News sheet for 4th October – Trinity 16

The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the LORD our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he! Psalm 99 v 4-5

Prayer for Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Gracious God, you call us to fullness of life: deliver us from unbelief and banish our anxieties with the liberating love of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Reading: Amos 5 18- 27

Services: Daily: Online: Morning Prayer Sunday: Online: Parish Service Gathered: Holy Trinity 9:30am Communion St Michael’s 11.00am Informal Please go to David’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/RevdDavidOxtoby and click Subscribe. You will then be notified when each service goes online. There will be a Sunday Service every week, and for other days as appropriate.

We are limited to 50 people, therefore to help with planning, if you would like to attend the services at Holy Trinity or St Michaels please email or phone: Revd David Oxtoby [email protected] or message 07595 387652 Revd Tracy Marlow [email protected] or message 07886 443364

Please state which service you would like to attend. Please note masks must be worn. For communion services, you are welcome to bring your own bread.

Church Open This occurs every weekday morning from 10-12.30pm and Saturdays from 10-12 noon at Holy Trinity Church. St Michael’s is currently not open on weekdays.

Face coverings Face coverings are now mandatory for church open and church services. Relevant guidance on face coverings is available on GOV.UK.

Church Wardens’ Chatter: While David is away, Wayne and I have the opportunity to bring you some Church Warden Chatter in place of the weekly Rector’s Ramblings.

During October, our parish online services will highlight the issue of racial injustice. Do please try to watch these services, as they will include some special guest speakers as well as video testimonies from members of our church family. Many of us are now on a journey of understanding more about just how much racial injustice there is in our society, and in our churches, and how damaging it can be to people of colour. Archbishop has acknowledged the presence of institutional racism in the , and is committed to eliminating it. At the September meeting of our church council, our area bishop, John Perumbalath, himself a person of colour, spoke at some length about racial injustice. He reminded us that the church is meant to be a distinctly inter-cultural body, which is radically different from the notion of people from different ethnicities simply co-existing within it. This inter-cultural nature should manifest itself by everyone, regardless of background, growing together, learning together, and becoming one body together. God, said Bishop John, is biased towards all who are marginalised, whether by gender, by colour, or by social status. The Bible constantly challenges systemic injustice of any kind, he added. And as one way forward, Bishop John urged us to show ‘radical hospitality’ to all victims of injustice. What that might look like for our church remains to be seen, but it will be an exciting journey. This past week has also brought some sobering news about the continuing threat posed by Covid19. In light of this, our archbishops Justin and Stephen have written a pastoral letter, and the following extract we think helps us keep our perspective in these unsettling times: “The poor, the elderly and isolated are especially vulnerable. There will be growing nervousness about Christmas, about mental health and many other issues……there will also be a sense of tiredness; the weariness which comes with dealing with yet another threat and difficulty. To face this, we must continue to encourage one another and bear one another's burdens. We must in our meetings be transparent with each other, able to say difficult things in a way that avoids mistakes being made through unwilling acquiescence to the perceived view of the majority. Most of all we need to draw close to Christ, and continue to offer the hope and stability of the gospel. It is this gospel joy, even in the darkest times, that alone can help us through this crisis, bringing hope and an eternal perspective to the very pressing trials of the moment. We are so grateful for our partnership with you in this work.” With every blessing, Jacky & Wayne

Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) and Annual Meeting of Parishioners (AMP) – this MONDAY OCTOBER 5TH at 7PM Details of how to attend are here. Two churchwardens, four members of Deanery Synod and four members of Parochial Church Council (PCC) will be elected. The meeting will be in person in Holy Trinity Church with an option to attend virtually (all electoral roll members should have received the details) Please note for those planning to attend by telephone only (i.e. not via a computer/tablet/ smartphone) the dial in details have changed – please email [email protected] for details or if you have any difficulties on the night. The minutes of last year’s meetings and agendas for this year are now available at http://www.parishofrayleigh.org.uk/APCM2020

The Roof Has Been Raised! Incredibly, amazingly, the roof of St Paul’s Church Lawi-adul, in the parish of Obiya (our Uganda mission partner) has already been constructed, within a month of the grant of £6000 being sent to the vicar, Rev Eunice Opok and her team. Now we can rejoice that all four churches in the parish of Obiya (St Michael’s and its three sub-parishes) have their own church buildings – with roofs attached! – but of course much remains to be done at St Paul’s: windows, doors, flooring, seating etc. Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this fund.

A picture of St Paul’s with its roof.

Confirmation Service: Bishop John will be with us to conduct a Confirmation Service on 1st November at 4pm, located at Holy Trinity. If this is something you’d like to consider for yourself please let either Rev’d David or Rev’d Tracy Marlow know.

