Sproughton with Burstall, Copdock with Washbrook and Belstead & Bentley with Tattingstone
For parish queries please contact:
Rev Annette Shannon
The Rectory, Glebe Close, Sproughton IP8 3BQ
revannettes@aol.co.uk / 01473 807674
Benefice Administrator Hayley Purnell
northsamfordbenefice@gmail.com / 07904 972116
Dear Friends,
I’ve just come back from church. As well as being beautiful, it’s such a calm, quiet, peaceful place to be, All I have to do is walk across the road and I am there. It’s a place that is always there, waiting for people to come in to look, listen and pray.
It is somewhere you can sit and feel God’s presence. Sometimes I talk, sometimes I meditate and sometimes I just sit and be. Whatever I do, I do it in love and prayer and I always come away at peace and full of love.
Being in God’s presence, in God’s house is a wonderful place to be. Having said that, God is everywhere, so we can sit, pray, listen and meditate wherever we find somewhere that suits us. I find it easier to listen to God in the quiet and in prayer.
Today my eyes caught sight of the words in the East Window – Hope, Faith and Love – and I began to think about Hope. Life without hope is very difficult. Lockdown seems to be easing and we hope that we will slowly have more freedom and that the number of people with Covid-19 continues to fall.
Spring always brings hope in abundance. Flowers are growing and blooming, birds are singing and the days are getting longer. God’s creation is in evidence everywhere you look.
God sends enough love for us all. All we need to do is have faith and pass on his love to everyone we meet.
In love and prayer, Gwen Runnacles (Reader at Burstall)
FROM THE REGISTER
Please note the following service pattern is liable to last-minute change and dependent on the risk to the congregation and service leaders being assessed as minimal. Please check with the churchwardens or look on the North Samford benefice page in the week before to confirm the service is taking place. Seats must be booked for all face-to-face services. When face-to-face services are cancelled, the 3pm YouTube service will be converted to a live Facebook Holy Communion Service at 10am from the rectory. Some evening Zoom services will continue.
Celtic Evening Prayer Service: Every Wednesday at 8pm on Facebook
Sunday 2 May
9.30am: Burstall – Holy Communion
10am: Bentley – Family Service
11am: Sproughton – Holy Communion
Wednesday 4 May
8am: Sproughton – Holy Communion
Sunday 9 May
8am: Copdock – Holy Communion
10am: Tattingstone – Holy Communion
Sunday 16 May
10am: Bentley – Holy Communion
6pm: Zoom – Evening Service
Sunday 23 May
10am: Copdock – Holy Communion
Sunday 30 May
10am: Bentley – Benefice Communion
Churches may be open for limited periods for private prayer subject to hygiene regulations. Please contact churchwardens for up-to-date information.
Guidance the churches will be adhering to for services
- To comply with the 2m distancing rule for public worship Sproughton will only be able to host 20-30 people. Copdock 20-25. Bentley 30. Burstall 25- 30, Tattingstone 12-15. Belstead 20-25. People from the same household or ‘bubble’ can sit together.
- People will be asked to sanitise their hands on entry and exit.
- Members of the congregation are required to wear face masks. Presiding clergy will wear a mask when moving around the church and when preparing and distributing the elements. Clergy and those leading the service are not required to wear a mask when at the front of the church and speaking.
- Those at extra risk and clinically extremely vulnerable are still at risk when attending public worship.
- A note will need to be made of all those who attend to comply with government guidance for track and trace.
- There will be no singing, although most services will include music.
- Communion will be bread only for communicants.
- Churches will be left for 72hrs before reopening. In the event of a funeral or wedding taking place, additional cleaning will take place.
- People will be invited to leave their collection in a receptacle as they enter or leave. Those counting the money are to wear gloves.
Please submit church letters and copy for the June edition to Hayley Purnell by May 4: northsamfordbenefice@gmail.com