Thanks to everyone who sent us a card this Christmas.

Taking stock of where we are at the end of January, the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine is on target to reach the most vulnerable in society by mid-February, though there will still be other vulnerable people left to vaccinate. At the time of writing the very high peak of infections in January is declining nationally but the numbers in Birmingham are dropping more slowly. All this means it’s very hard to make plans. We are not open for public Mass at the moment, or more formally we have “requested that the bishop authorise dispensing with the reading of Morning and Evening Prayer as required by Canon B 11 and the celebration of the Holy Communion as required by Canon B 14 on a regular basis until March 1st 2021”. The standing committee is reviewing the situation every week and we will open earlier if we can and if necessary, we will ask for the dispensation to be extended. Of course, Mass and the daily offices are still celebrated, but the church is not open to the public.

It seems likely that we will still be closed for “The presentation of Christ in the Temple” (Candlemas) and Ash Wednesday. I propose that we have a simple low Mass on both those occasions and that the services are made available on Zoom and YouTube. I have also started a Zoom Evening Prayer on 4 days a week and I am working towards having a Zoom Lent group provisionally at 7:30 pm on Tuesdays. (I am currently liaising with the Baptist church to see if they would like to join us so the time and day may change.)

I would also like us to get together on Shrove Tuesday (via Zoom) for a few pancakes. If we could put our computers in the kitchen or dining room (well away from any liquids) we could still eat pancakes together. Afterwards we could watch the second video of our family adventures in Nagaland as we visited Akole’s family (we saw the first one at a Friend’s meeting).

On the musical front, John and I are hoping to put together a recording of Wood in the Phrygian mode for Lent, with everyone recording their voice parts at home and sending them to me to be put together. Please keep our musicians in mind, it is hard to sing part of a choral work all on your own, and quite a bit of work to edit it all together as well.

Let us hope that by Easter that some of the most draconian limitations have gone and that we can celebrate the beginning of the end.

I have had some conversations about doing something in the week of St Alban’s day. It’s hard to be sure what the Covid situation is even so far into the future but we have arranged Mass for Saturday 26th June and we hope to have Fr Mark Bonny Dean of Ely preaching. I do still hope that we might manage a bit more of a celebration, or dare I say festival, in the week beforehand.

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