Virtual Evening Prayer

While normal church services are suspended, Denbigh Mission Area’s Travelling Evensong has become Virtual Evening Prayer: that is to say, there is a said service, hosted by John Harris, on Zoom every Friday at 5:00pm. It lasts about half an hour. Service leaders and readers change week by week.

Here is the Zoom link, which you will need to copy and paste into your browser: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9175346976?pwd=bHZVTWFRVTlVMHZqcTBvSXBBdWh1QT09

The link will be active about fifteen minutes before the service is due to start.

If you’re already familiar with Skype, Zoom will pose no problems. No software installation should be required; you need only to use the link above to join the service. Order of service and the Psalm for the Day will be shown on screen. If you do run into difficulties, please email me (kath-b@btconnect.com) after the service, and I will do my best to resolve them for you – a practice Zoom session, to explain how everything works, is perfectly possible.

All are welcome to join us – please forward this information to anybody else you think might like to do so.

Pastoral letter from Bishop Gregory

A Pastoral Letter to all the Faithful, Wednesday, 1st April, 2020

Christ is Risen!
He is risen indeed, hallelujah!

It is not quite time for this acclamation yet, and when we do proclaim it at the end of next week, it will probably have to be like the Italians, and proclaimed from our balconies (where we have them). What a joy filled acclamation it is!

I noticed a post on social media the other day which said something like: “I never expected my Lent to be as Lenten as my Lent has been.” Never mind giving up the alcohol, we’ve had milk and toilet paper to worry about, and we’ve all had to give up seeing friends, family and others. Who would have thought that we’d be giving up Church for Lent? As for buying chocolate Easter eggs, do they count as among the necessities for which we’re allowed to shop?

That first Easter Day, we’re told that an intrepid small huddle of disciples arrived at Jesus’ tomb while it was still dark, and discovered that the anointing of the body that they had come to do was impossible. Jesus was not there, “he is risen”.

That astounding claim is at the heart of our Christian message, that God in Christ was too strong to be held by the chains of death, and that new life, risen life, broke through.

The current circumstances, though very tough, are not as tough as the Influenza outbreak after the First World War, or the Black Death that took a third of British lives in the fourteenth century. The nation, and the Church, will come through it, although I cannot minimise the fear that some must feel at the possibility of huge risk to themselves.

In such circumstances, we must put our faith in the Lord. Whether we succumb to the virus, or whether we endure, we, who put our faith in Christ, are his, and his promise is that he will never let us go in life, in illness or, if it comes to that, in death –neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8.38,39)

And the guarantee of all this is given in Christ’s own resurrection, since he is the firstborn from the dead. (Colossians 1.18)

However, resurrection can come before the last day. God can grant us little resurrections of the spirit of love, of generosity, or co-operation, and of hope, as we walk with him through the valley of the shadow of death. These are not trivial, they are the warp and weft out of which fullness of life is woven.

I urge you all to renew your faith in the risen Lord. I urge you to take next week, Holy Week, seriously, and to travel with Jesus through Jerusalem to Gethsemane and beyond. I urge you to hold out your hand that the Lord may take it, whatever paths we have to walk, that he may impart hope and love and grace.

And let us pray like we’ve never prayed before. In the year 590AD, Rome was in the clutches of plague, and my namesake, Pope Gregory, led a procession through Rome praying for God to spare his people and bring an end to the disease. It is said that when he arrived as the foot of the tomb of the Emperor Hadrian, he was given a vision of the archangel Michael sheathing his sword, which Gregory interpreted at a sign of the end of the plague. So it came to pass, and the tomb was given a new name, so that you can visit the Castel Sant’Angelo, the Castle of the Angel, to this day.

If I organised a procession today, the police would nab me for breaking government regulations. They would be right, because the regulations have been made to keep us safe, and anyway, I’m not sure that I would see Michael, or any other angel, atop the Cathedral tower; but we can pray this prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, you suffered death and burial for our sakes,

And rose again to save us.

We beseech you to hear us when we pray to you,

and in the midst of our tribulation, set us free.

Remove from us the threat of this virus, if it be your will,

but in all things, give us love, give us hope, give us strength.

Amen.

A message from Canon Pauline

The Rectory

 Denbigh

30^th March 2020

01745 813831

pawalker200@btinternet.com

Dear Friends

I hope that you are keeping safe and well and are being overwhelmed all the news we are getting from across the world. For me it takes a deliberate act of will not to tune into the news on an hourly basis! It is a serious situation that we are in and I hope that the resources that the Diocese and our individual churches are offering have been useful as you worship from home.

A couple of points:

• The induction of Rebecca which was scheduled for the 26^th April has been postponed indefinitely, also her move into Trefnant Rectory. Please hold Rebecca and her family in your prayers at this time and hopefully it won’t be too long before she joins us here in Denbigh M.A.
  
  
• It is important that we obey the rule for not opening our churches at all. I know that this is distressing especially as the solitary prayer option there is not now possible. I hope that the knowledge that our clergy are still conducting worship of some sort there on Sundays is of benefit. Please do not think that you can join them. Praying by proxy is the order of the day! And do please support your clergy and lay ministers by holding them in your prayers.
• Most of us offer our financial support by monthly giving either by Give Direct or Standing Order. Please continue to do so as the church work is continuing albeit in a different way. Those of you who give in weekly envelopes - perhaps this is the time to consider paying monthly to make it easier for yourselves and also to help us with our cash flow. Please contact your Treasurers for information.
• It has occurred to me that the early church took the name ecclesia to identify itself as different from the Jewish synagogue and Temple, as well as pagan temples. Ecclesia means a gathering for a specific purpose, and this is what the believers have done for two thousand years-  in sometimes very difficult circumstances. In years of persecution small groups have always gathered in each other’s houses or in secret places to meet and worship together. But what we face today presents us with a different challenge. How can we be a Gathering of believers when we cannot in fact gather together? I appreciate that very creative ways of worshipping together are being used with the benefit of our new technology. Perhaps we can share ideas? Many of our older members do not have access to the internet. How do we help them to stay in contact and feel a part of the worshipping church?
• Sharing Resources.  The Cathedral is streaming a Sunday morning service and I know that the television is broadcasting a live service from a Cathedral in Wales. Here in Denbigh we have sent out packs with prayer resources and the Bishops pastoral letter, as well as phoning everyone on our electoral roll – sadly now five years out of date. I hope to send another pack out next week with a Palm Cross and Easter specific material.  We have also been putting on Facebook a picture from our Church for assurance and encouragement mainly to non churchgoers, and are getting a lot of positive response with this. It is important not to overdo this during the first few weeks. We can encourage our people to pray regularly as home, as well as grow that discipline for ourselves. I have no doubt that as the weeks pass we will develop new ideas to keep us together as a church – an Ecclesia in its truest sense. I would appreciate your thoughts on being a Gathering Church and how we can gather today. And any other ideas as well!

Just a few thoughts.

Please keep safe and be assured that you are in our prayers at this time. Please do not hesitate to contact me with phone or email for a chat anytime.

Yours in Christ

Pauline

The Revd. Canon Pauline A. Walker

Denbigh Mission Area Leader.