St Peter's Yaxley

…reaching out in love and faith

The Gate of the Year

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Dear Friends,

As I write this, we are drawing to the end of one of the strangest and most unexpected years (not that you need me to tell you that!) I have been thinking that this time last year Coronavirus and Wuhan were distant news articles. I do not think that any of us thought that it would come close to our shores, let alone become a worldwide Pandemic that would put us into lockdown for several months closing down much of our country. As we head towards the end of the year, it is often a time when we look back on the year that has been, and we look forward to a New Year with new chances and opportunities.

You may well be wondering what the next year has in store for us? We may be walking into the next year with quite a lot of trepidation knowing that it will not be easy. As you look back on 2020, what stands out – toilet paper? Home-schooling? Loss of job or relationship? Loss of loved one? Maybe there are equally some good things that you can look back on – More time with family? A slower pace of life, realising what is important to you?

I obviously cannot tell you what next year will bring, but I know a God who has been with me all my life and yes, even in this year. As I walk into 2021 I do so believing and trusting in a God who does know the way.

“The Gate of the Year” is the popular name given to a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins. The title that she gave it was “God Knows”.
The poem, written in 1908 and privately published in 1912, caught the public attention when King George VI quoted it in his 1939 Christmas broadcast to the British Empire. The poem may have been brought to his attention by his wife, Queen Elizabeth. (Thank you to Wikipedia)

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

With every blessing in this New Year

Rev Sarah 01733 248690/07498 230858
yaxleyvicar@gmail.com

Virtual Yaxley Nativity Trail

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Welcome to the Virtual Yaxley Nativity Trail!

We didn’t want those of you who weren’t able to get out and walk the trail to miss out, so have moved the trail online!

You’ll see some photos of the stops along the way and be able to access the audio of the children telling the Christmas Story.

Stop 1

 

Stop 2

Stop 3

Stop 4

 

 

Stop 5

 

Stop 6

Below is the audio in full.

 

Thank you to everyone who made this trail possible! 

Christmas is NOT cancelled!

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Dear Friends

You will have heard or seen the news headlines at some point this year saying “Christmas is cancelled” I can assure you it is not! Christmas took place over 2000 years ago in a stable in Bethlehem when God came to earth in the form of Jesus. This has been the strangest year ever for all of us in different ways and our celebration of Christmas may also be strange and probably different. However, the message of the angels was one of peace and joy:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” Luke Chapter 2.

Matthew’s Gospel Chapter 1 tells us this:
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.”

Jesus, Emmanuel is God with us on earth. In all that may be strange and different this year, God came and walked on earth with us. In this season that may be different, in this time when we could be fearful, we can remember that Christmas cannot be cancelled and God walking the earth changed everything for all time.

May you know the blessings of Emmanuel in this Christmas season.

Rev Sarah.

Happy Christmas from St. Peter’s Church, Yaxley. Please do join us throughout December with our Explorers activities and in our services, which will be online on St. Peter’s, Yaxley YouTube Page. There will be a service in person on Christmas Eve for our Midnight service (starting 11.30pm) and Christmas morning at 10.00am IF Coronavirus restriction allow. We will need people to book in for services in church so please do contact the Parish Office on 07939 449255 or by email. Do follow our Facebook pages – St. Peter’s Church, Yaxley and/or Community of St. Peter’s Church, Yaxley for more information.

A Changing World

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Dear Friends,

I am writing this from The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, a tidal Island off the North East Coast of England. It is cut off from the mainland twice a day when the North Sea covers the causeway. It is a place that I love to come to with so much nature and beauty but there is also such a rhythm to this place as everything is dependent on the tides.

