Ash Wednesday - the beginning of Lent - is traditionally a time of repentance and reflection but with our church currently closed for public worship we wanted to ensure you were able to take part in the traditional "ashing" that usually takes place at a church service in your homes.The Church of England has issued guidance to help you prepare your ashes - whether you want to impose the ashes on yourself or family members during one of our two services on Ash Wednesday or do it in a quiet and prayerful moment at some other time.The official advice shows how to burn last year's palm crosses to make the ash, though in fact you may prefer to use ordinary ashes from your your own grate symbolically, or even use some dry earth from the garden. Using oil is not compulsory and may even make things a bit messy! We will have a 10am Ash Wednesday Communion service using the traditional language of the Book of Common Prayer and an 8pm livestreamed Communion in contemporary language. Both will include a time for you to "ash" yourself or others in the household and also to share in an act of Spiritual Communion. These will appear on our website http://www.stbartholomews.co.uk/The guidance from the Church is attached.
Our online shop now has gifts suitable for Valentine’s Day plus a Children’s Corner, which will include craft kits for kids to do over the February half-term. There’s also plenty of handmade items, plants, knitted goods, and preserves. This is available both online, via our website, and in a folder within the church lobby. We offer free delivery to anyone within a 5 mile radius of the church.Our Made in Otford site is accessible through our website and directly on www.madeinotford.orgAs all our pieces are bespoke, if you would like something similar to what you find here but customised, please get in contact and we will see what we can do for you. All proceeds go towards extending the mission of St Bartholomew’s Church, both within our local community and further afield.
It is with sadness and after much prayer and discussion that Revd David, the wardens and the ministry team, with the support of the PCC, have decided to suspend public worship with immediate effect as we respond to the Coronavirus pandemic and national lockdown. We, along with many other churches in the deanery, the diocese and the country at large, have sought a special dispensation from our bishop to allow us to hold online services only. Churches in other parts of the UK have been told to remain closed and advice from the bishops encourages us not to meet in person where we can meet online. We will review the situation in the middle of February, and decide whether or not it is safe to resume worship, taking full notice of Government, medical and Church of England advice. Regular services will continue online – a 10am livestreamed service on Sunday mornings and a 10am BCP Spiritual Communion on Wednesdays (both available via our website - https://www.stbartholomews.co.uk/ - and on our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/StBartsOtford), plus a message for young people will continue to appear on our website on Sunday mornings. We are surely all aware that we are both in the most dangerous phase of the current pandemic with a dramatic rise in numbers diagnosed and yet at a hopeful time with the increasing availability of vaccines and testing. It is a very serious concern that hospitals in our area have more COVID patients than in the first wave. We know that those churches which have been open up to now (including ours) have taken strenuous precautions to ensure the safety of those attending but the new strain poses a much greater threat which can be avoided if people observe the ‘Stay at Home’ message from the Government. We appreciate that attendance at church for many is important for their well-being, and we hope that it won’t be too long before we can return more safely to face-to-face worship. May God grant us patience in this waiting period, and that we may know his peace and presence with us in the anxiety we may feel and use us to encourage and support one another. The church will be open for private prayer on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9am–3pm and on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11.30am.
This year, instead of holding a Crib Service on Christmas Eve, we decided to let the whole village experience the Christmas story whenever they walked past the church.Using our old church porch during Advent we set up a crib scene using specially cut wooden figures, which were individually decorated by church families. Each week on a Sunday we added figures to the scene, ending with the addition of baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. People walking through the churchyard enjoyed seeing the scene as it grew week by week. On Christmas Eve we set up a small crib trail, allowing people to follow the story of the first Christmas in words and pictures finishing up at the crib scene, where they were invited to take one of the Church of England Comfort and Joy booklets.
