Letter from Fr Kevin, Vicar

Dear Friends,

I write to update you on our life together at St Pauls. As I said in last Sunday’s address, the weariness of the harsh journey of the Wise Men resonates in our own difficult journeying through the past nine months of lockdowns and restrictions.

As we enter this third lockdown, we are following, as before, official guidance produced by the Government and the Church of England. That the Government has allowed churches to remain open for worship and private prayer seems an affirmation, both of the Church’s efforts in making our buildings Covid safe and the support we are giving to those who seek our guidance on spiritual and mental health issues. The Bishop of St Albans has emphasised that, while the possibility of Covid transmission in church is miniscule, each parish is free to make its own decision, to continue to offer public worship, taking into account the local context, including its ability to provide a safe environment. Because each context is different, that decision may be different in one place to another. One size does not fit all and we should refrain from make judgments about others.

Following consultation with the ministerial team and the PCC’s Standing Committee, it has been decided that, as things presently stand, we should keep the building open for private prayer between 12noon and 2pm from Monday to Saturday. We shall also continue to celebrate the Eucharist on Sundays at 10.15 and Wednesdays at 12noon. This will be reviewed, if circumstances change.

While we warmly welcome everyone to our services, no-one should feel under any pressure to attend. This must be a personal choice. Most of the more vulnerable members of our community wisely chose not to attend on the past two Sundays when attendance dropped down to a fifth of our electoral roll. However, those who did attend found plenty of safe space. The opportunity to pray privately or worship in church is clearly valued by a significant number, to whom this is ‘a lifeline’, and has been a major reason in our decision to keep St Paul’s open. We also hope to stream services and addresses soon, and I thank members of the ministerial team and PCC for their help in ensuring pastoral care, especially as many people are housebound or live alone.

We remind everyone to comply with the national requirements of Hands, Face and Space. Those with coronavirus symptoms should stay at home; there should be no mingling with anyone outside our household or support bubble; a social distance of at least two metres must be maintained, and hand sanitizer must be used and face coverings be worn.

As we, like the Wise Men, journey on this hard road through Epiphany, let us pray for each other, for the doctors and nurses in our National Health Service and for those who deliver our essential services. As we look to the future, let us remember that God is faithful: so let us together “put our hands into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

May God bless you all,

Fr Kevin