I am writing this at the start of October and so it is difficult to know what the rules and regulations will be by November. I am in a part of the world that has been quite badly hit by Coronavirus, the island that I love looks a little bit different at the moment, but the rhythms of the tides don’t change. The island is known as being a particularly important place for early Christianity after Irish monks settled here in the 7th Century and took the Christian Gospel from here to many places around the country. I love sitting and looking out to a small Island known as St Cuthbert’s Island and if you get the tides right you can walk out to it but you have to be careful not to get stuck as the tide comes in (which nearly happened on one occasion!) In all that has gone on in this year, sitting and watching the tides and the sunsets, reminds me of the constants that we do have in this world that some things will never change and the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever – Hebrews 13:8. With all that is going on in the world, it can be hard to remember this. But God is unchanging even through the rocky road that 2020 has been.

God is unchanging, but we have had a few changes in the life of our church:
We re-opened St. Peter’s Church building for worship on the 4th October and plan to hold a 9.30am Service of Holy Communion in person every Sunday. You will however need to book in as such, as we can only get a certain amount of people in the building safely. If you would like to attend a service, please email me or call 01733 248690/07498 230858 or contact Laura by email or on 07939 449255. Our 11am service continues online on our St. Peter’s Church, Yaxley, YouTube Channel.

As the nights become darker earlier, we have stopped our open church on a Thursday evening for private prayer. We have also decided to postpone Alpha until 2021, but will let you know dates.

As we live in a changing world with an unchanging God, may you know His comfort, peace and presence with you in this month.

With every blessing Rev Sarah

Update 02.11.2020: Due to a second lockdown, the church building will be closed for services, from Thursday 5th November, until further notice.

Autumn Days

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Dear Friends,

Over last weekend, it seemed to go from summer to autumn literally overnight. I had to go searching for jeans and warmer cardigans and on some days, I managed to resist the urge to turn on the central heating, on other days, not quite so much!!! As I write this, schools are returning and my goodness what a lot of thought and effort has gone into our schools re-opening this term – well done to all those who work in our schools and to our families as well. I found myself the other evening singing the song autumn days by Estelle White, which we used to sing in school. It talks about all of the lovely things that we think about in autumn which is one of my favourite seasons – grass being jewelled, swallow curving in the sky, shoes so comfy that they’re worn out and battered and the taste of apple pie. It made me smile a few years ago in previous parishes, when a school sang this at their Harvest Festival – it brought back many memories and it was funny to think that the song was passing down the generations.

The chorus to the song says: “So I mustn’t forget. No, I mustn’t forget. To say a great big thank you I mustn’t forget.” As we go into October, we will be celebrating our Harvest Festival. I have loved seeing the pictures that people have taken in Yaxley across the fields, of sunflowers, combine harvesters and amazing views of nature. This year, our Harvest Festival will be different due to our ongoing Covid 19 situation but we will still gather most likely through the wonders of YouTube to give thanks for all that God has given us.

I have heard so many people saying this year, in all that we have individually and collectively gone through that they have learnt about the things that are important to them. They have learnt that we don’t need so much stuff, they have learnt that what we value is our relationships with each other in our families and with our friends. That we value and want to care for our planet and we want it to be able to live, breathe and continue for those that have just started school this term and for many generations beyond.

As we go into this month, let us remember to say thank you to each other for the little things, the big things and everything in between. Come and join us for our Harvest on the 4th October at 11am as we give thanks for the work of our farmers, our produce packers, for distribution networks and workers and for our God who created the beautiful world we live in and those we get to share our lives with.

With every blessing for this coming month. Rev Sarah.

Yaxley Foodbank Annual Report – September 2020

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We have just completed our annual stocktake and I thought it would be a good time to provide an update on your local foodbank.

Firstly, I would like to start with a round of thanks. It hasn’t been an easy time, with some of our volunteers having to temporarily drop off the rota because of age and health shielding concerns. We haven’t forgotten you and would like to welcome you back as soon as is feasible. The remaining volunteers have done a wonderful job continuing to provide a service to those in food crisis since the lockdown in March. Our way of working has had to change in that we are no longer allowed to welcome clients into the building or offer refreshments but we hope the warmth in our welcome remains. We have also developed new patterns of working in the store, which, looking on the bright side, seem to be more efficient than before.

