St Mary's News 26th April 2020 - Coronavirus Angels Deliver a Birthday Gift & Cake to a Local Man who is self-isolating and cannot see his family ...
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St Mary’s News
26th April 2020
Coronavirus Angels
Deliver a Birthday Gift
& Cake to a Local Man
who is self-isolating and
cannot see his family on
his special day. Well
done, Sarah Bryant &
David Britten!
St. Mary’s Church, Battersea
26th April 2020
Lamenting in the disagree that doing it on social media is the best way
light of Easter of directing our pain right now. Lament is for God in
prayer. Feel free, like the person who cried down
Canon Simon Butler
the phone to me today, feel free to lament if you are
feeling overwhelmed, disoriented or lost. Make the
Book of Psalms your own.
I was indirectly challenged this week by one of the
contributors to Thought for the Day, Canon Angela We all do different things with that disorientation.
Tilby, who took exception to something I had written Some of us want to run away and hide. Others want
in an online article this week. Perhaps to throw themselves into activity. It’s easy to think of
misunderstanding my remarks, she took me to task the former as a way of lamenting and the latter as a
for what she saw as the absence of lament and grief way of avoiding pain. There’s always that risk, and
in my response to the current pandemic. I had, she those of us who are activists need to bear that in
thought, shown little empathy for those who are mind.
finding the whole situation difficult, especially those
For some of us, though, activism is not an avoidance
who felt they were being banned from their
of lament, it is a facing of it. Activists know that their
churches by the bishops.
activity will, if directed towards the common good,
Setting aside the issue of ‘banning’ (it is the bring them into contact with poverty, hardship and
Government not the bishops who have closed human suffering – often that of others. Activists
churches after all), her criticism has given me pause lament in words of protest, in campaigns for change
to wonder about the extent to which the current and, in my case, in throwing myself into ensuring
experience is a cause for lament and sorrow. I don’t that we mobilise as a community to serve our
think she meant the sorrow that comes from human neighbours in a time of crisis. For some, whose
loss to Coronavirus. I think she meant the sense of tendency to depression, activism is a form of
loss and dissociation that comes from having all the resistance against the darkness within, a loud and
usual waymarks of our lives taken away; the absence visceral protest that we will not be cowed in the face
of personal freedom, the restriction on our ability to of human suffering, but that we will resist, crying out
choose what we do, the closure of our church to God and to those who will hear us with our own
buildings. That sort of thing. My sense was that she ‘No’ to the things that oppress – chiefly this awful
wanted us to be lamenting much of this, or having virus that is reminding us all of our frailty and
the freedom to express such feelings. vulnerability.
Lament is an important element of what it means to But whether we lament in hiding away and crying to
be a person of prayer. Finding the courage and the God in prayer, or whether we lament in protest and
voice to speak out to God our losses, the sense of activity, lament is not a denial of God. It is the fierce
disorientation that comes when life takes an proclamation of the Easter message, that “He is risen
unexpected turn, is valid and necessary for both indeed!” It is to say to a world where disease, death,
individuals and communities. “How long, O Lord, poverty, greed and injustice can easily seem to rule,
how long?...”, a very familiar phrase to the writers of that another Ruler is establishing his rule of
the Psalms, is something I’m sure many of us feel abundant life in the world.
when our four walls begin to press in right now. I
Every prayer of lament, every act of resistance, can
think Angela is right to say that we must find a voice
thus be a hopeful Easter cry: Alleluia!
to do that, and that priests like me must be those
who allow those voices to be heard, even if I Simon
St. Mary’s Church, Battersea
April 26th 2020
This Week at St Mary’s
All Live-Streamed Services are visible on the Parish Website
(stmarysbattersea.org.uk/covid-19) or on the Church Facebook Page
(https://www.facebook.com/stmarysbattersea)
8.30am Live-Streamed Holy Communion (Traditional Language)
Led by Reverend Aaron Kennedy
11.00am Palm Sunday Service
Led by Reverend Aaron Kennedy
Readings: Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Luke 24:13-35
Monday 27th April Prayer During the Day at Noon
Tuesday 28th April Prayer During the Day at Noon
St Mary’s Parochial Church Council at 7.00pm
Wednesday 29th April Prayer During the Day at Noon
Thursday 30th April Prayer During the Day at Noon
Wine & Theology Discussion from 7.45pm to 9.00pm
Friday 1st May Prayer During the Day at Noon for St. Philip & St. James
Sunday 3rd May Fourth Sunday of Easter
8,30 am Live-Streamed Holy Communion (Traditional Language)
11.00am Live-Streamed Holy Communion
Led by Canon Simon Butler
Easter Pilgrim: The Lord’s Prayer
A 40-day journey through
the prayer Jesus taught his
followers - one which
continues to shape the
lives of Christians across
the world.
