Homily for Christmas Day

 Please click here for Lorna's Christmas Day homily.

Christmas services online

 

Our YouTube carol service is now available on our YouTube channel to be followed tomorrow by a Christmas Day Service of the Word.  Here is the service booklet, which you can use on its own or with our YouTube service for Christmas Day.

Sermon at Branston 20 December 2020

Please click here for Nigel's sermon at Branston on 20 December 2020.

Sunday 20 December

 Please click here for the service booklet and sermon from this morning's service.

Christmas poster

 

Sermon for Sunday 13 December

 Please click here for Rachel's sermon.

Update on Christmas services

 An update on our Christmas services at All Saints. The times have had to be adjusted so the Carol Service on Sunday 20 December will be at 6pm (not 4pm) and the Midnight service on Christmas Eve will be at 11.30pm (not 11.45pm). We are asking people to book a place as we would hate to turn people away at the door. If you would like to attend one or both services, please contact our Rector, Lorna, on 01522 794868 or at lorna.brabinsmith@btinternet.com. (Lorna's contact details are already public, in case you were concerned about me posting them here).

Virtual Quiet Day

 

Sermons for Sunday 6 December

 Please click on the links for the sermons at Potterhanworth and Branston on 6 December.

Christmas services

We are pleased to announce our services for December!  Please note that we expect the service on 20 December to be oversubscribed and we will need to have a booking system.  Further details will posted as soon as they are available.

Sunday 13 December                  9.30 am           Eucharist

(Third Sunday of Advent)

 

Sunday 20 December                  4 pm                Candlelit service of carols and readings

(Fourth Sunday of Advent)

Thursday 24 December               11.45 pm        Midnight Mass

(Christmas Eve)

Advent Sunday

Here's the link to the YouTube channel for our church services:

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYsN4PAFyYqg3ywLMC-IRaw

 

Click on Advent 1 for tomorrow's service - it will be available from 6 am. The service booklet is here. Compline for Advent will be there too.  The Compline service booklet is available here.

Homily for Sunday 22 November

 Please find the homily here.

Link to our service tomorrow

 Here's the link to the service and to the service booklet.  We hope you can join us.

Nocton Church Cleaners Needed!

Normally our church is used regularly for our services, by the school & for a whole range of events from book fairs to concerts & Christmas tree festivals to name but a few. Many  of our church cleaners occasionally attend church or maybe not at all but the unanimous response is always how much they value & appreciate the peace & serenity of being in church quietly at that time. The church does rely on this support as many church members come into the vulnerable category and are unable to volunteer for this.

We run a rota system whereby two people are responsible for one month in the year.
It is not a big commitment & generally only takes a few hours in the month. It is always possible to arrange swops if something crops up for you or you change your plans.
So whether you have never stepped foot in church or have attended a few events, please would you consider offering your help for this.
If you feel you could help out please email ruth@jimeagle.plus.com & I will be pleased to give you more detail as to what is involved.

Link to tomorrow's service

Here's the link to the YouTube service for our benefice.

https://youtu.be/rmQKBl0KJRw

It is scheduled to go live at 12.15am on Sunday 15^th November.

Sunday 15 November

We have finally managed to get ahead of ourselves and post the homily and service booklet for this coming Sunday, 15 November.  The service will be available on YouTube and the link will be posted as soon as it's available.

Homily & sermon

Please click the links for the sermon from All Saints' Day, Sunday 1 November, and the homily from the Remembrance Day reflection.

Remembrance Sunday

Due to the coronavirus All Saints Church is currently closed.  However, as a Benefice, we are still marking Remembrance Sunday.  Please watch our pre-recorded service here, you may wish to watch today or on Armistice Day on Wednesday - or at any other time convenient to you.

Compline for All Souls

 

Sermon at Branston on Sunday 18 October

 Please click here for Nigel Dickin's sermon given at Branston on Sunday 18 October.

Service booklets and sermon from 18 October - St Luke

Please click on the links for the sermon and the service booklets for Morning Prayer and Holy Communion on 18 October.

Sermon for Sunday 11 October

 Please click here for Rev'd Rachel's thought-provoking sermon from Sunday 11 October.

Service booklets and sermon for Sunday 4 October

Please click on the links for the sermon and service booklet from Branston's Harvest Festival, and the sermon and service booklet from Potterhanworth's Eucharist - all from Sunday 4 October.