I would also like to thank those groups and individuals who so generously donated to our supplies and to our cash reserves. This has not only enabled us to more than manage the increase in demand, but also to improve the healthy eating options in our provision for clients. Since May we have been issuing £10 Fruit and Veg vouchers that can be redeemed through Kemps, the local Yaxley greengrocer in addition to our standard food parcels. This gives our clients the option to choose fresh produce of their choice to help feed themselves and their families whilst supporting a local small business.

There are specific thanks to the Yaxley Parish Council who continue to support us in many ways and also the East of England Co-operative and Yaxley Co-operative store who support us in food donations. Last Christmas, we were able to donate new toys to the children of the families we support through our Christmas parcels scheme due to the enormous generosity of the East of England Co-operative and their regional customers.

Coming back to our stocktake, the following figures may be of interest to some:
Stock Donated 11,396Kg
Stock Given Out 10103Kg
Food Parcels Issued 243

As you would expect, this is a significant increase of about 25% in both donations and parcels issued on the 2019 figures despite the fact that the summer holiday period was quieter than usual due to the school meal voucher scheme decision. We also expect the coming months to increase demand further as the jobs market starts to tighten significantly. Since lockdown in March we have ceased to request vouchers as we understand that these are not easy to obtain from many of our current voucher holders. Although it is helpful if clients come with a voucher, we do not turn away those in need.

Again, I would like to offer our enormous thanks to all those who have supported us in the past year and we look forward to continuing to help the vulnerable in our community this autumn and beyond into 2021. If you know someone who is in food need, please do not hesitate to encourage them to get in touch with us via email or on the foodbank telephone, 07579825798

Chris & Sue Grant

Returning?

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Dear Friends,

September is often a month for returning. Students and school and college staff go back or start school or university, people go back to work after a summer break and the church tends to step up a gear after a quieter month. Things will have been very different for us this year and some people will notice very little difference as August slips into September and as Summer starts to turn to Autumn. Things will no doubt continue to be bumpy for some time to come, but I wonder what returning looks like for you in this season?

Last night my husband and I watched a vlog of someone who we enjoy watching their videos and they were talking about their personal struggles over the last few months with mental health, with big plans being cancelled, with their work changing continuously. One of the biggest things seemed to be the lack of being able to see and hold family and for many of us that will have been a big loss. Everyone I speak to at present longs to return to some kind of normality, but we don’t quite know what that will look like anymore. For me returning in August means a trip to see my Mum and then some time on retreat – something that had been cancelled earlier in the year so as I write this, I am looking forward to returning to these places.

As I was thinking about returning and how September would normally look, the story of the prodigal son came into my mind. It is a story that Jesus told to teach people and it can be found in the Bible in Luke 15. The prodigal son wants everything of the best in the here and now and asks his Father to give him his share of the inheritance and he goes off and lives a high life only to lose it all. After he has done some hard labour, her realises that he could return to his Father and offer to be a servant for him as they were living in a much better way than he was. The Bible says this:

So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and put his arms around him and kissed him.

I love the picture of this scene and many artists have tried to capture this. The story goes on that the Father welcomed his son home and gave a great party as what had been lost was now found.

This is a picture for us as well today. We might feel that something is missing in our lives, we might have turned to prayer during these days of coronavirus hoping that there is something bigger than us out there – and there is – a God who loves and cares about each one of us, and longs for us to return to Him and he is always there with arms open wide.

If you have been thinking more about why are we here and what is going on, then we will be running an online Alpha course shortly so look out for more information on this and join us to explore different questions through videos and discussion.

I hope that as we move into a new month, you will know the open arms of a God who is always waiting for you and for me to share our lives with him.

With every blessing
Rev Sarah – yaxleyvicar@gmail.com 01733 248690/07498 230858

Summer 2020

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Dear Friends

I hope that you are all keeping safe as we move into a new month, a time that has always been for holidays and breaks from some of the normal routines. Maybe you are hoping to have a break this month, maybe you are not able to get away this month or perhaps this is the furthest thing from your mind in these times.

