17th January 2020

Epiphany 2

TODAY

8am                     No Service 

10am                   Morning Worship

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be no service in the church building. You can join us in one of two ways:

– On the Telephone (Phone: 03300 945 940;
Room number: 60527473#; PIN: 2656#)

– Live on our YouTube channel
(search for ‘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.

Sunday 24th January

Epiphany 3 

10am                   Morning Worship

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be no service in the church building. You can join us in one of two ways:

– On the Telephone (Phone: 03300 945 940; Room number: 60527473#; PIN: 2656#)

– Live on our YouTube channel (search for ‘Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish Church’)

Preacher              Tracy Mason

Reading               John 2. 1-11

Reader                 Roger Moore

Intercessor          Marion Colton                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

4pm                     Church at 4 via Zoom

Join the Church at 4 group on our Facebook page for the meeting invite and password.

Church closure

Unlike the last lock-down, the Government has chosen not to dictate a general closure of all places of worship in England. This reflects the fact that there have been very few cases of Covid-19 transmission in places of worship and also the importance of corporate worship to the general wellbeing and morale of people of faith. In the Church of England, the decision about whether or not to remain open is being taken at local parish level.

The Standing Committee (SC) of the PCC met this week to decide how we should respond to the new national lock-down and whether our church should remain open. After much discussion and debate the SC decided that we will not be holding services in church for the time being. Reasons for this include:

  • A Covid-19 case rate in Wroughton, Wichelstowe and Chiseldon that is higher than the national average, and climbing (doubling in a week).
  • The older demographic of our congregation, which means people are more vulnerable.
  • The availability of people to act as stewards to help keep everyone safe as we move around the building.
  • The fact that last week the majority of our congregation chose not to come to church and joined us either on the telephone or watched on YouTube.

This decision will be reviewed when the PCC meets on 1st February.

10am Telephone service

  • 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.

Calls to ‘03’ numbers are charged at the standard national rate and are included in your ‘free minutes’ if you have a call-plan.

Live streaming the 10am service

The 10am service will be live streamed on You Tube. As well as getting video, the sound quality should be better than the phone. However, unlike the telephone option, you will not be able to interact with other people or to be heard in the service. We don’t recommend trying to use both You Tube and the phone at the same time as this could cause an echo on the phone line, there is also a delay of about 30 seconds which is very off-putting. Please visit our YouTube Channel on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc6wnuTqXBYTixq-NpQgeLQ and press the ‘subscribe’ button.

An opportunity for a cup of tea or coffee and a chat after the 10am service

If you would like to join an informal chat (about the state of the weather?) after the 10am 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 choice… Room number PIN Room hosts
Coffee 74958379 # 3543 # Helen and Helena
Tea 53230915 # 8527 # Karen and Peter

 

Opening the church building for private prayer

During the current lockdown, the church building will be open for private prayer between 12pm and 1:30pm on Wednesdays.

Lent course

We plan to run a lent course as usual this year. Current restrictions around meeting together mean that this will be delivered over Zoom. The first session will be at 7:30pm on Tuesday 23rd February and run for the following 6 to 8 weeks.

Church Defibrillator

This vital piece of life saving equipment is now available in the cabinet in the church porch. It has been registered with the ambulance service so that they can direct members of the public to find it in an emergency. 

Funerals

Please remember the friends and family of Frances Maisey, Shirley Mathias and Lorraine Rowsell.