News
Notice regarding St Lawrence churchyard
We are seeking the family member of Sarah Fisher nee Procter who provided a bench in St Lawrence Churchyard in 1968. We believe that the lady may have passed away in 1978 aged 92 years. Unfortunately the bench is dilapidated and needs to be disposed of. We are required, as a condition of disposal, to try and locate the family of the donor. (29/03/2022)
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LIVE and STREAMED SERVICES on SUNDAYS
Good news - Resuming Worship in Church
In line with the latest Government guidance both St. Lawrence and St. Paul will be open for services of worship. Initially, to allow us to open safely, there will be one service at each church per week and as you would expect, additional restrictions such as, physical distancing, hand sanitising upon entry, no singing and no refreshments after the service, will be in place.
The morning service will be at St. Paul’s Church at 9.30am and the format will be the same as the online service, which will continue to be shown on Facebook for as long as it is deemed both practical and spiritually fruitful. The timing of the morning service enables the Children’s Church to continue every Sunday at 11.15am.
The evening service will be at St. Lawrence’s Church at 6.30pm and will follow the pattern of Evensong but with the responses and psalms said rather than sung. If permitted after this service has finished, for those who would like to remain there will be a simple service of Holy Communion. This will be received standing and in one kind (only the consecrated bread will be received)
You are encouraged to arrive up to half an hour before each service officially starts and a steward will show you to a pew. To avoid any bottlenecks the church pews will fill up from the front, so it is unlikely you will be sat in your usual pew. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
To allow us to welcome as many people as possible back to church, please be gracious to others by choosing to attend only one of the two services.
Important. No one should feel obliged to return to Church if they feel uncomfortable. I would also encourage those who are shielding and those in the increased risk category to think carefully about whether it is right for you to come at this stage. Obviously if you have any COVID-19 symptoms you should stay at home and follow Government advice.
If you have further questions please contact our warden Dot Little at churchwardenstlandplongridge@gmail.com, or myself at revmikebarton@gmail.com.
Thank you for your continued support and understanding. Let is rejoice in this latest development while remaining vigilant in prayer and action.
Important Safety Measures for Sunday Worship
The following procedures will be in place during the COVID 19 Pandemic:
For Worship at St Paul's:
- Please do not arrive before 9:00 am. Entry will be via the South Porch Door. NO ENTRY via Tower Door;
- In order to ensure Social Distancing, a Steward will invite each person/household to enter Church;
- If a queue develops, please ensure you maintain Social Distancing in the queue;
- On entering Church please give your contact details to the seated Steward (required for Track & Trace – information will be kept for 21 days and then safely destroyed);
- Cleanse your hands using the Sanitising Gel provided;
- Collect your Service Sheet & Information Sheet;
- Proceed down Centre Aisle where a Steward will direct you to the next available seating position to ensure Social Distancing;
- Once seated please do not move;
- At the end of the Service a Steward will advise you when you can safely leave;
- Cleanse your hands with Sanitising Gel as you leave;
- All will exit through South Porch where you entered. (Please make sure you take your Service Sheet & Information Sheet with you);
- Please leave immediately and do not congregate outside South Porch or in the Car Park. (It could be against the Law).
For Worship at St Lawrence's:
- Please do not arrive before 6:00 pm. Entry will be via the Tower Door. NO ENTRY via North Porch Door;
- In order to ensure Social Distancing, a Steward will invite each person/household to enter Church;
- If a queue develops, please ensure you maintain Social Distancing in the queue;
- On entering Church please give your contact details to the seated Steward (required for Track & Trace – information will be kept for 21 days and then safely destroyed);
- Cleanse your hands using the Sanitising Gel provided;
- Collect your Service Sheet & Information Sheet;
- Proceed down Centre Aisle where a Steward will direct you to the next available seating position to ensure Social Distancing;
- Once seated please do not move;
- At the end of the Service a Steward will advise you when you can safely leave;
- South pews will leave next using South Aisle starting from the back;
- All will exit through Tower where you entered. (Please make sure you take your Service Sheet & Information Sheet with you);
- Cleanse your hands with Sanitising Gel as you leave;
- Please leave immediately and do not congregate outside Church. (It could be against the Law).
