An invitation to community
Our online worship services, daily reflections, printed material and phone-in service have been a spiritual life-line to us all since March. We have experienced a deeper sense of our Benefice as a single worshipping community whose doors have been opened to the whole world. The invitation of God for us to join in his generous banquet of goodness is picked up in this week’s Gospel reading, Matthew 22.1–14. The pandemic has shown us the importance of our koinonia (deep togetherness and community in God), the pain of not meeting and some of us being left behind. We simply are not fully a family when those we love cannot be at the dining table. So our efforts to include all and share God’s goodness with all continues.
Over the coming weeks services will be streamed from all three of our churches, starting this Sunday (October 11th) from St Philip’s Church, Scholes. You can access the service either by coming to church (you are very welcome!) or join us anytime from 9.30am on YouTube at;
Think of it as an open invitation to join God’s feast!
Alongside our Sunday worship we are beginning to offer streaming for baptisms. The current restrictions are particularly hard on those wanting to get married or attend a funeral. Streaming allows family who cannot attend in person to at least join in via YouTube. Long term this will be an important part of our pastoral care and outreach to our communities.
In the meantime, none of our churches are currently fully equipped for live streaming! This means I am setting up with gaffer tape and a prayer for each service. So we are trying things out to see what will be best for each congregation’s needs. We have a wonderful team who are working together across the Benefice to make it possible and if you would like to be involved please get in touch. If you have a PC or laptop spare which is not too old, or a camcorder or DSL camera you would be happy to donate please speak to me.
Blessings,
Bob