Our New Minister, Rev Dr Calvin Samuel
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Welcome to our new Minister, Rev Dr Calvin Samuel An occasional newsletter to keep you in contact with Hockley and Hawkwell Methodist Church 3rd September 2020 No. 87 Edition 225 Hockley & Hawkwell Methodist Church Main Road Hockley Essex SS5 4QY 01702 205870 [email protected] www.hockleyhawkwellmethodist.org.uk www.facebook.com/hockleymeths Minister – Rev Dr Calvin Samuel Rev Calvin Samuel’s Pastoral Letter The beginning of September is often a time of great movement. For us Methodists, September, of course, marks the beginning of the new Connexional year. Methodist ministers, as you know, are itinerant, which means we can be stationed anywhere in the country, going wherever we’re needed most. So, every August hundreds of Methodist ministers and their families relocate across the country, ready to begin new appointments at the beginning of September. This week we welcomed into our Circuit here in Southend and Leigh, a new ministerial colleague, Deacon Sarah McDowall. Sarah will be working in a number of projects in the Southend Section of our circuit including a mission chaplaincy to the Southend Sea Front, including Adventure Island, and developing a new worshipping community on the Whittingham Avenue Estate. September is, of course, also the beginning of the year if you’re a teacher. Last minute COVID restrictions allowing, all this week teachers and pupils will be returning to Schools in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, joining their Scottish peers who returned last month. Universities and Colleges will follow suit in a few weeks’ time. Across our circuit some of our churches are making plans to return to their buildings, though there are others who feel that the time is not yet right to return, and some are still in the process of making a decision about what’s best in their specific circumstances. This is the background against which I’ve begun my exercise of ministry among you as Minster for Hockley from the first of September. New beginnings and endings are very much part of life, aren’t they? We move from one stage into the next. Most of the time these movements feel like a natural progression. Every now and then, however, we experience a major change, where it’s not a natural progression, but we’re required to change in unforeseen and unforeseeable ways. Page 2 of 16 This is where I think we stand; on the cusp of major change, in a world that has already changed in ways that were unimaginable only a few months ago. The pandemic has radically altered the ways in which we operate as well as our outlook on life. Things we took for granted, freedom of movement, or the stability of global economies, proved to be illusory. Items, previously of little significance, suddenly became premium goods. Who could have predicted that toilet rolls, hand sanitizer, and eggs would number among the most highly sought goods in the Spring of 2020? One of the things that the pandemic and #Lockdown have begun to teach us is how to live with uncertainty. In truth, the pandemic has not increased uncertainty. Rather, it’s exposed how little we actually control, despite our best efforts to the contrary. This pandemic is a lesson in learning to live in the now, because the future is as unpredictable as it has ever been. I’m very much looking forward to getting to know you in the coming weeks and months and to discerning together God’s future for us. I’ve no idea what that is, but I’m fairly certain that it involves significant change for us. Some of those changes will be joyous and life giving whilst others may well provoke feelings of profound loss. In either case, let’s do our best to hold fast to the God who alone holds the future. God of beginnings and endings, Creator of Time and Space: in your Wisdom, give us clarity of insight to discern and to focus on those things that matter most. Enable by your Spirit us to elevate the important above the immediate and to expend our energies on building a future better than our past. Amen. Calvin Samuel Page 3 of 16 Prayers for this week For our world where there is tension and lack of freedom, USA, Belarus, Hong Kong, China, Lebanon and The Yemen, as well as those places where there are forest fires (California and Brazil) and health issues, other than Covid-19 (an outbreak of polio in parts of Africa). For all the young people, and staff returning to schools this week and those contemplating their move into higher education, where there are many uncertainties and many things are very different form "normal". May there be patience and understanding at all levels. For those we know who are unwell, Chris and Ron Holloway and June Waterfield; for those alone and isolated at home, Kath, Eunice; for all our members and friends, as we cautiously step out into the world we knew, seeking to find our place in the new normal, and looking for ways of safely being able to worship together again From the Worship team During August, our Sunday Zoom services continued. At the beginning of the month, Anne led them but then later, we joined the Circuit Zoom services, led by Rev Peter Moorhouse (our superintendent) and then Rev Chris Sandy. During August, we were under the pastoral care of the superintendent, as Rev Michael Moon had left, but we were not technically yet with Rev Calvin Samuel. I spoke fairly frequently with both Peter and Calvin during August, and some leaders and the Worship team have had Zoom meetings and discussions with Calvin over that period, most of which have also involved Rochford and Rayleigh. Page 4 of 16 As of this Sunday, we will be returning to having our own Zoom service, led by the preacher assigned us on the plan. This week it is Bob Briant and it will be at 10.30am. You will see elsewhere in the magazine, that the Church Council is considering opening up for Worship from 13th September. Our new minister, Rev Calvin Samuel is planned for then and the following Sunday. Then on 27th September Anne and the Worship team will lead a service based on the All We Can materials in preparation for a harvest service (but not as we know it!) the following week, 4th October. If we do not open for Worship on 13th, then the plan is that the same preachers will lead the Zoom service but some times may change, as not all churches are opening, and not all preachers and ministers are returning to the plan. You will need to be vigilant and check on times if and when you receive information. Just recently, the Friday Club have been meeting on Zoom, and last week Calvin joined us in a getting to know you exercise. None of the group were involved in the results fiasco so that was a relief. It has clearly been a difficult time for all of them and they feel the constant pressure of needing to be successful in their academic work. You will remember that some of them completed leadership training either side of Christmas, and the plan was that at the Church Anniversary, Peter Moorhouse, who led the training, would lead a celebration service and they could be recognised by us all as assistant leaders. This has not been forgotten, Neither have we forgotten that we need to say an official goodbye to Rev Michael Moon, but government regulations are making this difficult. Watch this space!! Muriel Page 5 of 16 Re-opening Church for worship? All members and friends have been sent a copy of a draft of “Hockley and Hawkwell Methodist Church is Re-opening for Worship” and a brief questionnaire asking for your views on whether or not you would attend a service – provisionally on 13th September – bearing in mind the conditions that would have to be in place. On Friday 4th September the Church Council is meeting via Zoom to review the responses and decide whether or not to re-open the Church for worship. You’ll be told what is decided shortly after the meeting. If the decision is to re-open for worship, we will have a busy week putting in place all the measures that are necessary to make sure everybody who comes to Church can do so safely. The Church has carried out a risk assessment to highlight what needs to be done and that’s what we’ll be putting in place to make the Church Covid-19 secure. If we decide to re-open for Worship, this Sunday’s Zoom Service will be our last, at least for the time being; we may need to Zoom again if there is any resurgence of the virus - and perhaps in winter when it’s difficult to get to Church? Whatever the decision we’ll continue for the time being at least with our Wednesday Morning Zoom Chats and, for as long as Ray’s willing to think up the questions, with Ray’s Friday Quizzoom. So don’t forget: Wednesday Morning Social Chat at 10:30am An opportunity to meet friends and find out how they are and find out what they’ve been doing. We had 11 at this Wednesday’s Chat. Page 6 of 16 Ray’s Friday Quizzoom at 7:00pm Five rounds of five questions in each - with everything from TV soaps to quantum mathematics! There were 13 quizzoomers and a dog last Friday and Ros was Quizzoomer of the week with 21/25.