Romsey Festival 

Now all legal restrictions are going to be lifted we can begin to resume our worshipping life at Braishfield and Abbey URCs more fully. I say ‘begin to …’, because we still need to exercise caution, especially as infection rates of the ‘delta’ variant of Covid are on the rise.
Although many, if not most of us, have received both our vaccinations now, we do need to continue to proceed with our safety in mind. Synod Moderators have been in contact with all URC ministers with fresh guidance and, bearing this in mind, here is how we will proceed at both churches:

At Abbey URC we will return to beginning our service at 10.30 as from and including 25 July (this will be the last service that will be available on Zoom)

For the time being, we recommend we continue to wear face-coverings while in church. We can resume singing a couple of hymns at our services from 25 July, while remaining seated. Here in Romsey, we will also be retaining the two musical items by Kirsty

We will keep social-distancing measures in place and hand-sanitising on arrival, with stewards to guide us to our seats and to advise us when to leave.

We will need to bring our own bread and wine for Communion services

We will still need to keep a register of attendance for ‘track & trace’, by contacting Revd Mike by phone or email by Saturday lunchtime. In Revd Mike’s absence during his annual leave, for services on the mornings of Sunday 1, 8 and 15 August at Abbey URC please register with Carole Cox by email (carole.cox@btinternet.com) or phone (01794 518184.

For services at Braishfield URC please register on arrival at church.

One of the last things we will resume, only when we feel it is completely safe to do so, will be to share refreshments after services.

Elders will continue to assess how and when to relax these aspects of our worshipping and social life as the weeks progress.

At our Abbey URC church meeting on 21 July in church (please register your attendance with Revd Mike in the usual way by Tuesday, 20 July), we will be discussing several items relating to the Way Forward including the production and availability of service / news sheet (please see pages 3 and 4 of our July/August Pastorate magazine). We hope you will be able to attend and share in our discussions.

Certainly, the lifting of legal restrictions is a very positive move, even though we are still limited in our ability to travel as we might like, especially over the summer holiday period. But things are looking up now and, while there may be increasing numbers of people with Covid, the number of people needing hospital care is very much lower than before and the NHS is managing well. There is much reason to be encouraged and to have hope for the future!

Paul wrote that, simply because we have faith in God, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1b-5)

Let us continue to take hope to our hearts as we look to God’s future! We wish everyone a good summer holiday season. God bless us all.

Please book your place in church for the Sunday service with Revd Mike by Saturday lunchtime and remember to bring some bread and wine for Communion.

At 6.30pm on Sunday we share in our monthly Bible study on Zoom, Meeting ID: 864 1780 6994, Passcode: learning.

Let Mike know if you have particular prayer requests (for yourself or others) in these challenging and uncertain times and  If you would like to contribute a prayer, poem or reflection for the weekly Sunday service outline.