A warm welcome to the
PARISH OF St PETER-IN-THANET
News Sheet for Sunday 5th April 2020
St. Peter’s Church
Our church buildings are now closed not only for public worship, but for private prayer as well, and this includes the priest or lay person offering prayer in church on their own.
Although our Church building is closed, we will continue to support and encourage our communities making use of telephones and other forms of technology to keep in touch with people and ensure pastoral care is maintained.
We are about to approach Holy Week and Easter and the Church of England has posted Prayer, liturgy and resources for Holy Week and Easter on their website https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches
Here you will find help with marking Holy Week and Easter with practical ideas to do at home, suggestions for prayer and Bible study, live-streaming services, and useful guidance for dioceses and churches.
These resources are offered to help those who are struggling to find words at this difficult and stressful time, and to enable Christians to worship in solidarity with one another even if it is not possible to gather in church.
It is imperative that as the Church of Jesus Christ, called to offer hope and light in the darkness of this world’s ills, we maintain a praying presence for our community, though from today onwards this must happen from our hearts and from our homes.
Please be assured that the church will be praying for every one of you.
Rev Jan
Keep us, good Lord,
under the shadow of your mercy.
Sustain and support the anxious,
be with those who care for the sick,
and lift up all who are brought low;
that we may find comfort
knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ in his last days and hours of his life. The stations grew out of imitations of the Via Delarosa in Jerusalem which is believed to be the actual path Jesus walked to Mount Calvary.
The idea of the stations is to help Christians make a spiritual pilgrimage, through contemplation of the Passion of Christ, and would normally take place in church on Good Friday. As the church is closed at the moment, I will post Stations of the Cross on the website https://stpeterinthanet.org.uk/ at the beginning of Holy week. May I suggest you look at these on Good Friday. Rev Jan
Congratulations to Toni and Jay on the safe arrival of Reuben Thomas Lawrence born on the 1st April weighing 6lb 14oz. Brother to Grayson, Euan and Barnaby. Something joyful to celebrate.
Flowering plants sold for Christian Aid
Thank you for supporting the sale of flowering plants in the church porch just before the current restrictions came into force. £50 was raised and has been sent directly to Christian Aid. Elspeth Cooke
For all of you not able to get to the main supermarkets KG Winters on the Northdown Road will take orders over the phone and will deliver free of charge.
Contact them on 01843 293247. Their website is: https://kgwinters.co.uk/
Stewardship Envelope Scheme – Coronavirus
As you are aware, St Peter’s Church has had to cancel all future services until further notice. This means you will not be able to attend an actual service and continue your giving. It would be very helpful if you could place your weekly stewardship envelopes every 3 or 4 weeks into the letterbox (deep, and locked from the inside) located at the front entrance to the Main Hall building. Or alternatively contact Caren Bumpstead so that she can arrange for the envelopes to be picked up from your home. Her phone number is 602287.
However, there is an alternative worth considering and that is to perhaps have a monthly Bankers Standing Order whereby you instruct your Bank to take a set amount out of your Account each month. This can also be cancelled at any time upon your instruction. Please let Caren know if you want to take up this option and she will arrange to let you have the necessary form.
Our beautiful Church still has to be maintained and cared for in crisis’s like these and for that reason I am very thankful for your love and support. Rev Jan
Thanet Food Link
Remains open for business during these difficult days. Their services will be needed more than ever as people struggle to maintain normal income streams and feed their children with the school holidays being extended. Due to the recent panic buying, the items they normally have plenty of, are the very ones that are scarce. Their supplies of items such as, pasta sauces, tinned food, soups, long life milk, tea bags and coffee will soon run out. If you can spare any, please do drop them off at their warehouse in Westwood Business Park, Strasbourg St, Margate CT9 4JJ behind B&Q. There is a box for donations if the warehouse is closed. If you would like to donate financially please ring: 01843 447187
Charity coffee pod & crisp packet recycling
We have just had another package up and the running total now stands at 1770 coffee pods, and 3,015 crisp packets. Please can people hold on to any items for now until church resumes to regular services. Also, please can I remind people to flatten their packets and only to send in crisp packets, small and large and the multi pack outer packet. Please also only send in Tassimo coffee discs. Thank you for all your donations and once the recycling charity is back open after its current closure, I will ask what their current amount of funds raised for air ambulance stands at.
