Dear Friends,
As we’re into the holiday season, and I’m currently on leave, this note should have been brief, except that in response to the introduction of the new face mask rules on Friday 24th July, the Church of England has launched a huge swathe of revised guidance for worship, including reference to face coverings. I haven’t had time to read it all, but the little bit I’ve seen made me want to revise the letter I’d prepared for today.
Before I comment on the guidance, let me give you word for word, what the Bishops (headed in this instance by the Bishop of London, who is a former Chief Nursing Officer for the UK) have told us.
Q. Should I wear a face covering in a church building?
A. Face coverings are currently mandatory on public transport and will be mandatory in shops and in supermarkets from 24 July 2020. People are also encouraged to wear face coverings in enclosed public spaces where there are people they do not normally meet, such as a place of worship. We strongly advise that face coverings should be worn by all those attending a place of worship, including ministers, worshippers, staff, volunteers, contractors and visitors, where there may be other people present; remembering that they are mainly intended to protect other people, not the wearer, from coronavirus COVID-19 and that they are not a replacement for physical distancing and regular hand washing.
Having worn face masks quite a lot this week whilst travelling around Paris and visiting various visitor attractions, as well as in shops, and bars, I’m not a great fan of them, though I take some comfort from the thought that at least it isn’t as warm back in England as it is here, so they won’t fog your glasses up as much as they’ve fogged my sunglasses this week! But the lesson learned from the many Asian nations that suffered from the SARS outbreak a few years back, is that face coverings make a real difference. Hopefully they’ll make a real difference with Covid here too, and help us get rid of it for good.
I know a lot of you will not like the idea of wearing them, and particularly the advice to wear them in church. Note first that the advice is not mandatory. This is not a law, just advice, so we won’t be turning people away if they don’t wear them. But I do think there is a strong Christian case for wearing them.
The case isn’t built on a self-interest plea about the possibility of a mask preventing us catching an unpleasant disease, but instead on Jesus’ call to us to love our neighbours as ourselves: to do as we would be done by.
Early next month, shielding ends for over two million clinically extremely vulnerable people (many of our regular church attenders and some of our service leaders are in this group), and they’re being “released” at a time when we’re wanting to get the economy moving again, to travel more and get life back to normal. In other words, perfect conditions to increase the spread of Covid-19. Face masks in public spaces may well be the price we all have to pay to protect the most vulnerable.
As I’ve already said, I don’t like wearing them, but I think it’s a sacrifice worth making if it stops me harming someone. I hope you’ll come to see it in those terms too.
I’ll update you more on the revised guidance in a subsequent letter, but here’s the rest of the note I had originally planned to send…
Last weekend we had another event to celebrate – the first service at Earls Croome Church since lockdown began. I’m enormously grateful to Margaret Herbert and her team who have taken the lead on getting the building “Covid-safe”.
This weekend we’ve our first service at the Hook for months, and next weekend the first service at Ripple. So things are beginning to look a little more normal. As to whether the Prime Minister’s suggestion that normal life will resume by Christmas, I’m a little more sceptical, but let’s hope for the best, and plan for the worst!
With more “physical” church services happening we’re slowly scaling back our online services. We won’t be running any more “services of spiritual communion” on a Sunday morning, but we are going to keep a monthly-midweek one running for the next few months.
We’re also about to review whether to continue producing the Daily Prayer videos. Some of you have really appreciated them, but we’ve noticed a slow decline in numbers viewing the service in the last few weeks. Please tell us what you think we should do with these daily videos. It’s very much a “use it or lose it” type situation!
Here’s a run down of everything going on this week, along with links to some fun things we’ve spotted this week, and our updated prayer list.
1) Services in church, this Sunday 26 July
• Morning Worship – 11am – Hook
• Holy Communion – 11am – Welland
2) Online Services
Click the links on the list below to take you direct to the event at the appropriate time.
Sunday 26 July
- Prerecorded, (stream at your convenience)Sunday Service (traditional hymn version) – PRERECORDED so you can watch anytime from midnight on Sunday (also available through our Youtube channel).
- Church Family (modern music version) – PRERECORDED – watch anytime from midnight on Sunday at www.hopechurchfamily.org/virtual or through our Youtube channel or join the live Facebook Premiere at 9:30am.
29 July
- Service of Spiritual Communion – Live – 6:30pm. LIVE – using Zoom. You can download a service sheet here.
Every Day except Sunday
- Daily Prayer – a short service of prayers and readings.
Services for Sunday 2 August
- Holy Communion, Hanley Swan @ 9:30am
- Matins, Ripple @ 11am
- Evensong, Hanley Castle @ 6:30pm
- Service of the Word (traditional) – PRERECORDED available from midnight
- Church Family (contemporary)– Facebook Premiere at 9:30am and PRERECORDED available from midnight.
