Current News
Updates from the Rector:
March 2021 - Staff Changes
Dear Friends,
I am pleased to share with you the news that Anna Holsteen has been appointed as our new Office Administrator. Anna's husband Ben, meanwhile, has taken on the new role of Media Manager for the congregation, a role that has emerged as vital during the pandemic and our reliance on YouTube and Zoom for services, meetings and much more besides, and is likely to continue to be important in the future now that we have learned some of gains and benefits of using such technology in one way or another.
Ben and Anna, and their children Esther and Jude, joined our congregation at the end of last summer, bringing with them a wealth of experience and a variety of gifts from which we have already benefited greatly in the intervening months. It is good to have them now on board in these positions of considerable responsibility.
Please note that the Church Office currently remains closed, as does the church building apart from Sunday morning worship. Should you need to contact Anna for any reason you can do so by sending an email to [email protected] or leaving a message on the telephone answering service at the usual office number (01334 473344).
~ Trevor
March 2021
Dear Friends,
I am pleased to advise you that, following recent government announcements regarding the easing of lockdown, we plan to resume Sunday morning services in our church building on Easter Sunday (4th April). We shall, of course, also continue with our Zoom livestream for those unable to join us in person.
For the time being we shall be compelled to operate in the same way that we were doing before Christmas. So, there will be services at both 9.30am and 11.30am and attendance at these will be on the basis of the same lists we were working with between August and December (i.e., if you were a 9.30 person then, you will be a 9.30 person again!). It is important that we comply with this regulated approach to attendance so that we do not find ourselves in breach of the stated maximum of 50 people permitted at each service.
If you were not attending services in person previously but would like now to do so, please let me know (or contact the church office) and we shall seek to accommodate you if we can. Conversely, if you were attending services in person but now prefer not to do so then please let us know. This is important, as it means that we shall be able to allocate your place to someone else.
For those who will continue to join us via the live-stream rather than in the building, you will be able to do so again at the 11.30am service by using the familiar Zoom link. We are working on new ways to make your 'presence' and participation in services as complete as it can be without you actually being here in the flesh!
Easter is the most important festival of the Christian year, and we shall strive this year to make it extra-special despite the challenges. Being able to re-enter our church building for the first time in more than three months will be an important part of that.
I will keep you informed of details of how we plan to mark Easter together, but wanted to ensure that you had the reopening of the building securely in your diary!
~ Trevor
Dear Friends,
I am pleased to advise you that, following recent government announcements regarding the easing of lockdown, we plan to resume Sunday morning services in our church building on Easter Sunday (4th April). We shall, of course, also continue with our Zoom livestream for those unable to join us in person.
For the time being we shall be compelled to operate in the same way that we were doing before Christmas. So, there will be services at both 9.30am and 11.30am and attendance at these will be on the basis of the same lists we were working with between August and December (i.e., if you were a 9.30 person then, you will be a 9.30 person again!). It is important that we comply with this regulated approach to attendance so that we do not find ourselves in breach of the stated maximum of 50 people permitted at each service.
If you were not attending services in person previously but would like now to do so, please let me know (or contact the church office) and we shall seek to accommodate you if we can. Conversely, if you were attending services in person but now prefer not to do so then please let us know. This is important, as it means that we shall be able to allocate your place to someone else.
For those who will continue to join us via the live-stream rather than in the building, you will be able to do so again at the 11.30am service by using the familiar Zoom link. We are working on new ways to make your 'presence' and participation in services as complete as it can be without you actually being here in the flesh!
Easter is the most important festival of the Christian year, and we shall strive this year to make it extra-special despite the challenges. Being able to re-enter our church building for the first time in more than three months will be an important part of that.
I will keep you informed of details of how we plan to mark Easter together, but wanted to ensure that you had the reopening of the building securely in your diary!
~ Trevor
1st April 2020
Dear friends in Christ,
Congregational Network
The Congregational Network has now been launched, so if you are a regular member of the congregation, please don't be surprised if a you receive a phone call in the next couple of days. Each of us has been assigned to a small 'cluster' within the network (about 5-6 people). Each cluster has a coordinator, whose task is precisely to make contact by telephone with everyone on his or her list at least once a week. The purpose of this venture is simply to ensure that everyone in the congregation is contacted weekly to check that they are okay, and for everyone to have a small list of people they can contact by phone should any urgent need arise. Some of us will no doubt suppose that we have no particular need to belong to such a group; but please remember that the point of the exercise is precisely for the sake of supporting those for whom the current enforced confinement is likely to be more challenging and problematic. If each of us asks not what we have to gain, but what we might have to offer to others by participating in the network, then it will succeed in its purpose. And you may even get to talk to some people in the congregation who, ordinarily, you wouldn't. This is a way of helping me to exercise my pastoral responsibility for the whole congregation, and I know I can rely on you to support me in this way, so thank you in advance!