I don’t think we will know what “normal” will look like for some time. For us as a church in Yaxley, we are working out what we are able to do in this season. We know that there are many things that we cannot do in terms of our services, singing or being together. However, St. Peter’s Church is now open on a Thursday evening for people to come in for their own private prayer between 7pm and 9pm. We have social distancing and hygiene measures in place. Anyone is welcome to come and use the church building on a Thursday evening for prayer.

At this time, our services continue to be online on our St. Peter’s, Yaxley YouTube Channel and we continue to plan as to how and when we can open the church building for worship.

Every summer St. Peter’s runs a Holiday Club. We are sadly unable to run this in 2020 in person due to Covid 19, but we are organising some activities for you to do at home or around the village and we are hoping that you will be an Explorer during the summer holiday as we look at creation. Activity packs will be available to collect from the church porch from Monday 27th July and these will have craft material and other items for different activities that will take place throughout July and August.

Each week there will be new challenges for you to undertake as you explore your home, garden and our village of Yaxley and perhaps you will find out more about our creation story in the Bible. We will put out the activities every week on our Facebook Pages – St. Peter’s, Yaxley and the Community of St. Peter’s Facebook Group so have a look every week and see some different challenges.

Please share the results of your challenges with us on Facebook or email photos to me at yaxleyvicar@gmail.com.
You don’t have to be a child to take part – all ages very welcome 😊

In this month, I pray that you are able to get some rest and relaxation after a strange few months, and we look forward to sharing our explorations with you this summer.

With every blessing, Rev Sarah (Vicar of St. Peter’s, Yaxley)

Why aren’t we going back into the church building yet?

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Dear Church Family,

Following our PCC on the 13th July 2020 and our announcement that at present we will not be opening the church building for public worship, people have had questions and queries as to the decision taken in the unanimous vote not to reopen the church for public worship at this time. The decision was not taken lightly and much discussion was had. We all long to be back in church and worshipping together and the PCC and I are very aware of the biblical precedents given about meeting together and what this means to people. However, at this time the safety of God’s children is also paramount in our discussions and considerations.

I have tried to answer some of the questions that you may have at this time:

Background:
On the 4th July the Government allowed church buildings to reopen for worship. The Church of England and The Diocese of Ely have devolved the decision whether to open the building to each church as every church and every situation are different. We know that across our own local area, churches are doing very different things, some deciding to restart meeting together and some continuing with online worship at this time as they face many of the same challenges that we have.

Worship:
A survey was carried out by our Church Wardens which determined that we can get 36 people into our building at 2 meter spacing. This would include 2 large bubbles of families (meaning we may only be able to get 28 people in if not in larger groups.) Our normal Sunday congregation across our services is between 120-140 people.
Our pews and the configuration of our pews make it very difficult to use the space in the church effectively. Using all the pew seating area that we have, the number we can seat safely is 36 (or 28.)

Multiple Services:
To enable the opportunity for our church family to attend worship, we would need to hold 3-4 services a week. After every service the church would need to be thoroughly cleaned with every pew and every surface cleaned before another
service/event could take place in the church. If we did this on one Sunday we could have over 100+ people through the door, any one of which may be a carrier of Covid 19. We would need cleaning teams every week for after every service.

Service:
Any service we could hold would need to be limited in number and would need to be ticketed in some way and we have the circumstance where we may have to stop people at the door from coming in. Our accessibility policy states “St Peter’s Church is open to all. We welcome everyone to our church buildings.” We would not be able to do this if we opened in the current circumstances.

We would also need to ask every person that attends to provide their contact details for the circumstance that we have an identified case of COVID-19 and we need to go through the track and trace procedure. We are currently doing this for Private Prayer and is all done in line with GDPR regulations.

Children in church:
We love welcoming our children and young people to worship and it is wonderful to provide age related groups for our children and young people. When we return to public worship we know that the space that our children and young people have been using will not be big enough to safely house them and their leaders and therefore at this time we would not be able to offer groups for our children and young people.

We would also have to close off our creche due to the number of soft furnishings in there that cannot be cleaned sufficiently. We recognise this would make attending worship much more difficult for our families. Children would have to stay in their pew if they attended.

