The Rev’d Lorna D
Brabin-Smith
Rector of Branston with
Nocton and Potterhanworth
The Rectory, 19 Abel Smith
Gardens, Branston LN4 1NN
Friday March 20th
2020
Dear
all
These
are strange times!
We
are facing a very serious situation – and life just now seems
rather uncertain and perplexing. Many people understandably feel
anxious and afraid. But at the same time many individuals and
organisations are stepping up and taking action to help, locally as
well as nationally.
Into
action
Our
local authorities are bringing their emergency plans into action, and
will be working hard to make sure that people are safe and well –
especially those who are most vulnerable.
All
three of our villages have community groups being set up to
co-ordinate help: getting in touch with people who need help,
liaising with people who can offer help.
As
churches we will also be playing our part – liaising with local
authorities and community groups and continuing our practical,
pastoral care and spiritual care.
This
past Tuesday we had a meeting for our pastoral visiting team at
Branston in the diary. So we invited
representatives
from some of the three
villages’ social groups plus Cllr Peter Lundgren. We talked through
many of the common issues and thought about the risks people are
facing now and in the coming weeks.
Taking
care
The
advice on the precautions we all need to take remains the same:
regularly
wash your hands
thoroughly with soap and hot
water and
dry them thoroughly
if
you can’t wash your hands, use a sanitizing hand-gel (at least 60%
alcohol)
avoid
touching your face – do not touch your mouth, eyes or nose
cough
or sneeze into a tissue or into the crook of your arm, not into your
hands
keep
your distance from other people – at least 2 metres or 7
feet
keep
up with the usual hygiene routines at home
Wash
your hands
Wash
your hands thoroughly, with soap and warm water – a rinse under a
cold tap is not enough. Wash them ‘hospital style’ – front and
back, inter-lacing your fingers, between your fingers, every finger
and thumb, your finger-tips and nails, rub
your palm with your finger tips.
Take some time over it – at least 20 seconds. If you are going out,
wash your hands when you leave home, and wash them again when you
return. Wash your hands if you have been in contact with surfaces
outside your home that other people have touched.
Use
hand gel
If
you can’t wash your hands then use a sanitizing hand gel. Again
make sure you cover every surface of your hands. It needs to be a
sanitizing hand gel containing at least 60% alcohol. We are dealing
with a virus, so antibacterial hand washes and wipes won’t help.
And if you’ve used a hand gel, still wash your hands thoroughly
with soap and water as soon as you can.
Avoid
touching your face
The
virus can’t do you any harm if it’s on your skin. The danger
comes if you transfer it from your skin into
your body via your eyes, nose or mouth. So don’t lick your fingers,
poke your eyes or pick your nose! And make sure you’ve washed your
hands before you eat.
Coughs
and sneezes
It’s
best to try not to cough or sneeze – but sometimes these things
can’t be prevented. So don’t use your hand: use a tissue to cover
your mouth, or cough or sneeze into the crook of your arm. Then, when
you can, wash your clothes. If you use a tissue, don’t leave it in
your pocket – bin it. At home, put it into a plastic bag and then
when the bag is full, dispose of it all in the general household
rubbish bin.
Keep
your distance (also known as ‘social distancing’)
We’ve
already stopped shaking hands, hugging or kissing - to avoid the risk
of spreading the virus if someone has it.
But
the other way the virus can be transferred from one person to another
is by the tiny droplets of saliva that leave our mouths when we speak
(or cough or sneeze). We all do this, all the time. Normally it’s
not a problem. Normally it’s part of what keeps us healthy - it’s
a way of sharing the normal bugs around so that we can all build up
an immunity.
But
in this case the virus can make people very ill. So to reduce the
risk of transferring it from one person to another we keep our
distance – trying to maintain 2 metres or about 7
feet from one another. Which can feel rather strange, but a very good
thing to do at the moment.
Keep
up with normal hygiene routines
Just
because we’re concerned about the Coronavirus doesn’t mean that
we should relax our normal routines at home. Washing hands after
using the toilet. Keeping bathroom and kitchen surfaces clean. Making
sure food is prepared properly and cooked thoroughly. We can do
without upset stomachs, or what my mum would have called ‘the
backyard trots’.
What
are we doing?
As
you probably know by now, public worship has been suspended in all of
our churches. But worship continues, our worship here on earth, and
the worship of heaven. We are all still part of the one everlasting
communion of saints.