Opportunities for prayer
The current circumstance may perhaps turn
our minds naturally to prayer, and to wondering where to begin? The Church of England has a very good app that you can download onto a smart phone or tablet (ios or Android) and which provides the daily offices of Morning and Evening Prayer for each day. These contain psalms, canticles, readings and prayers in a conveniently structured form, and typically take about 15 minutes to 'say'. (I find it quite important to at least mouth the words silently, otherwise my mind easily wanders!).
Dear friends in Christ,
Congregational Network
The Congregational Network has now been launched, so if you are a regular member of the congregation, please don't be surprised if a you receive a phone call in the next couple of days. Each of us has been assigned to a small 'cluster' within the network (about 5-6 people). Each cluster has a coordinator, whose task is precisely to make contact by telephone with everyone on his or her list at least once a week. The purpose of this venture is simply to ensure that everyone in the congregation is contacted weekly to check that they are okay, and for everyone to have a small list of people they can contact by phone should any urgent need arise. Some of us will no doubt suppose that we have no particular need to belong to such a group; but please remember that the point of the exercise is precisely for the sake of supporting those for whom the current enforced confinement is likely to be more challenging and problematic. If each of us asks not what we have to gain, but what we might have to offer to others by participating in the network, then it will succeed in its purpose. And you may even get to talk to some people in the congregation who, ordinarily, you wouldn't. This is a way of helping me to exercise my pastoral responsibility for the whole congregation, and I know I can rely on you to support me in this way, so thank you in advance!
Opportunities for prayer
The current circumstance may perhaps turn
our minds naturally to prayer, and to wondering where to begin? The Church of England has a very good app that you can download onto a smart phone or tablet (ios or Android) and which provides the daily offices of Morning and Evening Prayer for each day. These contain psalms, canticles, readings and prayers in a conveniently structured form, and typically take about 15 minutes to 'say'. (I find it quite important to at least mouth the words silently, otherwise my mind easily wanders!).
The Scottish Episcopal Church has its own version of Morning and Evening Prayer and other daily offices that you can find on its website here.
Both of these online resources provide all the daily readings and other variables for you, so are extremely easy to use. I commend them both warmly to you.
~ Trevor
Both of these online resources provide all the daily readings and other variables for you, so are extremely easy to use. I commend them both warmly to you.
~ Trevor
25th March 2020
Dear friends in Christ,
Sadly, government stipulations mean that we are now compelled to close our church building until further notice. Only Storehouse, the local food bank, will continue to be granted access as they are using our church hall for the storage and distribution of provisions to those in urgent need.
So, how can we continue to be the church in a state of lockdown? We can't go to church on a Sunday, obviously. But going to church and being the church are not quite the same thing!
Presently we are working on three things that should shortly be in place:
1. A second edition of 'NOT The NET!' to be circulated by email (and snail mail where necessary). Please feel free to pass this on to anyone who may be interested or may appreciate it.
2. A congregational network of small contact groups, so that everyone in the congregation can keep in regular contact with and 'look out for' a small group of others, and any particular needs or concerns can be communicated effectively to me and, where possible, help or support provided.
3. An act of worship to be livestreamed at 10am on Sunday morning. Details of how to access this will be circulated in due course, again by email, or on this site.
Please keep an eye open for regular email communications from me about these and other developments. If you are not on our email circulation list but wish to be, then please email me at [email protected] to say so, and I will gladly add your name.
~ Trevor
17th March 2020
Dear friends in Christ,
I regret to inform you that, as a result of recent Government health guidelines and on instruction from the College of Bishops, all services of public worship at Saint Andrew’s, St Andrews and other Episcopal churches in our Diocese are discontinued with immediate effect and until further notice. Additionally, all gatherings of groups within the congregation such as Ministry Team, Vestry, Choir, home-groups and others are cancelled for the foreseeable future, and these groups should not meet.
That’s the bad news!