3)Church finances – you can make a difference!
Like all small charities, your local church is suffering a significant financial shortfall as a result of lost income from collections and special fundraising events we’d have run through the summer.
Whilst there’s still some hope we might be able to run a few events in the open air later in the summer, we do face a very challenging future financially. If you are in a position to give an additional gift at this time, it would make a huge difference.
To make this simpler, we’ve set up a new GIVING page on our website (https://www.hopechurchfamily.org/giving), with all the information you’ll need to give a one-off, or regular gift to any of our churches.
4) Services on DVDs and CDs
Every week I produce the services on DVD and CD for a small number of folk across the area who don’t have internet access. It’s been a lovely way for them to stay in touch. If you know of anyone else who would be helped by this ministry, please let me know.
5) What Covid-safe church will be like.
AsTAs ofaof 23 July the basic, common-sense, “ground rules” for a Covid-safe church service.
• If you are experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms (high temperature, new continuous cough, loss/change to your sense of smell or taste) please seek medical advice and do not attend services. We are continuing to provide services online.
• If you are currently shielding (ie in the clinically extremely vulnerable group) please continue to observe government guidance, which is currently to stay home and not attend a place of worship prior to 1 August.
• We will need to take contact details from you when you arrive to assist with contact tracing in the event of an outbreak of Covid-19. This will be kept for 21 days and then disposed of.
• When you enter and leave the building, please use the hand-sanitiser provided.
• Where single-use service sheets are supplied, please take them away with you after the service and dispose of them. Please do not leave them on your seat.
• The social distancing rule is 2 metres. In practice during the distribution of communion, it may be hard to maintain the rule, and other risk-mitigating measures may be in place (for example the use of face masks or visors).
• To enable social distancing rules to be maintained, please only sit in the seat(s) you are assigned. It helps us increase capacity if family groups/bubbles sit together.
• At the moment we do not think demand will be such that we have to introduce a ticketing system, but we may have to do this in future weeks. In the event of the building reaching capacity we will have to turn you away, so you are advised to come early to guarantee a seat!
• There is no requirement to wear face masks, but you may wish to do so if it helps you feel safer. Some service leaders will wear them during the distribution of communion when it is not practical to maintain a 2metre safe distance.
• Singing is not allowed, due to the risk of virus transmission posed by energetic singing! Shouting and energetic liturgy is discouraged for the same reason!
• Hard though it will be, family groups and bubbles are discouraged from interacting with each other in the building or in the church grounds.
• Children are the responsibility of their parents/guardian during the service. In line with national guidance, childrens corners in churches are currently closed, and we are not yet in a position to offer any Sunday School or Breakfast Church provision.
• Please exit the building as soon as the service ends.
• There will be no refreshments served after the service
• Holy Communion will be served in “one-kind” only (bread) as the common cup is seen as a greater infection risk.
• Cash collections are discouraged. If you give using cash, please consider setting up a standing order or using the Parish Giving Scheme to support our work. You can find out details relating your parish here.
• Please observe all directions the stewards give you.
I’m grateful to you all for your continued patience as we try to work all of this out in a way that is safe for everyone concerned. Please continue praying for everyone involved in reopening buildings and restarting services: we need it!
6) Churches Open For Individual Prayer.
Thanks to the hard work of our volunteer cleaners and organisers we’re able to open three of our churches for a short period each week for individual prayer. You can visit to pray at the following times:
- Mondays 10am-noon St James’ Welland
- Tuesdays 10am-noon St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
- Wednesdays 10am-noon St Mary’s, Hanley Castle
- Thursdays 10am-noon St James’, Welland
- Fridays 5pm-7pm St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
- Saturdays 10am-noon St Mary’s, Hanley Castle
To help keep you safe, the buildings are being cleaned before and after each opening period, and the three-day gap between each building opening will act as an additional “safety buffer” in which the scientists tell us any virus particles that the cleaners have missed will die.
Notwithstanding that, please help us keep the buildings clean and safe by minimising the things you touch while in the building, using the provided hand gel, observing social distancing, and following all safety instructions in the building.
Please do not enter the building if you are experiencing any of the key Covid-19 symptoms:
• a new continuous cough.
• a high temperature.
• a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)
It’s also possible that we may need to close one of the buildings occasionally for a funeral, or other service, or because we haven’t been able to maintain cleaning safety. We’ll do our best to inform you of this.
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We long for the day when we can all gather together again, but in the meantime, stay safe, stay prayerful, and God bless!
Barry Unwin