If you have a new continuous cough, a High Temperature or loss of or change to smell or taste you MUST NOT enter Church, but should go home immediately. If you need clinical advice go online to NHS 111 (or call 111 if you do not have internet access).
DO NOT VISIT GP, PHARMACY, URGENT CARE CENTRE OR HOSPITAL
If you develop any symptoms whilst in Church please leave immediately and follow guidance above.
Before entering Church please make a personal judgement with regard to increased risk, particularly associated with age (over 70) or underlying health conditions
Latest Morning Prayer Readings
The latest Morning Prayer Readings for May 11th until June 6th are now available for download in the Resources section
The Sign Of The Cross
Dear Friends, I wonder how you’re doing? For many of us the adjustments to family, work, social and exercise routines have profoundly changed in a very short period of time. For some on the frontline of the fight against Coronavirus it has meant longer hours, stressful decisions, physical isolation from family members and very little time to process all that’s going on. For others it’s meant trying to juggle childcare, home schooling and working from home and perhaps feeling that you’re not really doing anything well. Some of you will be worried about jobs and the viability of your own businesses and perhaps keeping enough food on the table.
I expect most of us will be concerned for the health of family and friends, and also ourselves. Some will be grieving the loss of someone we love, and the restrictions are making things that much harder. For others this crisis, as horrendous as it is, will have been an opportunity to slow down, take stock of what’s important and reframe your priorities towards a more sustainable future.
One thing for sure is that this epidemic has brought to the surface many conflicting emotions and priorities, but in all the adjustments it’s been good to observe the many messages of hope that have been shared. Hope is a powerful force.
For instance, perhaps you’ve seen the many pictures of rainbows children (and some adults) have painted and placed in their windows. This is something children have been doing to spread hope and from a Christian perspective it immediately reminds us of the story of Noah in Genesis 6-9.
The interesting thing about the sign of the rainbow is that Noah had to go through the flood before the sign of hope appeared. For Noah the rainbow was a sign of God’s covenant with all creation after the crisis had passed. The rainbow was the sign that humanity’s evil would not be judged in the same way again. So after the flood whenever it rained and the rainbow shone in the sky, Noah would be reminded how God rescued him and his family through the danger and it would be a sign of hope for the future.
And for us looking at the sign of the rainbow in the context of the danger we now face, it can give us hope for our future because of God’s covenant faithfulness in the past.
As with Palm Sunday, we’re reminded of the much greater sign of God’s new covenant promise. This is the sign of the cross.
The cross reminds us of the crisis Jesus had to go through on our behalf, so that afterwards we might have an even more magnificent hope. We’re able to look back at the cross in the light of Jesus’ death and resurrection to remind us of how Jesus was judged for all humanity’s sin so we can be rescued into the grace and forgiveness of God.
When a Christian looks at the cross it reminds us of John 3.16, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’
The cross is a sign of God’s ongoing covenant faithfulness and on Palm Sunday through Holy Week to Easter Day we have the opportunity to enter deeply into this promise again. That’s why in preparation for Palm Sunday, Blackburn Diocese is encouraging as many homes as possible to make a cross and place it in the window of our homes (maybe alongside the rainbow!). This will be a sign of hope to those who pass by that in the saving work of Christ there is healing, life and salvation. This fun video briefly shows the idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcXvfzJZ09w .
Blessings to you all, Revd. Mike.
Sunday Service Sheets for our Live Broadcast
Daily Prayer and Daily Bible Readings for home reflection
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Firstly, I’d very much recommend you watching this Video from Bishop Julian for people across the Diocese of Blackburn in response to the Coronavirus outbreak. This will be the first of a series of messages from senior clergy in the Diocese over the coming weeks.
