You are here6th September 2020

6th September 2020

By Alison Hudson - Posted on 03 September 2020

St Michael & St Wulfad Church, Stone

and St Saviour Church, Aston

Sunday 6 September 2020

Sunday Services

8am and 10.45am St Michael & St Wulfad, 9.15am St Saviour

Sunday Afternoon Prayervia Zoom/telephone 4pm

Thursday CommunionSt Michael & St Wulfad 10.30am

Please do not hesitate to contact any of the ministry team

should you need to:

Revd Preb Ian Cardinal 01785 812747

Revd Alison Hudson 07725 467246

Fr John Cotterill 07734 815838

Dennis Abbott 01785 814134

Lin Davies 01889 505094

Church is open for worship

We are delighted that our churches are open for worship. At St Michael’s we enter through the main door and exit through the south door. Seating will be in the central body of the church.

All cushions have been removed, so do bring your own if you would find that more comfortable. Services will be a Said Communion, with just bread being distributed. You will be asked to stand, not kneel, at the altar and follow a one-way system. There will be no singing and no service sheets, but all the words you need will be projected onto the screen.

Please sanitise your hands as you enter church and maintain social distancing at all times. There are no refreshments, but toilet facilities are available.

Face Masks

Current government guidance is that we are required to wear a face mask in church, unless exempt on medical grounds. The ministry team will wear masks or visors at the door, but not during the service, apart from at the distribution of Bread.

Regular Giving

To minimise the handling of cash, could you consider making regular donations to the church via standing order from your bank?

If you are able or would prefer to do this, please contact John Baddeley on 01785 815397, or email johnandpat@allaboutimage.net

Thank you!

Stone with Aston Sunday afternoon prayers

This is a short service (approximately 20 minutes) that we are able to share in together at 4pm each Sundayvia phone or internet.

Just before 4pm, either phone one of these numbers (the cost should be the same as a normal phone call):

0131 460 1196or 0203 481 5237

enter the meeting ID on your telephone keypad897 6759 5340
you will be asked for a participant number - just enter #
enter the password which is 928354

Or join via the following ‘Zoom’ link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89767595340?pwd=aWt0VjRQUlpGeHkvMHVLbHdla3dZdz09

Readings for Sunday 6 September

Ezekiel 33: 7-11 Romans 13: 8-14 Matthew 18: 15-20

“Where two or three are gathered in my name,

I am there among them.” (Matthew 18: 20)

Over the last 5 months as a church community we have learnt what it has been like to have been together yet apart. The need to socially isolate has challenged us, yet we have also learnt what it feels like for those who are more permanently housebound.

We have adapted to different ways of doing church and recognised that some of those ways are going to be beneficial to some of us in the longer term. Recording services to put online, prayer services by telephone, even maybe an autumn course by Zoom? Creative ways of being church that hold us together, even when we are physically apart.

In this we must take heart, because when Jesus said ‘where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them’, he did not mean that when one person prays alone their prayers are not heard or answered. We are a people of community, made in the image of God, who is Three in One. As Christians we can never be alone in our prayers because they are inspired by the Holy Spirit who resides within us. We are bound together in heart, mind and spirit, praying to the Father, in the Name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

However, this does not negate our responsibility to continue to look out for one another, and to encourage one another in our joys and sorrows. We have now moved into a new season as schools return and shielding for most has come to an end, but there will still challenges, hurdles and enforced pauses from time to time. We must continue to find ways to support those who remain within their homes and hold one another in prayer before God.

You may be familiar with this hymn:

As we are gathered Jesus is here

One with each other, Jesus is here

Joined by the Spirit, washed in the blood

Part of the body, the church of God

As we are gathered Jesus is here

One with each other, Jesus is here

Wherever we are, together or apart, we are united in Christ and we simply join our own songs of praise and prayers to all the others being offered at the same time in the reassurance of His presence with each one of us. Revd Alison

The Collect for Sunday

Almighty God, who called your Church to bear witness

that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:

help us to proclaim the good news of your love

that all who hear it may be drawn to you;

through him who was lifted up on the cross,

and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever. Amen

Prayers

In peace, let us pray to Jesus our Lord, who ever lives to make intercession for us. Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name.