ordained leaders in our parishes and institutions.” You might find it helpful to use the prayer written by the Dean for Black Lives Matter at the end of the two minutes’ silence: God of all, who loves each of us for who we are, to whom each life matters, who counts the hairs on our head, who knows when a sparrow falls; teach us to love as you love to respect, to honour, to care and to protect each of our sisters and brothers, that your embracing, including kingdom may come now and your love be known. Amen The Revd Andrew Moughtin-Mumby, Rector of St Peter, Walworth, will be leading the National Online Service from St Peter’s at 9.00am on Sunday morning (21 June) and he will also lead a one-minute silence during that service. We are delighted that he has been asked to do this and hope that you will encourage those in your congregations to tune in or watch it later on the Church of England website at www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/church-online Some will find it helpful to have an image upon which to focus as they contemplate the work that we can all do to ensure equality in our Church. We have put together a montage of images which might help with this. They are of the Revd Dorothy Penniecooke, who was part of the Here I Am celebratory exhibition in 2019; The Southwark Trinity Icon, commissioned in 2018 by Bishop Christopher, which has a boat above the head of the Caribbean Elder on the right hand side; and Eileen Walkin receiving the Lancelot Andrewes medal from Bishop Christopher earlier this year. You might find it helpful to focus on this as you pray for equality and give thanks for all that the Windrush generation and their descendants have brought to our Diocese and our nation. Bishop Christopher hopes that you and your congregations will join in marking the silence at 11.00am on Monday, or, if this is not possible, spend some time during Monday lamenting, giving thanks for and praying for all those of Caribbean heritage in our wonderfully diverse and vibrant Diocese. Diocesan Web Page - Windrush Day | |
Extreme Prayers
Members of Junior Church were asked to pray in an extreme place - and others in the congregation took up the challenge as well. Here are some of the results. | |