Secondly, as you perhaps know Revd. Gill and Gerald Mack have a great love of poetry and they sent me this poem which could be used as a Lectio Divina exercise, picking out the word or phrase that strikes you as relevant in this time of isolation and crisis:
The Forgotten Years – Clive Sansom
We celebrate his end and his beginning-
His low beginning and his shameful end;
We know the story of disciple winning,
The molten glance converting man to friend;
We know the healing hand that calmed all fears,
The healing words of truth and acts of love;
But what of all the years before those years.
The days between the Temple and the Dove?
I see him walk among the flowering hills,
Finding God branded on each living thing-
Frail winter sparrows that the sharp air kills,
Spring lilies that out-Solomon a King.
I think he walked beyond the belt of flowers
Into the desert where few strangers trod,
And in those silent, unrecorded hours
Within his own still heart discovered God.
So, in the wilderness, a rose was born,
In parching soil an oasis greened for man;
There is the treeless waste, arid, forlorn,
The journey to the cross-branched Tree began.
Returning from the desert, love-compelled,
The pulse of mortal living was renewed,
But always, in the largest crowd, he held
Within his heart that God-filled solitude.
And finally, a prayer.
Keep us, good Lord,
under the shadow of your mercy
in this time of uncertainty and distress.
Sustain and support the anxious and fearful,
and lift up all who are brought low;
that we may rejoice in your comfort
knowing the nothing can separate us from your love
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Please read the previous important letter to the Church from Revd. Mike Barton
Church is not closing, it’s changing for a season
Dear All, these are challenging times but as Christians we’re called to be a people of hope, and that is who we shall be. The first key message I want to share with you is that church is not closing, it’s just changing for a season.
We might not be able to meet in large groups for worship services, but we can still spend personal time with God investing in our spiritual growth through bible reading and prayer and over the coming days please continue to visit this website where various different resources and links will be shared to keep you encouraged. Sunday Sermons will still be available to listen to at https://www.stlawrencewithstpaul.org.uk/7/Sermons and as we draw closer to Holy Week and Easter more will be added. I’m also in the midst of seeing how we can harness the benefits of technology so that while we might be stuck in our homes, we can still communicate with each other face to face.
Meanwhile St Lawrence Church will remain open for private prayer between 9.30am – 3.30pm every day and St Paul’s Church will be open between 9.30am – 12 noon on Wednesday’s and Thursdays. Please do feel free to come in for a time of quiet contemplation – just remember to wash your hands well with soap using the toilet facilities provided as soon as you enter and suitably space yourself from other people.
The second key message I want to share is how we might use this time positively by seeing it as an extended period of Sabbath rest. Our modern lives have been getting ever more out of control and perhaps we could use this time to re-set our priorities onto a more sustainable footing. These should be geared towards seeing life, like rest, as a gift from God and recapturing a sense of God’s holiness.
Individually this might look like starting a prayer or bible reading habit, let me recommend two resources for this. For daily prayer visit: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-liturgy-and-prayer-resources where you can use and download lots of useful resources. For bible reading: http://www.bibleinoneyear.org/ and here you even get a short commentary from Nicky Gumbel to help explain some of the more complex bible passages.
Corporately, let’s think about what it might mean to love our neighbour, could we donate something extra to the foodbank or pop a note through their door with your phone number should they need your help or a simple chat? Lots of people in Longridge have already engaged in such initiatives and it’s been amazing to see.
The third key message is an encouragement from scripture, Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
Yes, for this season our race of perseverance looks a little different but we remain in a community of faith and fellowship, the Lord Jesus Christ remains the one we pattern our lives on, and he is sovereign over all to the Glory of God.
Finally, this poem by Lynn Ungar called Pandemic can help to give shape to our present witness.
What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Centre down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.
Let us especially pray for those suffering from and helping those with Coronavirus right now.
Yours in the love of Christ,
Revd. Mike Barton.
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