Trinity 1
Dear all,
As each day goes by there is a growing consensus that although we still need to be careful, we are through the worst. This is good news indeed and we are already able to enjoy limited new freedoms. From 15th June there will be some limited re-opening of churches for private prayer and funerals. This is not without its challenges for us. We have a building with fixed furniture and narrow aisles, which makes moving more than a few around in a socially distanced way a bit tricky. Perhaps more of an issue is the requirement for washing and cleaning. We also hope to have workmen on site from Monday 22nd June to carry out a programme of maintenance work, so we need to consider their Health and Safety needs as well. Clearly we need to open in a safe way, so all of this will need some more thought. In the meantime, we will continue to meet in our various ‘virtual’ ways. Please pray for one another and for our community as we begin the next cycle of change. Revd Phill
TODAY
10:00 Morning Worship – telephone conference
Phone: 03300 945 940
Room number: 60527473 #
PIN: 2656 #
12:00 Morning Worship – live on Facebook
Revd Barbara Abrey will repeat the reading, the sermon and lead some short prayers. Go to our Facebook page ‘Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish Church’
4pm Church at 4 via Zoom – join the Church at 4 group on our Facebook page for the meeting invite and password.
NEXT WEEK
Trinity 2
Sunday 21st June
10:00 Morning Worship
Preacher: Cheryl Hawkins
Intercessions: Mark Tubey
Reading: Phil 2.1-11
Reader: Margaret Penfound
12.00 Morning Worship live on Facebook
Cheryl Hawkins will repeat the reading, the sermon and lead some short prayers. Go to our Facebook page ‘Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish Church’
4pm Church at 4
via Zoom – join the Church at 4 group on our Facebook page for the meeting invite and password.
10am service by telephone
Our Sunday morning service is an audio meeting that people can dial into using just their telephones – no computers involved! Follow these instructions to join:
- To join the Sunday service first dial this number: 03300 945 940.
- When prompted, enter the room number, followed by # on your telephone keypad: 60527473 #
- Finally, enter the guest PIN: 2656 #
- You may have to listen to some announcements, but you will then be automatically joined to the conference call. Join in with the responses in the liturgy as you would normally.
Please try and dial-in at 9:55, as it may take a little while for everyone to be connected to the conference. Calls to ‘03’ numbers are charged at the standard national rate and are included in your ‘free minutes’ if you have a call-plan. Service sheets are being delivered and dial-in instructions to a number of people that we know don’t use email, or for whom we have no email address. If you know someone who doesn’t have email and would like to be included please let us know so that he can drop something through their letterbox.
An opportunity for a cup of tea or coffee and a chat after the 10am service
One of the things that many of us enjoy doing after church is catching up with people and having a bit of a chat, it could be about the state of the weather, or the state of the vicar’s sermon. We also very much enjoy a slice of cake to go with our tea of coffee. It is hard to share a cake remotely; but perhaps we can still have that chat.
If you would like to join an informal conversation (about the state of the weather?) after the 10am telephone service on Sunday then choose your favourite treat and join one of our virtual meeting rooms. To access a meeting room you will need to dial the usual national rate telephone number:
03300 945 940 …followed by the room number and PIN.
Each meeting room has a pair of hosts, who will welcome you and hopefully help to get the conversation going. Just like in church, there is no obligation to stay for long, you can just pop in and say “hi” before rushing to the kitchen to think about lunch. Meeting rooms will be opened by their hosts after the 10am service and aim to close by 11:15 at the latest.