Fundraising Committee Report for Sunday 5th April 2020
2020 Fund Raising Events – Cancellation
The spread of the Coronavirus continues to lay waste to our fund raising programme for 2020, its latest victims being the Dinner/Dance booked for 12th June and the Summer Fete, which was originally scheduled for Saturday 27th June. This means that the entire programme for the first part of the year has now had to be cancelled and we can only hope that the events arranged for the autumn will survive. If the rate of infection and the consequent Government restrictions on movement have been reduced by then, maybe we will be able to go ahead with at least some of our planned events. It’s a case of ‘watch this space’.
Easyfundraising
However, there is one way in which we can all help raise funds for the church when we shop on-line and that is by using easyfundraising. All you have to do is to register with easyfundraising online by going onto their website, choosing the ‘support this cause’ option (there is an easy on-screen button to use) and registering your details and the cause which you wish to support. In this case, it should be ‘St-Peter-in-Thanet Church – Broadstairs’. Thereafter, any purchase from a huge range of companies will raise a donation for the church and help to support it financially through this difficult time. The participating companies are listed on the site and the system will tell you how ensure a donation whenever you shop with any of them. Please contact Roy Brown if you need any more help or information.
The Future
Looking ahead, however, it is certain that, at some time this crisis will end and some form of normal life will resume and, as I wrote blast week, I will be discussing with members of the FR Committee the possibility of staging some kind of big event to celebrate the passing of the pandemic (sounds like a good title!). Meanwhile, if anyone has any ideas for a suitable event which people can enjoy while also raising money for the church, please let me know. It will give everyone something to think about during this ‘lockdown’ (it might beat daytime telly at any rate!).
In addition, we will continue to develop a programme of events for 2021 for people to enjoy and to raise money for the church. We can only look forward in hope.
This church relies on our fund-raising events and generous donations to stay open and provide care and support to everyone in this community. Now more than ever, please consider giving generously to support our mission and ministry. Thank you for your support.
Monday Home Group
Following the government’s advice that because of the Coronavirus we should all be distancing ourselves, the Monday Home Group will for the foreseeable future not be meeting physically face-to-face. But – using means such as the telephone, Skype and/or Zoom – we will continue to keep in contact to share support, news, and reflections on God in all of what is happening. If anyone reading this note wants to be included in such contacts, please phone us on 863293 for more details. Michael & Elspeth Cooke.
The Wednesday Home Group
The Wednesday Home Group will also not be meeting for the foreseeable future.
Contact: June Binfield. junebinfield@outlook.com or 01843 861286 or 07711 072233.
Website. Please take a moment to look at www.stpeterinthanet.org.uk and review your areas of interest and then email Trevor Hogben thogben@btinternet.com with any updates.
- Information for the News Sheet for Sunday 12th April 2020 to the
Parish Office please by 10.00 am WEDNESDAY 8th April 2020
Parish Office in Main Hall (01843) 866061
Hopeville Avenue, St Peter’s CT10 2TR
Is closed to visitors, but telephone calls can be taken Monday to Thursday between 9 am – 1 pm
Email: admin@stpeterinthanet.org.uk
Halls email: spchurchhalls@hotmail.co.uk
Parish and Community Halls Administrator – Simon Perry
Vicar – Rev’d Jan Durrans (Day off – Friday)
Email: revjandurrans@gmail.com Direct line – 869169
Churchwardens:-
Pauline Osborne (225801) email: pauline.osborne@rocketmail.com
Sylvia Mills (865874) email: sylvia.mills1@btinternet.com
Contact details of the many different church groups/ organisations can be found on our Parish website: www.stpeterinthanet.org.uk
We are always SO grateful for the cash donations given each week at services. If you are a tax payer it would be an even greater benefit if you could put your donation in a completed yellow Gift Aid envelope so that we can recover the extra 25p in every pound given!