My Dear Friends,As we watch the news at the present time we are filled with foreboding as we hear about the coronavirus and the suffering that is about to be released on the world. Every commentator tells us that we must take extra precautions but at the same time there is almost an underlying message that no matter what we do it will have little effect on the final outcome.It’s a bit like those children who, when the nations were considering the effects of an atomic war, were told that they should shelter under their desks to avoid the blast.The effect of this is to fill us with despair and as we struggle to overcome this we reach out with clutching hands to grasp at the material things around us hoping that they will give us some form of security.People are stockpiling goods partially because they have a fear that goods will disappear and partially because it gives them a feeling of security. Yes even toilet rolls can help us to feel secure in a constantly changing world.The truth about life that nobody ever wants to face is that every one of us is doomed to die and there is nothing that we can do about it.The world is flimsy and has no real substance. Our wealth is tied up in things that are disintegrating even as we watch. Brand new cars polished and shone by new owners become tomorrow’s scrap. Houses in which we take pride become tomorrow’s building sites as they are reduced to rubble.If this is where our confidence lies we are truly doomed to despair and instances like this present virus attack destroys all the foundations of our life.However if our lives are founded on the truth of the Gospel we can face each and every danger with the perfect confidence that we do not stand alone but alongside the creator. He acknowledges us as his children and embraces us with his love.One day each of us will be laid to rest in a small wooden box and our bodies will be returned to the elements from which they have come.Peter the great apostle compares our life as being lived in a temporary tent which will one day be destroyed so that we can be given a true eternal accommodation which can never be harmed or taken away.I don’t know what this virus will mean for you or for me. Maybe we will look back on it and recount it to future generation. Maybe we will be part of that large number of people who will succumb and not survive.Whatever the outcome Jesus says to each one of us ‘Do not be afraid I am going to prepare a place for you. In my Father’s house there are many habitations if it were not so I would have told you. When the time comes, whether now or in the years to come, I will come back for you and lead you to that place. So you need not have any fear. I am the creator of the universe and understand its workings’.Because of this I believe God is calling us, to reject the fear that we all feel and embrace the truth of the Gospel that we are truly loved by a compassionate God. He will lead us through this experience and by it, help us to mature into the people He wants us to be. It’s the only grounds on which we can avoid the despair brought on by the knowing that we are under a “sentence of death,” whatever form that death takes.The coronavirus story will run its course but it may be a wake-up call from God reminding us of our mortality and the precariousness of life.Roy
⚠️ O V E R R I D I N G ▫ A N N O U N C E M E N T ⚠️CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND'S TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF PUBLIC WORSHIP.🛑 With effect from 17th March, 2020, following advice from H.M. Government, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York directed that public worship be suspended. Churches were allowed to reopen for private prayer from 19th June, and for public worship from 4th July. However, in response to the second surge, H.M. Government has ordered a second national lockdown returning places of worship back to the private prayer level again with effect from 5th November. The Cabinet Office has provided the following guidelines:Funerals can be attended by a maximum of 30 people, and it is advised that only close friends and family attend. Linked ceremonial events such as stone settings and ash scatterings can also continue with up to 15 people in attendance. Anyone working is not included. Social distancing should be maintained between people who do not live together or share a support bubble.Weddings, civil partnership ceremonies will not be permitted to take place except in exceptional circumstances.Places of Worship will be closed, unless they are being used for:• Funerals• To broadcast acts of worship• Individual prayer• Formal childcare or where part of a school• Essential voluntary and public services, such as blood donation or food banks• Other exempted activities such as some support groups🛐 As before, during this second lockdown, St Ambrose church will be open for private prayer, offering a non-liturgical exposition of the Blessed Sacrament concluding with an unspoken Benediction on Sundays (10 a.m.) and Thursdays (8:45 a.m.).☣️ Following a safety audit with the Diocese of Winchester the Covid-19 measures we have adopted stringent safety precautions including· separate entrance and exit doors,· 21-day track-and-trace monitoring (via a register and/or livestream recording),· sanitiser stations,· an internal one-way system with floor signage,· roped off rows,· availability of facemasks (now mandatory unless exempted),· recording everyone who visits for track-and-trace purposes (records kept for 21 days),· a touchless thermometer-gun,· no offertory processions or collections (please use the wallsafe or collection bucket),· no singing,· no refreshments afterwards (socialising is best done outdoors, weather permitting).🌍 Whilst our normal regular services are still shown here, they are consequently on hold until circumstances permit their full resumption. Likewise, concerts and organised trips to Glastonbury, Hilfield, St Silas, etc. have been cancelled. The Priest-in-Charge, Churchwardens and PCC, had added new ways of electronic access with scheduled premiere messages and livestreaming from the church through Facebook, YouTube and A Church Near You, email updates, Twitter, and meetings via Skype and Zoom.🧔 Fr Adrian Pearce, the Priest-in-Charge, continues to offer a weekly address (about fifteen minutes long) scheduled for 10 a.m. every Sunday - the time of our normal main Sunday Mass - which can be seen on Facebook and YouTube (including via the "A Church Near You" website). We are also livestreaming the 10 a.m. Sunday Exposition on Facebook. Please do tune-in if you are able, and join with other members of our congregation, for these few minutes every week. Fr Adrian - who can be contacted on 01202 911569 or afpear2@gmail.com - continues the Daily Office, including Mass, in private and says Evening Prayer at 5:30 p.m. in the church. Prayer requests for inclusion at these times can be telephoned or emailed to him. You may wish to join him and others, communing spiritually wherever you are, in a network of prayer.🧔🏼 The Rev Canon Roy Matthews is an active retired priest in Highcliffe who often assists at St Ambrose Church. Fr Roy draws on his long pastoral experience providing insights and guidance here, on our YouTube channel, and via WhatsApp. To join his email circulation list just drop him a line at roymatt1@aol.com and, to connect via WhatsApp, please include your mobile phone number.🏪 Many thanks to all who have supported our local Food Bank with weekly transfers via the church. These were suspended while the church was closed have now begun again (so you can leave non-perishable food donations in the basket in the church if you are attending).☎ Concerning ongoing, shared pastoral care (and whilst GDPR rules forbid disclosure of contact details without express consent), those who are already in possession of other's 'phone numbers are encouraged to keep in touch by telephone and to offer help, especially with the elderly, frail and lonely, and those known to be in need.[Last updated: 31st October, 2020]
Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance for churches.The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written to clergy with an update on their guidance:In light of the continued increase of Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the United Kingdom, our guidance is to suspend the administration of the chalice as well as physical contact during the sharing of the Peace, blessing or "laying on of hands". We advise that all priests should:Offer Communion in one kind only to all communicants i.e. the consecrated bread/wafer/host, with the priest alone taking the wine;Suspend handshaking or other direct physical contact during the sharing of the Peace;Suspend direct physical contact as part of a blessing or "laying on of hands".