Private Prayer:
The church has been open for 3 weeks now for private prayer on a Thursday evening from 7pm to 9pm. We can only open for this time as a limited number of people came forward to sit in the church to welcome and guide people. We can only open the church when we have 2 volunteers to ensure the safety of those volunteering. To hold a session of Private Prayer outside this time would involve more cleaning. Please note we do not have a cleaner contracted to this kind of work.

Foodbank:
We are very blessed to have a Foodbank running out of our church and blessing our community and surrounding communities. The Foodbank has been able to run throughout the pandemic as we have 72 hours between each Foodbank session. 72 hours is the recommended amount of time to leave a building between any other “event.” A weekly service will mean the need to clean both before and after this as we would not have the 72 hour window any more.

Worshipping outside:
The Church of England guidance states “You can meet outside providing the churchyard or land around your church is owned or managed by you (for example by the PCC.)” We do not own the land around the church and to hold any gatherings/services, then means that we are following the Government guidance which states no more than 6 people should meet together (correct on 20/7/2020.)

Face Coverings:
The Church of England have yet to provide any guidance on face coverings other than for the person leading a service. If we could wear face coverings and potentially bring the social distance down to 1 meter + we could potentially seat around 50 people in the church. Being inside, reducing to 1 meter and increasing the number of people in the building obviously increases the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Occasional Offices:
Weddings – We will be holding small weddings this year for 2 or 3 families with adequate cleaning, staffing and with a seating plan as to where people will be able to sit. No singing and maximum limit of 30 people including “church staff.”

Funerals – We are taking any funerals that wish to come into church on a case by case basis. The majority of funerals will continue to take place at Graveside or in the Crematorium with the offer of a memorial service at a later date.

Baptisms – All baptisms have been postponed until at least the autumn and families informed.

Online Worship:
We are fortunate to have been able to quickly move to online worship and we plan for this to continue in some way when we are able to return to worship in the church building. At present, our services continue through Facebook and YouTube. We do have some new plans for September which we are working out at this time.

We had always planned to take a breath, have a pause in August to take stock of where we are at this time, where we have come from and where are we going to. To explore more deeply – what is God saying to us in our individual lives as well as for us as a community. We would not have restarted public worship in August as there are not sufficient people to ensure that this is done safely. Our online worship and weekly service sheet will continue each week, but we hope to move at a slower pace during this month and for Laura and I to take some time off as well.

I understand that some of you will feel that I am being a stickler for the rules and regulations and I would agree with you that yes I am. I am doing this for three reasons, one being this is the decision of the PCC, the group of people that with the Church Wardens and I, hold a legal responsibility as well as our service to the church family and to God. The second being that we will not be covered by our insurance if we are not following the guidelines that have been laid out for us. The third and most important one to me is that you are God’s precious children and I have been given the role of leadership and care of God’s precious children here. If we were to have a case in our church or worse still an outbreak, I would want to know that I had done everything to prevent this from happening.

A few weeks ago I was contacted to say that I had been in contact with someone who was having a coronavirus test as they were showing symptoms. Thankfully that test came back negative, but I calculated in the time since I had been in contact with that person, that I had met with around 50 other people through funeral ministry and pastoral ministry and I could have carried this to each and every one of these people. There are times to circumnavigate rules, this is not that time.

The PCC meet again on the 14th September where we will again consider how we can move forward at that time with the guidelines as they stand at that point. The PCC are your elected representatives so please do talk to them and share your views with them, our Church Wardens and myself. Please pray for us as we try to find the right way forward at this point and in the coming days and weeks. Please pray that we will follow God’s guidance.

If you have other questions or queries, please do be in touch.

Rev Sarah

Private Prayer

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We are opening the church building for Private Prayer on Thursday evenings, 7-9pm.

We kindly ask that if you are attending the church, please follow social distancing and the guidelines given to you by our hosts.

If you aren’t able to attend the church for private prayer, you can still pray at home – God will meet with you wherever you are.

At present we are not opening for Sunday Services.