Welcome to St John’s Hyde Park
We are delighted that you have chosen to join our community today. It was good to see so many of you keeping in touch online and via zoom, but it is even better to see you once again in person. You can download an order of service on the Welcome page of the website if you prefer not to use a preprinted copy : www.stjohs-hydepark.com.
We want everyone worshipping at St John’s this morning to be as safe a place as possible and to minimise the risks of catching Covid-19, guidelines have been drafted and sent out by e-mail. They are also on display in the porch and on our website at https://tinyurl.com/y2v4jzgm. In compliance with government guidance, we are required to have an informal community behaviour agreement and the guidelines will constitute this In summary, please observe the following:
If you are displaying any of the Covid-19 symptoms – high temperature, continuous cough or a change in your normal sense of taste & smell – please do not come into church but self-isolate and arrange for a test.
Please sanitise your hands when you enter the building. A volunteer is on duty with sanitiser just inside the main glass doors or you can wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soapy water in the toilets. If washing your hands, please use a paper towel to operate the taps.
If you have not already given us your contact details electronically, please do so now. This information will be held for 21 days and only used in what we anticipate will be an unlikely outbreak of Covid-19 which could be traced to someone attending St John’s.
Seats have been set out in clusters of 2, 3, 4 and 5 chairs. Please sit in a cluster appropriate for the size of your household, filling the church from the front.
Orders of service have been printed in advance and placed on the chairs on Sunday morning by a member of staff masked and gloved. Please take your order of service away with you at the end of the service.
At the collection, a member of staff masked and gloved will circulate with a collection plate. Place your cash or Gift Aid envelope in the plate but please do not touch it.
When exchanging the peace, please remain within your household cluster. Feel free to smile or wave at those in other households but do not make any physical contact with anyone outside of your household.
For communion, please remain standing at your seat. Lower your face mask by unhooking the loop around one ear, after which your hands will be sanitised. The clergy will bring the bread to you and place a wafer in your hand. If you prefer to receive a blessing instead, cross your hands over your chest. After you have consumed the bread, reattach your face mask in place over your mouth and nose.
At the end of the service, please remain in your seats until directed to leave the church by a member of staff. It will be tempting to socialise outside, but please remember that you can only do so with your own household or in a group of no more than six people – and then keeping 2 metres’ distance between each of you.
At present we regret that we are unable to offer hospitality after the service.
Children and Young Families
We are delighted to have so many families with young children as members of our congregation. At present, there is no Kids’ Club so children will stay with their households at all times throughout the service and afterwards when leaving the church. Please do bring along with you anything that your children may need during the service as we are unable to make pew bags, soft toys, books or any other items available.
Toilets with changing facilities are available near the entrance of the church but remember to wipe down all surfaces you have touched before going back into church. If for any reason your child becomes restless or upset during the service, please feel free to use the forecourt as a breakout space.
Each week there is a children’s story and activity on the children’s page on our website: https://www.stjohns-hydepark.com/children. Big children as well as smaller ones will find it interesting.
Coming to church on Sunday?
https://www.stjohns-hydepark.com/ordersofservice
To help us plan, if you are reading the electronic version of these notices in advance of Sunday and intend to come to church, please click on the link above. So far we have comfortably seated everyone who has come to church each Sunday, but it is helpful to know in advance if you are attending.
Hearing the Service
St John’s has an Induction Loop System so if you have a hearing aid, please switch it to the ’T’ setting.
This Morning’s Music
Covid guidance has been relaxed so that we can now have more than one singer and we are very pleased to welcome a guest choir for this morning’s service, Emma Jones, Holly-Marie Bingham, Ted Black and Ed Jowle who will be singing an adapted version of our usual Glastonbury mass setting accompanied by Ruth Stockdale on flute..
Georgina’s Ordination
Join us in church for Georgina’s first Sunday as deacon at our Parish Eucharist at 10am on Sunday 27th September. Sadly this year we cannot be there in person to support Georgina as she is ordained deacon by the bishop of London at St Paul’s Cathedral but you can tune in the day before, 26th September, at 2.30pm, to watch the live-stream online here: https://www.youtu.be/fKcWiggNLys .
Rainy Day Appeal
Target : £40,000
Raised: £40,000!!
A huge thank you to so many who have contributed to raising the £40,000 both before and during Covid! What a fantastic achievement to complete our appeal! These funds will be used to make repayments on the loan we took out from the diocese of London in 2017 which enabled us to finish the high level repairs to the gutters and masonry.
Keep Calm! Keep Alert! Keep Giving!
We continue to give thanks for the financial commitment of so many of you in making weekly or monthly contributions electronically or in the collection plate. Now that the church has reopened for public worship, collections have likewise resumed although it is safer to make your donations electronically directly to our bank account. Our details are:
Name: PCC St Johns Hyde Park
Bank: HSBC
Sort Code: 40-11-58
Account #: 80108251
Donations given electronically still qualify for Gift Aid as your name will appear alongside your donation. If you have any questions about giving, please speak to Bryan Sollenberger.
During the Week
The church remains open for private prayer and meditation from 9.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday and there is Evening Prayer Monday to Thursday at 5.30pm. When you come to church to pray, do make sure you observe the guidelines so that you and other worshippers can enter the church safely. The parish office is not open to callers but you can arrange to see a member of staff by phoning ahead and making an appointment.
If you would like to pray with a member of the clergy or to have a one-to-one conversation, please send an e-mail to parishadmin@stjohns-hydepark.com. We also invite you to visit our Prayer Requests page.
Tuesday 8th Sept: Quiz Night, 8pm
Our quiz maestro Damon Greeney returns with more tantalising teasers to test your intellectual elasticity (on Zoom). If you know the name of the last contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to scoop the big prize or which two countries’ flags are identical, you could compete with the other St John’s brains!
Join the Quiz
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82511356513?pwd=L0tobG1Ua2lxVkQ3bGcvRkRxNG9FQT09Meeting ID: 825 1135 6513
Passcode: 993225
Wednesday Club
Wednesday Club returns for the autumn. Meet in our virtual pub for a drink and some enthusiastic discussion of ethics and theology.
Join the Wednesday Club
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87470713966?pwd=R1ovdm9EUVOOFVxczQvcXVZcWJVZz09
Meeting ID: 874 7071 3966
Password: 216887
Or alternatively dial in on a telephone (landline or mobile):
+44 20 3481 5240
Domestic Abuse
During these weeks of close proximity, the necessity to stay indoors with little opportunity to get some space can cause pressure and stress which we might normally handle quite comfortably. Relationships can get difficult at times for the best of us. Should you find things getting too much or out of hand and feel that you have been or may become a victim of abuse, help is available. Please ring 999 followed by 55. This will notify the police of the nature of your call. Don’t suffer in silence!
St John’s Book Club
The lockdown doesn’t mean you still can’t enjoy a good book! St John’s Book Club meets to discuss Lanny by Max Porter on 7th September at 8pm. For further information about the book club, drop a line to parishadmin@stjohns-hydepark.com.
