St Augustine's wish a happy and safe 2021 to all
Updated: 30th January 2021
Church Opening
The church will be open for private prayer from 9-11am on Sundays.
The clergy are maintaining morning and evening prayer
Monday- Thursday at 9 and 5.
In accordance with the request from the public health authorities St Augustine’s is now closed for services except those listed above and funerals. The clergy are maintaining morning and evening
prayer, and there will be a weekly filmed reflection here on the website. The bells will continue to ring for prayer as a sign of constancy and hope in these difficult times.
Please do keep an eye on the website to see and check when we shall reopen, and please do not hesitate to be in touch if I can be of any help.
With all good wishes,
Jonathan Collis
Vicar
Newsletter for 28th February - Second Sunday in Lent
Newsletters for 21st February - First Sunday in Lent
Service for 21st February - First Sunday of Lent
Two Hymns this week
The First is Immortal Invisible for The Everett's who celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary - Happy Anniversary Stephanie and Martin xx
The Second hymn is Lord Jesus, Think on Me
The Bells.........
ALL of the services below are on hold at the moment due to Covid Restrictions
please see Update above
We aim to provide a wide variety of services for parishioners and visitors alike - but slightly tweaked at the moment to combat Covid:
Monday to Friday:
9.00 am Morning Prayer
5.00 pm Evening Prayer
Wednesday:
10.00 am Holy Communion*
Sunday Services:
8.00 am Holy Communion* - a traditional language service lasting about
40 minutes.
10.00 am Parish Eucharist - with our choir (but no hymn singing by the congregation)
- a junior church, and a small area at
the back of the church with books/crayons etc where parents can sit
with their younger children if they wish. On hold during Covid
Service lasts for about an hour,
- followed by refreshments. On hold during Covid
6.30 pm Evening Prayers - a smaller reflective service using the Book of Common Prayer and lasting about an hour.
*Gluten free communion wafers are available, please just ask when you come up to the altar rail.
- We also hold a 'First Steps' service for tots. For those of you with pre-school children we have a monthly tots service here at St Augustine's at 10:45am, with songs, craft activity, story and Jaffa cakes. This service generally falls on the 2nd Wednesday in the month. On Hold at the moment due to Covid
The Blessed Sacrament is perpetually reserved for the Communion of the sick and dying. Please inform the vicar of parishioners who are sick or in hospital.
The RNLI Carol Service held in St Augustie's can be found on our
News and Events page link
Our Confirmation Service was held on Sunday 13th December at 4pm
please see details and picture on our News and Events page link
The vicar is always pleased to receive enquiries about christenings,
weddings and other services.
Telephone 01702 587597 or email jonathan.collis@cantab.net
The Lord's Prayer
All previous services, sermons, hymns and Lords's prayers can be found on The St Augustine's Broadcasting Service on YouTube
The church bell will still ring as a reminder
that prayers are still being offered - public services may be suspended but our ministry continues.
Jonathan
Collis
The Church of England has updated its guidance for churches in light of the latest advice from Public Health England.
Please follow the link -
https://www.
Chelmsford Cathedral. The Dean of the Cathedral produces a quarterly events guide with the aim of encouraging everyone to discover what the Cathedral has to offer. To find out more and to view the guide, please click on the link below:
Church Extension Update
Having obtained approval from the Diocese Advisory Committee (DAC) some months ago for our extension plans, our architects submitted a formal building application to Southend council. We waited the seemingly obligatory 16 weeks for the council to approve the plans, only to be told that our application had been rejected.
The reasons for the rejection were to my mind, and that of our architects, relatively minor and we were extremely disappointed that the council thought it necessary to issue a formal rejection without any kind of prior notice or liaison from the council planning department.
I arranged a follow up meeting with the council and our architects on Wednesday 30th October to discuss the rejection and find a way forward. Following lengthy discussion about the role of the DAC and the processes we have been through to get DAC approval for our plans, I’m happy to report that the meeting went well and I am reasonably confident that the councils objections have been addressed. We can’t be absolutely sure because the council official we met with was not the person who rejected the plans (of course not!) but our architect will now submit a new set of plans, with minor alterations, which we hope will be approved.
Another delay is of course inevitable and we’ve been told that it could be another 16 weeks before we receive the councils response, that will be Mid February.
There won’t be much to report before then so I wish you all a very merry, albeit slightly early, merry Christmas and hope that the New Year will bring us good news! Best wishes to you all.
Peter Barron
If any of you would like to find out more about baptism, confirmation or marriage, please don't hesitate to contact me at
jonathan.collis@cantab.net
“We are committed to ensuring that St Augustine’s is
a safe place for all”
For further information please go to our safeguarding page, the link is here