The Beaminster Area Team
From the Hub Weekly Update Friday 27th November, 2020
I begin this week’s update with the sad news of the sudden and unexpected death of Robin Musson. Robin served his country, community, and God with love and humility. He was a friend and confidant to me and many across the team. Robin served as the first Secretary to the Salisbury – Sudan link Committee when it was first formed 29 years ago. He also served as Churchwarden in Beaminster and as Treasurer to the Team Council for 17 years. I know that you will join me in sending our deepest and heartfelt condolences to Jo and her family at this time. Robin’s funeral will take place at St Mary’s Beaminster on Wednesday 9th December under Covid regulations and will be a private family service. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Also this week, the Rev Keith Yates died on Wednesday. Keith retired to Beaminster in 1997 and helped in the team for a short time. I will be leading his funeral service on Tuesday 8th December at Yeovil Crematorium.
So now we know that we will be placed in tier 2 when lockdown ends next week. I have looked at the Tier 2 directives and how they affect us and at the time of writing we still await the specific guidelines for worship and church related activities. What I can share now is that we will continue to work where possible from home, so Anne will be home based coming into the office once or twice a week for a short time so she can continue to be contacted by email on the usual address.
Worship will restart next Sunday 6th December under the previous strict Covid safety rules. Please can I ask that you check your churches and ensure that they are cleaned and dusted and ventilated in advance. If you need fresh supplies of hand sanitiser, we still have a supply in the team office available to you.
We are still planning for our Christmas services and events and if there are any changes to what you can and cannot do I will let you know. Bear in mind that things could change on the 16th December with the next review of the situation. You may have seen an MP on the news saying that singing will be allowed outside. I have not yet seen this in print in the Government guidelines, again should this appear I will let you know what restrictions apply when organising such an activity.
Once individual parishes finalise their Christmas services and events, with decisions made on ticketing and admission, please forward this information to our website editor Harry Neary – (beaminsterteammedia@gmail.com) as soon as possible. The deadline for submission is Friday 11th December to ensure our website and the CofE’s A Church Near You site has the correct times, admission, and contact information for Christmas visitors as well as local attendees.
Thank you for your continued help and support at this busy and difficult time.
David
Today we have delivered 458 copies of the Christmas story, one to every primary school child in the team. We pray for our schools and preschools as they enter the last few weeks of term. We pray for their safety, for their wellbeing and for the chance to explore the Christmas Story.
We have a great list of resources for Advent on our website. If you want any printed resources then please contact Anne (beaminsterteam@gmail.com) from Thursday 3rd December to arrange collection. We have a prayer calendar for the month of December, some creative ideas and suggestions of things to read.
Also, online from 1st December, we will have Advent reflections written by people from our team and around the diocese. This year we are journeying through the birth narrative in Matthew’s Gospel. We also have an online Advent calendar for families following the journey of Mary and Joseph in lockdown.
Next week we have our first online Christingle service with Beaminster St Mary’s Academy and we are busy planning our Christmas services across the team, making sure anything we plan is adhering to our Tier 2 status in Dorset.
One of the exciting products of Lockdown 2.0 has been Gin Church. We have been meeting online for the last four weeks, sharing a drink, chat, discussion, Scripture and praying for each other. It has been a joy to gather and wonderfully our small group has chosen to continue meeting. Hooray for new things growing out of an odd and tricky year.
Fiona is hosting another new thing – this time an online Bible fellowship gathering beginning on Tuesday 1st December. Do join her if you can and if you would like some Zoom support, then get in touch. It is a time for those that would like to catch up together, spend some time in a bible passage, reflect on its meaning, and pray together.
Here is the link to join the Zoom meeting. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89324392055?pwd=L044d3pTaTNTbjdKMDEzS1g4dHhvdz09
Meeting ID: 893 2439 2055
Passcode: 500410
Advent Sunday worship will be available on the website as usual, do please join us and Zoom coffee continues at 10am on Sunday. The link will be available on the Worship at Home page.
Jo
2020-11-27-Weekly-Sheet