Each day provides you with a
short Bible reflection, an
invitation to pray and a
suggestion for responding to
the vision of the Lord's
Prayer itself.
St. Mary’s Church, Battersea
April 26th 2020
For Your Prayers
The sick and those in need: Gerry O’Shaughnessy,
Richard Dening and his son. All working on the
front line of the Cornavirus response.
The recently departed and their families: James
Hamilton-Fisher, Pearl Barnes, Siân Evans & Barry
Thorp.
COVID-19 Updates: Pray for Serena Cox, the staff
and residents of Meadbank as they care for people
with Coronavirus. Missing Coffee Time?
Join us on Zoom every Sunday
This Week’s Notices
Regular Giving: During this period of church closure, Simon Butler is inviting you to a
the Diocese of Southwark has asked us to continue to scheduled Zoom meeting.
pay our Parish Support Fund so that the clergy can
continue to be paid and housed properly during this Topic: St Mary's Coffee Time 1
time. Please, if at all possible, continue your giving and, Time: Sundays at 09:30 AM London
if you wish to while you cannot give by weekly
Join Zoom Meeting
envelope, make a bank transfer using the details on the
last page of the newsletter. https://us04web.zoom.us/j/669647071
?pwd=WStsZTNqR09CN1ZHbnRPbFdVe
Coronavirus Angels: If you are inspired to volunteer, Hp1Zz09
please email angels@stmarysbattersea.org.uk. We are
also glad to receive financial support. Please contact Meeting ID: 669 647 071
Simon or Aaron if you would like to find our how you Password: 7XNPO4
can do that. We are particularly keen to identify
telephone befrienders: if you think you might be able Topic: St Mary's Coffee Time 2
to do that, please email us. Time: Sundays at 12:00 noon London
Wine & Theology Gatherings: The first of these Join Zoom Meeting
gatherings will now be held on Thursday 30th April
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/396594507?
from 7.45pm to 9pm. These informal sessions will be a
pwd=SmpTYUl5NGxiYW1wVDRyUzhqZlpl
chance to gather with a glass of wine or beer, to hear a
little bit of input from Simon on a theological topic and Zz09
to have a discussion, without having to leave your
Meeting ID: 396 594 507
home. The first few of these sessions will explore the
Password: 6JLUEP
resurrection of Jesus and its meaning. You can join the
meeting using the following login details: Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82275073362
Meeting ID: 822 7507 3362
Beyond Lockdown: We’re all wondering about what
will change when things start to go back to whatever
normal might be now. Do let the clergy know your
thoughts about what that might mean for our church.
Contacts
St. Mary's Church
The Parish Office, St. Mary's Crypt Battersea
Church Road London, SW11 3NA
Open Monday to Friday 9.30am to 12.30pm
Tel 020 7228 9648
office@stmarysbattersea.org.uk
Canon Simon Butler
Vicar (Day Off: Thursday Evening/Friday)
vicar@stmarysbattersea.org.uk
07941 552407
Reverend Aaron Kennedy
Associate Vicar for Community Development &
Mission (Day Off: Friday)
aaron@stmarysbattersea.org.uk
07815 180273
The clergy are always ready to visit, or to offer
confidential pastoral care. Please contact them
directly. If you hear that a member of the parish
is unwell or needs a visit or a call from one of the
clergy, please let the clergy know. They may not
have heard and are grateful to be kept informed.
Giving To St Mary’s
We invite and encourage everyone who considers St
Mary’s their spiritual home to make a financial
contribution to our work.
The best way of doing this is through setting up a
Standing Order, so that your giving doesn’t depend
upon how often you are able to get to church.
To do this, just use these details
Account Name: Battersea Parish Church PCC
Sort Code: 502101
Account Number: 82127468
If you would like to Gift Aid your donation, please
contact Chris & Erica Sage via the Parish Office
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