| Your tasty treat… | Room number | PIN | Room hosts |
| Lemon Drizzle | 11620235 # | 6880 # | Pete and Karen |
| Victoria Sponge | 86978612 # | 1062 # | Janet and John |
| Battenberg | 31584976 # | 3650 # | Sally and Clive |
| Coffee Cake | 90442676 # | 3946 # | Ross and Jean |
Saying Goodbye
So my time has come to leave Wroughton and Wichelstowe – not quite how I was hoping to say goodbye to you all, but I look forward to the time when we can all meet in Church and I can come back and say a proper goodbye to you all. But for the time being I wanted to say a huge thank you for journeying with me during my discernment process and my training. Being held in prayer when things have been challenging and also being able to celebrate the successes too with you all has sustained me during this time. I will never forget the wave of love I felt from you all when I stepped into the pulpit for the first time to preach. All of you in your each way have encouraged me through prayer, a conversation or a reassuring smile when I am about to do something for the first time and sometimes recognising things in me before I have seen them in myself – your love, care and support have been a true blessing – so thank you!
At the moment I don`t know when my Ordination will take place, but unfortunately, the service when it does take place is likely to be very different because of the current restrictions – as I find out more I will let you all know. However, hopefully we can all look forward to the celebration next year of my Priesting and the celebration of my first Eucharist.
Take care – with prayers and Every Blessing to you all. Cheryl
Pray and Bless Wroughton and Wichelstowe
The next ‘Pray and Bless’ will be at 7:30pm next Tuesday 16th June via Zoom. Please do join us to pray for our community that evening, either via Zoom, or by praying by yourself or with a friend by phone
Church building work
Although the church building is closed due to the COVID 19 pandemic, our stewardship of it continues and we have been busy making plans for a programme of maintenance work. Following the government’s easing of some aspects of lock-down, we now expect this work to begin on Monday 22 June. This will take approximately 7 weeks to complete (taking us to around Friday 14th August). The work includes a significant amount of re-pointing on all of the external walls, removal of vegetation, repair/replacement of guttering, stone repairs, window repairs and some internal re-plastering around the tower. All-in-all some £40k worth – work on listed buildings isn’t cheap! The contractors intend having up to five people on site in the early weeks, with fewer for the later weeks. Before starting they will provide a full risk assessment, including appropriate Covid-19 specific measures. If you visit the churchyard then do look out for the builders and give them a wave hello, the happier they are to be here the better a job they might do!
Wroughton Pre-school reopening
We were very pleased to be able to support Wroughton Pre-school with their re-opening this week. This means that that the Church Hall is once again a ‘living’ building and so we have been able to ask our cleaner, Jo Ridd, to return from furlough. In order to comply with government advice around COVID-19 infection control, the Pre-school have had to make some significant changes to the way they operate and we have worked with them to facilitate this. Pre-school will be running from Monday to Thursday and Jo will do a deep clean each week on a Friday. They will be using the rear entrance (the fire escape into the car-park), so any collection envelopes that you put through the letterbox in the front door will be perfectly safe.
A NEW NORMAL?
Archbishop Justin has talked of seeking a “new normal” and many of us are wondering what the world will be like in the months and years to come. If you are pondering what sort of world we need to help us recover from the pandemic and deal the climate emergency, do look at Tearfund’s “Reboot” campaign. There’s a short document, with lots of pictures, but enough content to help our thoughts, discussions and actions as we go forward.
Face Masks
If anyone is making their own face masks and need elastic, I accidentally ordered too much. If anyone
wants some give me a ring on 813823 and I can let them have some. Carolyn Perry
Daily Hope – free prayer hotline
The archbishop of Canterbury has launched a 24-hour free phone line for Christian worship and prayer, aimed at those who have no or limited access to the internet. People calling the free phone number will hear a greeting from the archbishop and can then choose from a range of options including hymns, prayers, reflections and advice on Covid-19. Daily Hope is available on 0800 804 8044.
Funeral this week
Please pray for the families and friends of Margaret Guyatt, William Tutton, Louise Wilson and Violet Dunkling as their funerals take place.
And finally, a prayer for this week:
O God, who would fold both heaven and earth in a single peace:
let the design of thy great love
lighten upon the waste of our wraths and sorrows:
and give peace to thy Church,
peace among nations,
peace in our dwellings,
and peace in our hearts:
through thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