Harvest Festival talk given at Nocton

Please click here for the excellent talk given by Linda Carpenter-Coxon about Tambana School in the Gambia, which she has been supporting for many years.  The PCC sponsors a child at the school.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting

 The meeting to elect churchwardens and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (delayed from earlier in the year due to the coronavirus pandemic) will be held via Zoom on Tuesday 27 October.  Details of how to join in are on the notices.

Talk given at Potterhanworth's Harvest Festival

 Please click here to read Mark Suthern's talk.

Service booklet and sermon Sunday 27 Sept

 Please click on the links for the service booklet and sermon for Sunday 27 September.

Harvest Festival

 Please be aware that due to social distancing requirements only 25 people can be accommodated in the congregation. Would everyone who is not medically exempt, please wear a face covering. We are required to note the name and address of everyone attending. In spite of all this we intend to have a great service!

 

Service booklets and sermon Sunday 13 September

 Please click the links for the Service of the Word booklet, the Holy Communion service booklet and the sermon for Sunday 13 September.

Service booklet and sermon Sunday 6 Sept

  Please click on the links to access the service booklet and the sermon from 6 September.

Thanksgiving service

 

Service booklet and sermon Sunday 30 August

 Please click on the links to access the service booklet and the sermon from the United Benefice Service on 30 August.

Service booklet and sermon Sunday 23 August

 Here are the links to Rev'd Rachel's sermons from Sunday 16 August and Sunday 23 August, and the service booklet for Sunday 23 August.

Answers to A Summer Sizzler Quiz

 Here are the answers to the quiz (which I won!!).

Service booklet and sermon Sunday 9 August

 Please click on the links to access the service booklet and sermon from last Sunday, 9 August.

Update on services

After the successful relaunch of services last week, we will be holding another similar Service of the Word this coming Sunday.  For the time being services will be alternate weeks, 2nd & 4th Sundays, at 9.30 am.  We hope to start a Eucharist service soon - watch this space!  We can accommodate an absolute maximum of 25 people so we are having to limit attendance to regular members of the Nocton congregation and anyone else living in Nocton who wishes to attend.  We are very keen to open our doors fully but this will have to wait until we know it is safe.

We're back! - church is reopening!

After many weeks of being closed, All Saints Church will be reopening for public worship on Sunday 5 July. A lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to ensure that the building is "Covid secure" and that everyone will be safe.

There will be a short, simple and quiet service at 9.30 am. We are not yet able (allowed!) to sing and there will be no Communion and no refreshments. This service will be a trial run and there may need to be adaptations for future services.

COVID 19 precautions - please wash your hands with soap and water before you leave home and sanitise your hands as you come into church. Please keep a social distance of at least 2 metres from others. We are not specifically asking people to wear face coverings, but please feel free to do so if you wish.

If you'd like to bring a contribution for the collection, please bring it in an envelope - there'll be a basket at the back of church. If you're a tax payer and would like to gift aid your contribution, please write the following on the envelope:

- All Saints Nocton

- your full name and address, including your post code

- "Gift Aid Declaration: I would like to enhance my donation through Gift Aid. I am a UK taxpayer and understand that if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations, it is my responsibility to pay any difference."

Your signature and the date.

We are so looking forward to being able to worship together again.

Our new curate!

Message from NHS Test and Trace to avoid scams

If NHS Test and Trace calls you by phone, the service will be using a single phone number 0300 0135 000. The only website the service will ask you to visit is https://contact-tracing.phe.gov.uk.

Contact tracers will never:

• Ask you to dial a premium rate number to speak to us (for example, those starting 09 or 087)
• Ask you to make any form of payment
• Ask for any details about your bank account
• Ask for your social media identities or login details, or those of your contacts
• Ask you for any passwords or PINs, or ask you to set up any passwords or PINs over the phone
• Ask you to purchase a product
• Ask you to download any software to your device or ask you to hand over control of your PC, smartphone or tablet
• Ask you to access any website that does not belong to the Government or NHS

Help for young carers

Life without cash

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Daily Hope

Local food bank

Keep yourselves safe

This is a message from the Lincolnshire Police Crime Prevention and Partnerships Team

Please be advised that we have recently seen an increase in reports of doorstep traders across the county. People have reported being visited by doorstep callers offering to complete garden work, or home maintenance tasks such as repairs to roofs.

In the current climate you should not be receiving visitors to your home. 

If someone knocks on your door, and you are not sure who it is – do not open the door. Doorstep sellers/traders rely on you to engage with them. If you don’t open the door in the first place, then you can’t be persuaded /pressurised into paying for work you don’t want or need doing.

