Coronavirus notice 18 March 2020


Dear Church members ...


The dust is beginning to settle after yesterday's announcement by the Archbishop of Canterbury that public worship in the Church of England is suspended. My mind was drawn to the passage in Hebrews 10:19-25 (below is an edited version)...


Therefore ... since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God ...

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and ...

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful and ...

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds

Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.


The Archbishop says we must find new ways of being church, and we shall but the challenge of this passage is 'Let us not give up in our faith' simply because public worship is suspended.


So let us continue to draw near to God with sincere hearts in our homes and with our families. In the midst of this crisis let us hold unswervingly to the hope, in Jesus Christ, which we profess. And let us continue to share fellowship by using various means of communication to encourage one another at this time.


You will find on this Home page a simple form of daily prayer and a set of readings for the period 23rd March - 11th April (Easter Saturday). You may well already have your own pattern of bible reading and prayer, but if not, may I encourage you to use this at some point each day as a way of maintaining the worshipping life of the church disbursed in Middlewich.


The daily prayer is in three formats - individual, individual with a prayer matrix for you to write in, corporate for group/family use.


We will keep you informed of developments via this email circulation, the church website and facebook. In the immediate future St Michael's Church will be open for personal prayer tomorrow morning (19th March) from 9:15am until 11am. On Sunday 22nd March the church will again be open for personal prayer from 9am-12noon. We will also be posting some resources for Sunday on the church website (www.middlewichparishchurch.ork.uk).


There is also a national call to prayer, from Churches Together in England, for Sunday 22nd March. They encourage us all to light a candle in our homes at 7pm on Sunday and to pray for the health and wellbeing of our nation and communities. So if you are indeed at home this Sunday at 7pm - pause, light a candle and pray for our nation.


There are also some very helpful resources for you to consider on the Church of England website (search for 'Church of England COVID19' and you will find links to a variety of resources.


On a practical note - if you know someone within the church family who did not receive this email it will probably be because they have not given their consent to be contacted by email by the church. If they send their email address to myself of Beth in the church office and specifically ask to be added to the list of recipients then we will add them.


Yours in Christ

Simon