Message from our Chaplain in All Saints, Vevey, Rev. Clive Atkinson:
March 13, 2020
Today (Friday the 13th March) the Cantonal Authorities of Vaud announced additional restrictions including the closure of our schools and the limiting of gatherings to under 50 people.
This has direct implications for the life of our Church Family, and after the Chaplain met with the Church Wardens this afternoon, the following decisions have been taken.
For the next four Sundays, that is the 15th, 22nd and 29th March, and the 5th April we will not meet for worship as a gathered community, at All Saints Church. This decision has been taken to reflect and respect the advice that our Federal and Cantonal authorities have provided.
Although we may not be able to worship as a family gathered in the same building, we will be able to worship as a family scattered throughout the area. Although these ideas are at a very early stage, our hope is to provide the church family with creative ways to worship at home. These resources will include material for children and teens as well as adults which may include connecting our Core Jr & Sr groups online.
Again, reflecting the Cantonal guidelines given today, Little Arrows is pressing the “pause button” most likely until after the Easter holidays. Although Place2B and Ripple will not meet in the Church Hall for the time being, we are looking into creative ways of connecting online. Please keep an eye out for news regarding our Easter Holiday Bible Club, very soon.
Regarding our midweek adult Small Groups, the Chaplain will be in contact directly with our Small Group Leaders early next week.
My prayer is that during this time our church family would be an oasis of peace, where people can find hope in times of uncertainty and anxiety. I pray that each of us would know deeply that “the eternal God is our refuge and underneath are his everlasting arms.” Please continue to pray for those infected by the coronavirus, for those who care for them, and for health specialists and authorities who are combating the spread of infection. Could I ask everyone in our church family to be mindful of those within the church who are vulnerable, or who are on their own or who are elderly. If you find yourself restricted to the house, do let us know so we can support you.
March 14th, 2020
As I hope everyone knows by now, we won’t be meeting together at All Saints Church tomorrow morning. We haven’t had much time to prepare an online alternative for tomorrow but we have some resources which we hope will be encouraging and helpful as you worship at home.
So, attached you will find orders of service for both the 09h00 and 10h30services. You might wish to read through these on your own or with others in your family. Each contains the lyrics of hymns and songs linked to a Youtube video. The playlist for tomorrow is so encouraging. I have really loved listening to them as I have prepared the services. In addition you will find the Bible readings as well as other liturgy.
If you click here, you will find a welcome and a talk which has been recorded today. It is entitled “When You Walk into the Room Everything Changes”. It’s the final talk in our series on the Sermon on the Mount. We will look at the Parable of the two men who, having built their respective houses, experienced a storm. I was struck by that “coincidence”. Jesus uses this story to help us think through the life we are building, the storms that will inevitably come, and what foundation we are building on. There is an opportunity to pause the talk and discuss a question or two. If you are on your own, may be you could connect with someone online and share together.
In addition, for families, you will find attached a resource for Climber and Explorer aged children. This is based on the material they are currently using on Ezra.
Calen will contact our Core Jr & Sr’s directly with resources for them.
Looking ahead, we are going to try to muster what technology we can get hold of to make Sunday mornings as real as we can.
In Him,
Clive