Any suspicious callers / traders should be reported to Lincolnshire Police on 101.

Message sent by
Gillian Fleet (Police, Preventing Financial Fraud Officer, Lincolnshire)

Happy Easter!

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Today we worship the risen Lord, who changes everything, who has even conquered death, and who leads us into new life.

Our curate is leaving

Our curate, the Rev’d Alex Borman, is leaving us at Easter, moving his curacy to his home parish.

For some time Alex has been reflecting on his ministry and has felt that moving to a parish closer to home would be beneficial for his curacy, both in parish and in the workplace.  He hasn’t felt able to commit enough time to our benefice to be effective in his ministry.

The Bishops have agreed this move and so Alex will be leaving us on Easter Day to return to Boultham.

Alex, Jo and Clara will be in our prayers and we hope to be there to support Alex when he is priested – though at the moment we don’t know when.

Church closed

All Saints Nocton is closed until further notice following today's guidance issued by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York:

1. Our church buildings are closed for public worship and for private prayer.
2. Emergency baptisms can take place in hospital or at home, though subject to strict hygienic precautions and physical distancing as far as possible.
3. There can be no weddings in church buildings until further notice.
4. Funerals can only happen at the Crematorium or at the graveside. Only immediate family members can attend (if the crematorium allows) – that is, spouse or partner, parents and children, keeping their distance in the prescribed way.

Coronavirus

The Rev’d Lorna D Brabin-Smith

Rector of Branston with Nocton and Potterhanworth

The Rectory, 19 Abel Smith Gardens, Branston LN4 1NN

(01522) 794-868 or lorna.brabinsmith@btinternet.com

Friday March 20^th 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 order your groceries on-line, you could offer to get groceries for your neighbours. Even if you don’t have a slot for a couple of weeks that would help them get in some of the basics and help give them peace of mind.
• if you are confined to home you could still be part of a ‘keeping in touch’ network, arranging to phone one or two people on a regular basis (Please let Sue Spencer know if you’d like to do this: suespencer47@gmail.com or phone 823-947.)

• 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)

With my love and prayers

Rev’d Lorna

Church spring clean and open church

The church spring clean has been postponed.

While public worship is suspended, the church will still be open 2-4pm every Saturday from now (brought forward from the usual start date of Easter) until the end of September.  There is a list of keyholders on the Who's Who page and on the church notice board, if anyone would like access at any other time.

Do you need support / can you help?

In these difficult times, it's great to see the community coming together to help those who are less fortunate.  Every household in the village will be receiving one of these fliers.  If you can offer support to others, please fill in the online form at https://forms.gle/uoVZpwFXBHFwoGUZ9 or email nocton.covid.response@gmail.com.

Church and coronavirus

Following government advice, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have announced that Sunday services in the Church of England are suspended with immediate effect.  There will therefore be no Sunday services at All Saints until further notice; these will resume as soon as the coronavirus situation allows.  Revd Lorna will continue to take Morning Prayer on a Wednesday morning at 9 am during this time, regardless of whether anyone else comes.  Please feel free to come to Morning Prayer if you wish.  Compline on a Wednesday evening is cancelled.  If you require any pastoral support, please contact Revd Lorna on 01522 794868 or lorna.brabinsmith@btinternet.com.

Fashion show - not to be missed!

Church spring clean

Please help if you can. We are very grateful for the support we get from the village in looking after our lovely church.

Book sale - results!

The Nocton Church book sale raised an astonishing £561 for church funds.  Our thanks go to all who gave us such good-quality items, and also to those who came to the sale, bought books, and sampled the homemade soup and cakes. The Newark Oxfam Book Shop came to collect left over books, which they've valued at £500. The rest go to St Barnabas Hospice - it's a win-win!

Quiet day for Lent

Thank you!!

Thank you to everyone who supported the coffee morning in aid of Hope for Tomorrow - those who organised and took part in the rota to keep the tea and coffee flowing, those who made cakes, those who kept us entertained with singing and those who turned up!  We raised a magnificent £330.17 and it was a lovely community event.

Book sale

Only a few more days to wait!

Coffee morning - this coming Friday!

Don't forget our coffee morning this week.  All donations of cakes gratefully received - they don't have to be home-made!

Book sale

If you have any books, DVDs/CDs or jigsaws to donate, please leave them in the box in the church south porch (the one the other side of the building from the road). And please come to the event!!