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March 2020 Update

11 March 2020 18:58

We've just begun reading through some of the Psalms for Lent, and I hope they will be a timely reminder to us of God's desire for us to be honest with him. With so much going on in the world, it's amazing to be reminded that
'the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.' (Psalm 100:3)

That doesn't mean we won't feel the effects of a broken world of course, but it does mean that we can trust him to be with us throughout life and on into eternity as our good shepherd!

Here's a few updates for you in the life of our Church family

Updates from central CofE on Corona virus
The Church of England is providing regular updates to its ministers and congregations, and you can find those here if you're interested: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/church-england-updates-advice-coronavirus

As at time of writing, they have asked us to only share the bread for communion for now and to refrain from hand shaking and other physical contact - this means that we'll ask our welcomers not to shake hands, we will have a retiring collection rather than passing around the collection bags, we will simply pray for peace and if you're on prayer ministry please pray but no hands on shoulders or other contact. If you feel you should avoid others either because you feel ill or because of concerns, then please don't feel bad about that, but do please let me know so that we can all be looking out for each other.

It's important not to panic of course, but also to be wise. In light of that I have decided to postpone next week's Open Vicarage evenings as I know that some people will be wary of close-contact groups at the moment, and I don't want people to feel they've missed out. We will reschedule for later in the year.

If the situation does get worse before it gets better, then I have plans for continuing to provide our teaching and pastoral ministries through the internet and the phone. For now, let's continue to pray for all those around the world who are suffering from this and other situations, and for medical staff. If we are given any further instruction, then please look out for emails/news sheets/phone calls through homegroups.

Community Tea - deferred. Instead, a prayer walk!
In light of the situation, the planning group felt it would come across as more thoughtful if we deferred the planned community tea until 6th June. However, we also felt it would be good to use the time set aside that would have been the community tea to invite those who would like to on a prayer walk. The plan is to meet at the hall at 2.30pm on Saturday 28th March, those who would like to can go for any length prayer walk (with some resources to help) and others can stay to pray in the hall for our use of the hall and the wider community.

Holy Week
This year we will have something each evening between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday (Easter!), Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this will be night prayer with a short Bible thought at 7pm in Lyminster. Thursday at 7.30pm in All Saints will be communion in the round (with alternative means of distributing the wine if needed) and Friday there is the walk of witness in Littlehampton (more details soon but for now if anyone would like to act, I'm attaching the poster) and then a service of hymns and readings at Lyminster at 2pm. Sunday will be an all-together celebration of new life in Christ at 9.30am in Wick Hall. (Please note there won't be a prayer meeting that week on 12th April)

Wick Information Centre
The job advert for a new part-time co-ordinator of the Wick Information Centre is now live at: www.allsaintswick.org.uk/Jobs so do have a look or mention it to anyone you think may be interested. The Centre is now open on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, 9am-midday and has free drinks, cheap printing/copying, a free book library and information on the local area. At the moment it is being run by volunteers from our church so do drop in and say hi!

Wick Hall
Thank you to all those who have helped so far. Much has been done and now the main and final adaptation is the stage area itself. If you can help sometime the week of Monday 13th - Friday 17th April, please put a time in your diary now. There will be some reasonably physical work involving lifting (and hopefully reusing planks of wood) but also lighter jobs such as sweeping, painting, etc. Thank you all for your help with this, it's going to be such a blessing once it's complete!

J John Outreach Event
I would love us to take a few friends to this event in Portsmouth on 4th April. I know it's a little way to travel but it would be a great chance for a non-Christian to hear the good news in a winsome and encouraging way. There is a price for the tickets but we will cover that, and if we can get a few people then we could travel together. I'm attaching the flyer which you could forward on to someone who might be interested, and I'll also print some hard copies for this Sunday in church to collect.

Quick Updates

  • Men's Evening at the Vicarage from 7pm on Saturday - wrap up warm!
  • Derek Nelson-Wills has written some reflections for Lent based on Isaiah. These are available on our website: allsaintswick.org.uk/Resources
  • A personal one, I'm doing a launch for my book in aid of Creative Heart in April. It's free entry but you need to book a ticket by using this link if you'd like to come: https://breathtakingglorylaunch.eventbrite.co.uk/


God bless,
Tom