New Circumstances
I hope that you are all surviving and coping with everything that comes along with the government restrictions. Obviously these are circumstances that none of us have faced before, there has never been a time when the church building has been closed for a prolonged period. I do remember one Sunday morning we moved into the Main Hall for our service, because the sanctuary was filled with petrol fumes, another Sunday evening we moved into the Minor Hall because the heat wasn’t working, and one Sunday about 10 years ago we closed both services because of the heavy snow. So to be closed for 5 Sundays, with the prospect of many more ahead is hard to come to terms with. For each of you to be constrained by the Lockdown regulations is even harder for you to come to terms with. Many of you are staying at home, and only receiving deliveries, some of you are going out to work each day as key workers and some of you have no jobs to go to at the moment with all of the worries and pressures that entails. Whatever the circumstances I want to assure you of my prayers, and although we cannot meet up, I am always at the end of the phone for a chat.
Offers Of Help
Several people in the congregation have offered to provide help. If you need groceries or prescriptions collected, grass cut or financial help or anything else, there are a number of people who are more than willing to help, just get in touch with me and I will tell try to get you the help you need.
Sunday Services
Although the building is closed it is important to remember that it is we who are the church, not the building. We may not be able to meet, but we can still worship. Each week members of the congregation and I lead us in worship through a service on the church Website - “Burnside At Home”. It should be reasonably familiar in format if you have ever been to a service in Burnside, and is designed to encourage and challenge us in these uncertain times. This week we look at the disciples who meet Jesus as they walked on the road to Emmaus, but didn’t recognise him until after he had disappeared. We are asking the question, “How Do We Recognise Jesus In A Crisis?”
Burnside At Home, so far can be found here - https://burnsidechurch.weebly.com/services.html
Burnside At Home for Sunday 19th April can be found here -
https://burnsidechurch.weebly.com/sermons/burnside-at-home-sunday-19th-april-2020
Prayer
Each Wednesday morning a small group from Burnside used to meet to pray, we would pray for all those in the congregation who were sick and in need. Although no longer meeting together, we are still praying each Wednesday. If you have something that you would like us to pray about then please let me know [email protected] Anything you share will be treated confidentially and will only be shared to that small group of people who pray.
Blood Donation Session
Although we may not be able to meet in our building, it is great that the Church Halls are going to be used on Monday of next week, by the Blood Transfusion Service. They are bringing all their own equipment and are responsible for disinfecting the hall before and after use. I know very few people are now in and out of the church building at the moment, but it would be wise to avoid Monday if you have any business being in the halls.
Blood donation will take place in Burnside on Monday 20th April, between 10am and 4.30pm & 5:15pm and 8:00pm, to book an appointment please call 08085 534 653 . There are still plenty of slots available, but blood can only be donated through an appointment.
Church Website
www.burnsidepci.co.uk
The church Website is being redesigned at the moment to enable it to display better on Mobile phones, (Mobile or iPad seem to be the way that most people access) so hopefully even though it may no longer look familiar it will be easier to use. There are now large icons and buttons on the home page which will take you to the online services and the Week Day Blog. This Blog appears most week day mornings under “Latest Update” with a range of encouraging messages and resources to help you through the Coronavirus Lockdown. Do check it out and if you haven’t already, there are lots of articles in the archive.
https://burnsidechurch.weebly.com/latest-update
Thank You
As I said last week, thank you to everyone who continues to send FWO and Building Fund envelopes to Jeremy. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate this, with no church services, income has drastically reduced and yet bills still need to be paid. Thank you for your generosity. If you haven’t already but would like to contribute to church funds, please email me [email protected] and I will send you details of the options available.
Please also be aware that a scam has been reported elsewhere in the province, whereby people are arriving at doors claiming to be from churches and offer to collect FWO envelopes. We will not send anyone to your door to collect money unless you have specifically arranged for that to happen, and even then it would be someone that you know.
Word For Today
The Latest edition of Word For Today is now available and starts at the beginning of May. With not being able to pick them up at Burnside there are a coupe of options. Firstly the Word For Today is available online, https://www.ucb.co.uk/word-for-today or if you would like a printed copy, please email me [email protected] and we will get your copy to you.
Finally For Fun
Finally, for a bit of fun, if you would like that authentic “Burnside At Home” experience why not rearrange your living room furniture. (Sorry about the quality of the photo but I am sure you can see what to do)