The good news is that our church building will remain open between 9am-5pm daily whenever we can facilitate this, and anyone is welcome to come and sit, reflect, and perhaps pray for those whose lives are being most seriously affected by the current health crisis.
Furthermore, while I resist the sentimental and somewhat trivial idea of every cloud having a silver lining (some things in life are just plain dark!) I do believe that God can redeem and bring something new and good out of what otherwise seems unambiguously dark and painful. That’s one lesson that the rapidly approaching season of Passiontide has to teach us. Crucifixion is not, humanly speaking, a springboard for hope or fruitful possibilities, but the most bleak and pathetic manifestation of weakness, death and meaninglessness. And yet, in God’s hands and in God’s hands alone, the failure and lifelessness of Jesus’ crucified flesh and blood laid in the tomb ready for interment is carried beyond suffering and death and, by being ‘raised from death’, transfigured into the 'firstfruits of a new creation’, the source of life in all its fulness for those who, like Jesus himself, currently live under the sign and the threat of death’s power to disrupt and destroy our lives.
Dear friends in Christ,
I regret to inform you that, as a result of recent Government health guidelines and on instruction from the College of Bishops, all services of public worship at Saint Andrew’s, St Andrews and other Episcopal churches in our Diocese are discontinued with immediate effect and until further notice. Additionally, all gatherings of groups within the congregation such as Ministry Team, Vestry, Choir, home-groups and others are cancelled for the foreseeable future, and these groups should not meet.
That’s the bad news!
The good news is that our church building will remain open between 9am-5pm daily whenever we can facilitate this, and anyone is welcome to come and sit, reflect, and perhaps pray for those whose lives are being most seriously affected by the current health crisis.
Furthermore, while I resist the sentimental and somewhat trivial idea of every cloud having a silver lining (some things in life are just plain dark!) I do believe that God can redeem and bring something new and good out of what otherwise seems unambiguously dark and painful. That’s one lesson that the rapidly approaching season of Passiontide has to teach us. Crucifixion is not, humanly speaking, a springboard for hope or fruitful possibilities, but the most bleak and pathetic manifestation of weakness, death and meaninglessness. And yet, in God’s hands and in God’s hands alone, the failure and lifelessness of Jesus’ crucified flesh and blood laid in the tomb ready for interment is carried beyond suffering and death and, by being ‘raised from death’, transfigured into the 'firstfruits of a new creation’, the source of life in all its fulness for those who, like Jesus himself, currently live under the sign and the threat of death’s power to disrupt and destroy our lives.
What does this mean for us? And how does it have any relevance to the hardships and losses we may have to bear as a congregation in the coming weeks and perhaps even months? After all, we shall not be able to gather together in community. Many of us may find ourselves confined mostly to our homes and to forms of ‘isolation’ which, even for the most committed introvert, will be difficult to bear after a while. We shall not be able to attend services or worship, or other regular events that ordinarily feed and sustain our faith. We may even be unable to visit one another in person. And, as you will all realise, a significant number of key figures in our congregation’s life are already beyond their ’threescore years and ten’, and so will be obliged to ’self-isolate’ and unable to do some of the things that they ordinarily do.
And yet… And yet, perhaps God may use this experience of wilderness to teach us more about what it means to be ’the church’ for one another, what it means to be the ‘body of Christ’, and how discipleship and community can (and should) extend beyond the bricks and mortar of our church building, and at other times than on Sunday mornings or afternoons. Maybe we shall learn new ways of practising our faith together, new ways of participating in the congregation and its life and liturgy, new ways of seeking and finding God in places we never expected to. We shall see!
Be assured that while our gatherings together are suspended for now, members of the Vestry, Ministry Team and others in the congregation are already working hard to devise means and mechanisms to ensure that our community as a congregation is not put on hold, but simply enters a new mode and a new phase in its life — one that may, in some respects, equip us with skills and gifts that continue to be part of our ministry and mission even when the crisis is past and public worship resumes.
As soon as information about some of these new initiatives within the congregation’s life is available we shall share it — on Facebook, on our Congregational Website, and via occasional circular emails. And we shall be seeking to ensure that those who CANNOT access electronic media receive communication and provision in other forms.
At present it is my intention to suspend production of our monthly newsletter The NET and replace it instead with a shorter but weekly communiqué with news, reflections, notices, and suggestions all intended to sustain our sense of belonging to Saint Andrew’s and our awareness that we are not missing out and have not been forgotten!
