TOGETHER IN PRAYER DURING DECEMBER 2020 & JANUARY 2021 TOGETHER IN PRAYER Welcome to these publications from St Stephen’s, Gloucester Road, offering you news, reflections and resources for worship at home or in church as we continue to navigate together the challenges of covid-19. This pack contains three publications: THIS BOOKLET has news, details of Christmas Services, and an outline order for Mass to guide you if you join the Sunday livestream at home. O RADIANT DAWN is a resource for Advent, written by Fr Philip and being used by churches in our Anglo-Catholic tradition nationally. It offers a short reflection for each day of Advent. An online video for each week of Advent accompanies this resource, and includes music from our choir. Details of how to access the videos are on the back of the booklet, and there will be a link to them on our Facebook page as well. THE WONDROUS GIFT is a resource for Christmas and Epiphany, also written by Fr Philip and being used nationally. It offers a daily short reflection from Christmas Day until the Epiphany. Due to a permitted variation in calendars we will be keeping the Epiphany at St Stephen’s on Sunday 3 January so you may wish to alter your reading accordingly. The final video, with a carol by our choir, will be online from Christmas Eve. You will also find an Advent Candle with this pack as a gift from us. Use it carefully in your homes as you prepare for Christmas – perhaps as you read the daily reflections in ‘O Radiant Dawn’. 2 MASS TIMES Public celebration of Mass resumes on 2 December, and is permitted to continue regardless of what covid ‘tier’ this area is placed in. Sunday 9am Mass said, in the Lady Chapel 11am Sung Mass this Mass will also be livestreamed on YouTube Tuesday 12.30pm Wednesday 7pm Thursday 12.30pm Friday 5pm Holy Hour – silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament 6pm Mass Saturday 10am 3 CHRISTMAS MASS TIMES CHRISTMAS EVE Thursday 24 December 11pm Midnight Mass This Mass will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel CHRISTMAS DAY Friday 25 December 9am Mass said, in the Lady Chapel, a quiet celebration recalling the visit of the shepherds to the Christ child. 11am Solemn Mass This Mass will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel ST STEPHEN’S DAY Saturday 26 December 11am Solemn Mass Celebrant & Preacher, the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd Jonathan Baker This Mass will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel THE HOLY FAMILY Sunday 27 December 11am Mass said This Mass will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel MARY, MOTHER OF GOD Friday 1 January 2021 12noon Mass said THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD Sunday 3 January 2021 9am Mass said, in the Lady Chapel 11am Solemn Mass This Mass will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel 4 NEWS FROM ST STEPHEN’S Welcome Father Alan! We’re delighted to announce that St Stephen’s will be receiving an Assistant Curate, and that Fr Alan Rimmer will be joining us at Christmas. An Assistant Curate continues the training and formation as a priest that is begun at Theological College, and as well as sharing in ministry here Fr Alan will be continuing his studies while he is with us. In common with the Catholic and Orthodox churches the Church of England shares a ‘threefold ministry’ of deacon, priest and bishop. Fr Alan arrives as a Deacon, ordained to a ministry that includes the tasks of proclaiming the gospel, preaching and assisting at Mass, as well as pastoral care. We’ll expect to share the joy of his ordination as a priest next summer, when he will be able to celebrate Mass for the first time, and will have more responsibilities in worship and ministry. Fr Alan grew up in rural Lancashire and read Classics at Christ Church, Oxford. After a stint in the US, and as a pastoral assistant in Camden Town, he trained for the priesthood at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, and began his curacy in Tottenham, whence he comes to us. He describes himself as a keen, if slow, reader of unfashionable novels and he also enjoys the outdoors and trying to cook. He is very much looking forward to joining us and asks that you keep him in your prayers over the next few weeks. Fr Alan will be moving to a flat on Marloes Road in December, and will be sharing in the Christmas Masses with us. He will be licensed for his new role at St Stephen’s by Bishop Jonathan at the Mass on St Stephen’s Day, and it will be a joy to welcome him. 5 Christmas Giving This Christmas we have the opportunity to support the work of the Charity ‘Glass Door’ who partner with churches in our area to help those who are homeless. We will be giving the collections following Midnight Mass, the Christmas Morning Masses and St Stephen’s Day to this charity, and we invite your generosity. Glass Door is currently providing around 90 individuals with COVID- safe single-occupancy rooms and three nutritious meals a day in two central London hostels. The comfort and safety this environment provides, along with support from Glass Door caseworkers, means guests can focus on creating a route out of homelessness and building a more stable future. Additionally, November saw the launch of the Glass Door community dinner service in partnership with local churches. Every night, up to 120 people can enjoy a meal prepared and served by volunteers across four different venues. £1,440 could pay for all the guests in one hostel to receive a night’s accommodation and three nutritious meals the following day. Wouldn’t it be great if St Stephen’s could raise enough to cover this? Find more information about this charity on-line or from the leaflets at the back of church. Let there be light! St Stephen’s has not been quiet during lockdown, and work is progressing well on the installation of our new lighting scheme, which beautifully enhances the architecture of the building, as well as providing different lighting options for services, concerts and other events. Installation will be completed by Christmas, but please be aware that the church will only be open during Mass times for the first two weeks of December. 6 GATHERING FOR MASS In order that we may gather safely the following measures are in place: Please use the sanitising gel to cleanse your hands as you enter church, and as you leave. Government guidelines mean that face coverings are now compulsory inside the church, unless you have an exemption. A venue check-in code is displayed at the back of church and in the porch for those using the NHS Test and Trace app. Those visiting the church may leave contact details as part of the Track and Trace scheme. These details are destroyed after three weeks, and are used for the purpose of Track and Trace only. Observe social distancing, and find a seat at least two metres from your neighbour. Remember to keep the social distance when you arrive and leave, conscious of the anxieties others may have. The service booklet will guide you through necessary adaptations to the liturgy. We are doing our best to keep the timing for the Sung Mass ‘tight’, and the usual prayers of intercession are brief, but we’re praying for the sick and needy during the weekday Masses. Please speak to Fr Philip if you’d like someone included. There is no collection during the Mass. We encourage those who haven’t yet joined the Planned Giving scheme to do so (forms at the back of church), or there is a plate to receive your offering at the door after Mass. The 11am Sung Mass continues to be live-streamed on our YouTube channel. Please be aware that the camera angle includes those coming forward to receive Holy Communion. We much regret that we are unable to offer the usual hospitality following the 11am Sung Mass. There is an opportunity to greet each other outside as we leave, but please be careful to maintain social distancing as you leave. We’re grateful for those who continue to offer help by reading at the Sung Mass, and by helping with sanitising the building afterwards. Please continue to sign up on the sheets at the back of church. 7 THE ORDER FOR MASS On Sundays Mass is livestreamed at 11am. This outline order is provided to assist you in joining in at home. INTRODUCTORY RITES The Entrance Antiphon is sung as the Priest enters and censes the altar. In the name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. The Priest introduces the Mass and invites us to confess our sins. I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. Kyrie eleison Kyrie, eleison. Lord, have mercy. Christe, eleison. Christ, have mercy. Kyrie, eleison. Lord, have mercy. Gloria in Excelsis (this is omitted during Advent) Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to bonae voluntatis.