Previous month – Next month – Monthly index
‘Maureen’s Musings’
The Vicar’s monthly letter for the Parish News
November 2020
Your Church, your community, needs you!
Well, it is the month of November after all! – or very nearly will be by the time you are reading this. A time of recalling Kitchener’s Army and those of the Second World War and subsequent conflicts. A time of remembering lots of lost souls and loved ones.
But I felt moved to use this familiar image to highlight the shortfall of people willing to stand for the PCC at last month’s delayed Annual Meeting. I am very grateful to those who did stand for re-election and to those who have decided – for various reasons and after having given excellent service for many years that the time is right for them to retire from the ‘front line’. But we do need some new recruits on the PCC to help steer the future of the church in this place.
You do not need to wait for another Annual Meeting to roll around, the existing PCC can choose to co-opt willing volunteers and will have to if it is to function properly. This will be particularly important as the parish moves into interregnum – which, yes, it will do from next June, following my retirement as your Vicar at the end of May 2021.
Some of you will have known of this for some time – for others it will no doubt come as a shock, but there is a season for everything (now where did I read that?!) and my season here in Pattingham is reaching its conclusion. Not that I have gone yet! But it is time for you all to realise and I hope to support the Wardens and PCC in the tasks that will inevitably fall to them.
I am sure our very efficient PCC Secretary will give a full report on the elections elsewhere in this magazine but my thanks are especially due to Gena Richards and to Clive Pendrell for being willing to take on the roles of Churchwarden. In Gena’s case to continue of course, but for Clive this is in addition to his current responsibilities as Treasurer. They will both need and deserve your support!
Many of our big events fall into the final quarter of the year. And all will look and feel rather different this year for reasons you will understand…
All Souls Memorial and Thanksgiving Service.
This annual service will move totally online this year. It simply is not possible to invite all the participants into church safely. I hope the service will, however, feature many familiar elements and I am hoping that, together with the choir and our lovely volunteers who will recite the names of those who are lost but not forgotten, we can create a worship experience that you can share in from home.
There will be the familiar time of lighting a candle in memory of a loved one – but this year you will need to undertake this at home yourselves – do pay attention to health and safety! I don’t want to hear any fire alarms sounding . . .
Remembrance service.
This service, similarly, cannot see the usual crowds gathering in church, but, following the success of Harvest Festival outside, I am hoping to gather a few, socially distanced people for a brief Act of Remembrance in front of the Village Hall where the Parish Council has so thoughtfully provided us with the new benches commemorating the two World Wars. As Pattingham has no external War Memorial, this is the best idea I can come up with. Any wreaths to be laid will then be taken back into Church to be place by the Memorial by one or two people as appropriate.
Christmas.
Which brings us to Christmas of course! I am still very much at the planning stage for this, but so far our thoughts are to suggest a village-wide celebration of nativities. I will shortly be asking for you to volunteer to place a nativity (Mary, Joseph and the baby plus any other characters you wish to include) in your window or porch, such that it is visible from the road. And maybe to decorate it with some Christmas lights? We can then suggest for our families that they can walk around the village – safely – to spot the Christmas scenes.
I am also hoping to record a Nine Lessons and Carols service with the Choir that can be shown in church (you will need to book your place in advance I am afraid!). Depending on the demand for ‘tickets’ (free of course) this could be shown more than once if there is sufficient demand, as well as online.
At the time of writing, I am still not allowed to permit congregational singing, but no doubt people will quietly hum along behind their masks! Sadly there can be no carols in the pubs but we do hope to be able to stage some kind of Christingle celebration – maybe by issuing Christingle ‘kits’ for you to assemble at home.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
There will be services of Holy Communion offered in church but again, you will need to book a place if you wish to attend. Quite how we facilitate the booking process, I am not too sure yet, but we will find a way!
Now I had better stop before the Editor refuses to publish! Sorry to go on a bit, but there was quite a lot that needed to be said.
God bless you and keep you safe,
Maureen.