In the meanwhile, please do all that is sensible according to the official guidelines and your own awareness of your level of ‘risk’ and that of others in your household. Keep well, and pray for one another!
Blessings,
Trevor
And yet… And yet, perhaps God may use this experience of wilderness to teach us more about what it means to be ’the church’ for one another, what it means to be the ‘body of Christ’, and how discipleship and community can (and should) extend beyond the bricks and mortar of our church building, and at other times than on Sunday mornings or afternoons. Maybe we shall learn new ways of practising our faith together, new ways of participating in the congregation and its life and liturgy, new ways of seeking and finding God in places we never expected to. We shall see!
Be assured that while our gatherings together are suspended for now, members of the Vestry, Ministry Team and others in the congregation are already working hard to devise means and mechanisms to ensure that our community as a congregation is not put on hold, but simply enters a new mode and a new phase in its life — one that may, in some respects, equip us with skills and gifts that continue to be part of our ministry and mission even when the crisis is past and public worship resumes.
As soon as information about some of these new initiatives within the congregation’s life is available we shall share it — on Facebook, on our Congregational Website, and via occasional circular emails. And we shall be seeking to ensure that those who CANNOT access electronic media receive communication and provision in other forms.
At present it is my intention to suspend production of our monthly newsletter The NET and replace it instead with a shorter but weekly communiqué with news, reflections, notices, and suggestions all intended to sustain our sense of belonging to Saint Andrew’s and our awareness that we are not missing out and have not been forgotten!
In the meanwhile, please do all that is sensible according to the official guidelines and your own awareness of your level of ‘risk’ and that of others in your household. Keep well, and pray for one another!
Blessings,
Trevor
16th March 2020
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Saint Andrew's Church
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At Saint Andrew's we shall continue for the time being to offer worship and prayer together on Sundays and to make our church building available through the week for anyone wishing to come and sit, pray and reflect.
It is also vitally important that we maintain our life as a community together in ways that are effective, safe and secure, and we are working to establish ways of doing so as an increasing number of people will be compelled or feel the need to self-isolate.
It is also vitally important that we maintain our life as a community together in ways that are effective, safe and secure, and we are working to establish ways of doing so as an increasing number of people will be compelled or feel the need to self-isolate.
We are, of course, following and seeking to comply with official Government and Scottish Episcopal Church guidelines (see here). These are constantly being updated, so our pattern of practice may change accordingly and without much notice. Please check our website regularly for updates.
Measures we have already implemented on Sundays include the following:
• Hand sanitiser is readily available for use at entrances to the building.
• We will exchange the Peace responsorially and without physical contact.
• The collection plate will not be passed. Those who give by cash or envelope should place their offering in the large plate provided for that purpose as they arrive at church.
• Ministers and all others will wash and/or sanitise their hands before administering the elements at Holy Communion.
• Clergy will not lay on hands when administering a blessing.
• Hand sanitiser is readily available for use at entrances to the building.
• We will exchange the Peace responsorially and without physical contact.
• The collection plate will not be passed. Those who give by cash or envelope should place their offering in the large plate provided for that purpose as they arrive at church.
• Ministers and all others will wash and/or sanitise their hands before administering the elements at Holy Communion.
• Clergy will not lay on hands when administering a blessing.
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• Surfaces and door handles will be disinfected on a regular basis.
• Refreshments after the 10am service will continue, but with careful measures to minimise any risk of tranmission of germs. Milk will be added to drinks and biscuits served individually by the team on duty, rather than people helping themselves. |
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• We will constantly review church meetings and events in the light of official guidelines and cancel or reschedule any that are unsafe.
In the meanwhile, please do continue to follow all wider public health and hygiene advice, and do not attend church if you have symptoms which require self-isolation.
Please notify Trevor (07545 322259, [email protected]) or the church office (01334 473344, [email protected]) if you are self-isolating or know of someone else in the congregation who is doing so. This will enable appropriate pastoral support and prayer to be provided.
In the meanwhile, please do continue to follow all wider public health and hygiene advice, and do not attend church if you have symptoms which require self-isolation.
Please notify Trevor (07545 322259, [email protected]) or the church office (01334 473344, [email protected]) if you are self-isolating or know of someone else in the congregation who is doing so. This will enable appropriate pastoral support and prayer to be provided.