Leprosy Mission Donations. I am conscious that we haven’t been in a position to process the boxes and phials you have for donated coinage to The Leprosy Mission (TLM). In order to restart collections and provide much needed money to TLM, if you are able, please bring them to the Parish Office during October. I will arrange frequent visits to collect them and return emptied boxes, sanitized, via the Linkway pigeon holes (or for at St Michael’s each Sunday). For the time being, any cheques for TLM should be made payable to “The PCC of Rayleigh” and sent to me via the Parish Office when I will ensure they are paid into the PCC sub-account for TLM. All donations collected will be sent off to TLM at the end of October. Thank you all for your patience. David Medcraft. Garden Help Available Mike Thakoordin can help you with your Autumn tidy-ups and any maintenance you'd rather not do anymore. One hour slots during the week and the weekend are available for the Rayleigh / Eastwood area. First slots are available from 8th October. Text or call on 07745 026539.

British Sign Language tasters - starting from Monday 5th October Would you like to start learning Sign Language? I am offering safely, 1:1 sessions of up to an hour at the church to get you started in return for a donation to church funds. Please bring a pen and notepad. I can be contacted for further details and to book a place on 01268 779165, hope to hear from you soon. Carole Blackburn

Project 640 Project 640, the refurbishment of the interior of our parish church has a small group of people working on ways to raise the necessary funds. They have recently launched a Facebook page - 'Rayleigh Parish Church - Project 640' and invite you to take a look, 'like' and share it where you can.

Online Donations: We have an online donation web page if you are able to support the Parish finances, or know others who would like to do so, then please share this link https://givealittle.co/campaigns/db561e40-61b7-4181-ad06-ec06725919c7

Raise money for The Friends of Holy Trinity Shop online and raise money for The Friends of Holy Trinity, Rayleigh If you're buying something online, easyfundraising will donate a percentage of your purchase cost to good causes without incurring extra costs. All you have to do is go to http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk and sign up, start shopping, and see how much you have raised for The Friends: 1 Sign up and register The Friends of Holy Trinity, Rayleigh It only takes 2 minutes to fill in the registration form and you're good to go. 2 Start shopping with our partner retailers When you make an online purchase, they'll make a donation to your chosen good cause. 3 See your donations add up It's easy to check how much you've raised. Thank you for supporting The Friends of Holy Trinity, Rayleigh, we appreciate your help

If you normally give through the offering plate or bowl The suspension of public worship and the closure of our buildings has had a significant impact on our parish finances and the PCC are looking at ways to mitigate that as far as possible. If you normally make offerings through envelopes or cash etc. given through the collection plate, you could help by considering if you can make your giving through a regular standing order or by bank transfers. If this is possible for you, our bank details are “Parochial Church Council of Rayleigh, Sort Code 20-70-93 Account No. 80691941”. Standing order and gift aid forms are on the parish website PCC Standing Order Form Gift Aid Form. If you have any questions please contact Adrian Hall ([email protected] 01702 207612) or Robbie Robinson (01268 770859). Thanks….Adrian.

Resources: There's many amazing new resources being made available online, some of which include: • Men under pressure, a digital resource for men struggling with the lock-down. • The Church of England has just launched a free Phone line for dial-in worship, for those not on the internet so they can hear a Prayer, Reflection or Hymn. Please share the number, 0800 804 8044 • The Bible Course: you can purchase the session videos in download (£9.99) or DVD format (£24.99) and share a downloadable PDF of the manual. The videos are designed to be shared in any small group or family setting • Spring Harvest at Home via https://www.youtube.com/user/SpringHarvest • Church Times free resources https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/coronavirus-resources • CofE Easter Pilgrim - 40 day journey through the Lord’s Prayer

Some online links: https://www.chelmsford.anglican.org/uploads-new/publications/WePray-OCT-NOV20.pdf Many of the resources David is compiling can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/18vg51LJhbbt0oaizbnoTryqIpZgAQTLR Are you email enabled? Would you like to have a link to view or download the newssheet sent to you? Email [email protected] to get put on the email list (all email addresses are kept confidential).

Pastoral Care Team If you are having to self-isolate, and need shopping/medicine you can contact us, as we have gathered a team who are willing to help... [email protected] or 01268 742151.

Prayer Chain A group of people are willing to pray confidentially so if you, or someone you know, would appreciate prayer about a situation or person please either contact Chris Griffiths via email: [email protected] or phone 01268 779596

Podcasts: We have podcasts available for most (pre lockdown) sermons - please go to http://www.parishofrayleigh.org.uk/Podcasts to listen to them or download them.

Please pray for those who are unwell…and those who have asked for our prayers…. Nanette Moore – Enid Grimwood – Nina Trippier – Paul – Larisa – Sue – Eve –Jean Ash – Wendy Bates – Sam Skingsley - Rene - Dot Eichman

We pray for all who are bereaved – especially for the families and friends mourning the deaths of: Doris Wiley - Victor Hawes - Duncan Johnson - John Graves – Ethel Andrews – Peggy May - Geraldine Brett - Irene Goddard

Useful contact details

The Parish Office: 01268 742151. [email protected] Team Rector David Oxtoby 01268 971814 [email protected] 07595 38765