Dear all,
I wonder how you are feeling this week? Speaking for myself, I am feeling more than a little bit jaded after more than six weeks of being all but confined to my home. In this time, the furthest I have been from the house is the North East Surrey Crematorium in Morden for funerals. I would dearly love to be able to take my laptop to a local café and work for an hour or so, enjoy a walk a little further afield in the Surrey hills, go to the cinema, or catch up with family and friends face to face. Life is stuck in a rather drab routine.
Talking with people, I get the impression that most of us are feeling something fairly similar. The novelty has worn off. Even if the initial fear and anxiety are still there, they have subsided. Frustration is certainly building. On Friday evening, the gates to Nonsuch Park were vandalised. Despite the best efforts of the repair team to stop them, cars streamed into the car parks and the park was noticeably busier. People are desperate to regain some feeling of normality.
This weekend, we expect to hear the government’s plan for the release of the restrictions. It is important for us to get children back to schools and businesses working as soon as possible. We may also get some idea of what it will take for us to open our church buildings again in some capacity. As talk builds of releasing restrictions, it might seem that we are coming to the end of this crisis. Hundreds of people, however, are still dying from Covid-19 every day. The total number of deaths in the UK is now the highest in Europe. There are still many people contracting this disease. For those of us who are mostly limited to our homes, this reality of this crisis can seem strangely distant, but there is no doubt that the risk remains great.
Some form of normality will return, even if life cannot be the same. In the meantime, we must persevere, we must be patient, we must endure.
A Prayer
God of compassion
be close to those who are ill, afraid, or in isolation.
In their loneliness, be their consolation;
in their anxiety, be their hope;
in their darkness, be their light;
through him who suffered alone on the cross,
but reigns with you in glory,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
With love and prayers to you all,
The Reverend Dr Nicholas Peacock
Team Rector, Cheam Team Ministry
NOTICES
Worship This Week
The following services will be live-streamed this week:
11am Wednesday 5th May Eucharist (on YouTube)
9.30am Sunday 10th May Eucharist for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (on YouTube)
10.30am Sunday 10th May Children’s Service (on Zoom – see below)
The Sunday service will be followed by a virtual coffee on Zoom. Please note the different logon details this week:
Meeting ID: 864 6685 4594
Password: 422722
Important Dates
· 9.30am Sunday 17th May: St Dunstan’s Day Festival Eucharist
· 7.30pm Thursday 21st May: Ascension Day Eucharist
· Sunday 24th May: No streamed services from Cheam (see below)
· 9.30am Sunday 31st May: Pentecost
· 9.30am Sunday 21st June: St Alban’s Day Festival Eucharist
Children’s Services
We will be holding services for children over Zoom at 10.30am on Sundays 10th May and 14th June. These services will follow material from the Diddy Disciples programme and are aimed at children up to the age of 10 years old, although older children, parents and carers are welcome as well!
For safeguarding purposes, the Zoom login details for this service cannot be published. If you would like your child to join the service, please email the parish office and your details will be forwarded on to the Sunday School team. The login details can then be sent to you.
Please make sure that an adult is present during the service.
Lent Lunches (St Dunstan’s Only)
We managed to hold three of our Lent Lunches before our buildings were closed. These gatherings were intended to begin to open up important questions and issues about the future at St Dunstan’s.
We are keen to organise further meetings on Zoom for those who were either due to take part in the final lunch or had not signed up for a lunch but would like to contribute towards this process. If you are interested, please email Nick (cheamrector@cheamparish.org.uk).
Sunday 24th May
We will not be streaming a service on Sunday 24th May. We recommend the following services:
· 9.00am Church of England Service (on their website)
· 9.30am A Eucharist with the Bishop of Southwark from Bishop’s House (on Twitter)
· 11.00am Eucharist at Southwark Cathedral (on Facebook)
Alternatively, please click here for list of other churches in the Diocese offering streamed services.
Diocesan Service for VE Day
A Diocesan Service for VE Day will be available on Diocesan and Cathedral social media platforms at 12 noon on Friday 8 May. The Dean of Southwark, The Very Revd Andrew Nunn will officiate and the Bishop of Southwark, The Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, will preach and lead an act of Recommitment to Peace.
The Southwark Cathedral Facebook page can be found here.
Parish Bingo Evenings – 9th and 23rd May
The closing date for entering our Bingo Evenings has now passed. We have had an excellent response and look forward to having fun together.
If you have accidentally missed the deadline and would like to join the evening on 23rd May, please email Lucy Brice – lucy.brice@cheamparish.org.uk.
Parish Discussion Group
The present pandemic has presented us with a unique set of circumstances and challenges. We held a first conversation on 5th May in which we considered where God might be within the pandemic. There are two more sessions to come. Each session consists of a time of conversation (over a glass of wine or your own preferred drink) and will end with a service of Compline (Night Prayer).
The remaining sessions are as follows:
· 8pm Tuesday 12th May The Images And Iconography Of Coronavirus
· 8pm Tuesday 19th May Experiencing Church In Isolation
More information can be found on the website by clicking here.
If you would like to take part, please email Nick (cheamrector@cheamparish.org.uk). The joining details for Zoom will then be sent on to you.
Telephone Conversations
If anyone would like to be contacted, please call or email the Parish Office. We are happy to offer practical advice (where possible) or simply have a friendly chat. PLEASE DO NOT FEEL ALONE.