Warden’s blog, stardate 13/5/2020 (Day 86)

Hello to all my friends from St Peter’s and further afield. Here we are on Day 86; that is depressing to say, though here we are still, hopefully well and not going too stir crazy. I talked last time about seeing a chink of light at the end of the tunnel; well it is still lit and might possibly be getting a little larger. Some of you may well be able to take advantage of the “Bubble” idea which has just been launched and if you are, I hope it works well to cheer you up.

This week has been quite a busy one within the church. We zoomed on Monday for staff, again on Tuesday evening for a zoom PCC and finally another zoom on Wednesday for Bible Study. We seem to be zooming all over and I know that Revd Rachel is zooming with others in the Deanery and Diocese. Staff meeting was routine, as was the PCC really. It was nice to see PCC members by zoom as our last meeting together had been in February. There have been some items to vote on for PCC members by e-mail in the interval, which is now allowed under the circumstances, but we shall be continuing with PCC on Zoom for a little while yet. Bible study by Zoom has been very successful. We are just over halfway through the course and the group discussed how to proceed for the future. Revd Rachel has some material from a previous course, and it was decided to use this for the next steps, which will be after a short pause. Watch this space for details and if anyone wants to join in then do let us know. It has been a gentle, educational and thought provoking course and has certainly allowed us to grow in the spirit.

The final meeting of the week was on Friday. The Revd Rachel, wardens and the H&S officer, masked and socially distanced, met in church to think about how we manage opening the church for private prayer. The proposed opening of churches for prayer was announced by the government with little warning and the Bishops, Dioceses and churches themselves were taken by surprise. Our meeting was fruitful, and we have formulated a plan which the H&S officer is now working on. This will be circulated to PCC members for discussion and agreement. In addition, we will need to have in place PPE and hand gel, plus all the signage to maintain safety before we are able to open. It will be only for a limited time during the day too. Clearly this will not be possible for the 15th June, so please don’t rush down to pray then or you will be disappointed! We will post on our website, and social media pages, the details of opening when all is in place and we are satisfied that safety can be maintained.

Another snippet from the week is that Revd Rachel has found out about a scheme which is able to provide IT, a connection and person to instruct, as a temporary measure, for those people who are isolated as a result of being alone or being vulnerable. The pastoral care team are contacting their people directly, but if anyone reading this knows of someone in our community who might benefit from this could they get in touch with either the wardens or Revd Rachel to take this further.

Finally, an anecdote to make you smile. As you may know, my mum and dad have been shielding with a carer visiting each day during lockdown and we have had a few little problemettes to deal with along the way. Well, last night (early hours of Friday morning) we had a phone call on Jane’s mobile. It was my mother! I heard the phone and woke Jane who answered it (it was in another room so as not to disturb us!) to find the she could hear my mum but could get no response. Mum is fairly deaf and Jane could hear gentle breaths, so we put it down to a “pocket call”, thank goodness. When we spoke to them the next morning, mum was completely unaware of the worry caused.

Here is today’s Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Amen.