A weekly Notice Sheet is produced in the Parish Office and is available at Church services on Sundays. But.....

While Church Services are not being held due to the Coronavirus crisis, there are no weekly Notice Sheets,  but some current items of information are included along with  words of encouragement in the "Grapevine" which the Vicar is emailing three times a week. If you do not receive this, contact [hidden] or [hidden] to be added to the distribution list.

COVID-19

Following significant changes to Government advice (16th March) and the Archbishops' decision (17th March) to put all public worship services on hold, we have suspended all midweek groups and our 10.30am St Mary's service will now be live-streamed via Youtube.  You can view this here:

We will continue to keep information on our website up to date and to be in contact with any relevant updates, in the mean time we must continue to pray for all of those affected around the world and those who are on the front line seeking to help those in need. Let's continue to trust that the Lord is at work for good amidst all of this. Psalm 23:4.

From: Hugh Barne  Wed 18th March

   Supporting one another 

Dear church family,

 I'm sure that many of us are feeling that we are in a strange and unsettling period. It appears that things will continue like this for a while and so we must do all that we can to support one another. We are grateful to many who have already volunteered to check in with people via telephone (something we can all do informally as well). If you would now like to volunteer to be on a list of those who can offer practical help to people with shopping, prescriptions, trips to Post Office etc, then please contact Steve ().

We will be in touch in the coming days with some more suggestions to help each of us to find spiritual comfort and strength. In the meantime here are a few quick suggestions:

-  The Church of England have written some specific prayers for these challenging times, which can be found here. And also some reflections, the first of which is here.

- A friend has recorded some audio of reflections on Bible passages, the first of which is   here.

- A family worship live stream is  broadcast at 4pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays. here.

- My former church in Oxford is live streaming a service at 8.45am every day which can be followed  here.

Some general wisdom might be:

• Keep in touch with each other where possible
  
• Only follow the news in small doses (perhaps limit yourself to 30 mins a day?)
  
• Go for a walk or get outside where possible
  

We must continue to pray in line with the words of Romans 8:28 'and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose'..
May God use this season for good in our lives and the lives of others.

In particular we must remember in our prayers:

• any feeling particularly anxious at this time
  
• the NHS and our Government
  
• schools coping with the new guidance
  
• parents coping with looking after children
  
• those losing jobs and facing financial pressures

Yours in Christ,    Hugh