Even
if we’re not meeting together, we are all still part of the same
local church community. Even if we can’t shake hands to share the
peace, we are all still embraced by the love of God. And even if we
can’t chat over a cup of coffee after church we are still
surrounded by that ‘cloud of witnesses’ who cheer us on.
Hebrews
12:1-2
‘Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
also
lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,
and
let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking
to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of*
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its
shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of
God.’
To
help us continue worshipping together I’m sending you a copy of
Morning Prayer and Night Prayers (Compline) produced by the Church of
England for this time. You could use it every day. And especially on
Sundays. Read it out loud!
Meanwhile,
I will be saying Morning Prayer in our churches as usual: 8.45am
on Tuesday mornings at Branston, Wednesdays at Nocton, Thursdays back
at Branston, Fridays at Potterhanworth. There’s no reason why other
people shouldn’t join me – we can sit well apart. And we don’t
need to have any conversation with each other.
And
I plan to say Morning Prayer in our churches on Sunday mornings –
at the same times as we would normally have a service.
And
our three churches will be open during the week, so that people can
call in. They might want to pray, have a look round or simply enjoy a
chance to get out of the house!
All
Saints Branston will be open every day of the week from 2.00 to
4.00pm
All
Saints Nocton will be open every Saturday from 2.00 to 4.00pm
St
Andrew’s Potterhanworth is open every day anyway.
Keeping
in touch
So
each week I plan to send out a Sunday ‘bulletin’ which will
include the gospel and collect for the Sunday, a picture and a
reflection. Plus other prayers, news and advice.
This
first edition is being delivered by hand, along with this letter.
Future editions will be emailed and hand-delivered if I can’t email
you. So please let me have your email address if you think I might
not already have it (email me at lorna.brabinsmith@btinternet.com).
What
can you do to help?
At
the moment or in the weeks ahead you may be in full
quarantine -
because you or someone in your household has the symptoms: raised
temperature and/or a new persistent cough. Or you may be
self-isolating
because you or someone in your household is over 70 or has an
underlying health problem that makes you more vulnerable. Or you may
simply be keeping at home most of the time and taking the precaution
of social-distancing
as much as possible.
Either
way there are things you can do to help:
if
you’re not confined to home you could do a bit of spring-cleaning
in church or a little tidying up of the churchyard – you don’t
need to get close to anyone else if you’re working on your own.
We’ll produce a list of jobs so you know what to do. (Please let
me know if you’d like to do this: lorna.brabinsmith@btinternet.com
or 794-868.)
and
if you’re not confined to home you could help with the delivery of
these bulletins each week (Please let me know if you’d like to do
that: lorna.brabinsmith@btinternet.com
or 794-868). You won’t have to have contact with anyone if you’d
prefer not to – just post through their letter-box.
If
you’re not
in quarantine nor self-isolating there are some other things you
could help with. So please let Sue Spencer know if you can help with
any of these:
visiting
people at home
doing
shopping or collecting prescriptions for people confined to home
delivering
ready-cooked meals, for example, provided by one of the local pubs
volunteering
through the local community group
‘church
sitting’ – unlocking/locking up and being around while our
churches are open (at Branston and Nocton) – you could combine
this with doing some spring-cleaning, reading a book or some other
work. You wouldn’t have to have close contact with any visitors.
We’re working on rotas for this – Nocton is already sorted for
the next few months, please let Barbara
know if you could help at Branston.
There
will be other things you can do to help in the weeks ahead. And more
advice and information from us. And we’ll be working out what we
can do about home communion.
If
you need help
It
may be that you could do with some help: shopping, collecting
prescriptions, books from the library, having cooked meals brought
in. Or getting the information and advice you need. Or simply a
friendly chat on the phone if you’re not able to have visitors. We
can help with all of these, or if we can’t – we know people who
can!
So
please get in touch: Rev’d Sue Spencer is going to be our main
point of contact for people needing help and for people offering help
among the churches. Email her on suespencer47@gmail.com
or phone 823-947.
And
finally
Whoever
we are, wherever we are, whatever the circumstance, we can and should
all pray – for our communities, for those on the front-line, for
the most vulnerable.
And
a reminder: whatever happens in these coming weeks, nothing can
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
God
doesn’t ever promise that life will be straight forward, easy or
painless. But he does promise to be with us through thick and thin.
As St Paul wrote to the church in Rome, when they were facing
tough times through persecution:
‘What
then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is
against us?
Who
will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
No,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved
us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’
(Romans 8:31,35 and 37-39)
Rev’d
Lorna
