24.03.2019

Dear members and friends of St Mary's,

In this fast-changing world, we have woken up today to the reality of lockdown. At least the sun is shining! I hope you have all have enough food in the house and good contacts to help if you are not able to do your own shopping. Please do STAY HOME as much as possible to help safeguard the NHS and the lives of us all. If you need to be linked to a volunteer to help, just let me know.

We are no longer saying Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer in the church. Instead, the clergy will be saying the Daily Office at home at 9 and 6 on weekdays. See this link:
http://www.oremus.org/cofe.html
If you would like to join us via Zoom, let me know (email vicar@smvph.org.uk) and I will send you a link. We will have a trial run tomorrow, Wednesday, the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a very appropriate day for our parish to celebrate.

We will continue, if permitted, to livestream the 10.30 eucharist on Sunday morning. The sound problems have been fixed! Because of the lockdown, we will not be able to invite musicians to assist with our worship. So it will be a very quiet and reflective Holy Week and Easter this year. Details of the special services for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and early on Easter morning will follow.

For as long as I am allowed to do so, I will go to church at noon each day to ring the bell for the Angelus (see below) and to check that everything in the building is all right. I will also pick up any non-perishable food items that are left at the King Henry's Road door so that these can be distributed by our youth team to vulnerable young people.

The Angelus (the Memorial of the Incarnation, traditionally prayed at morning, noon and night)
Can be prayed with two voices or by one person.

The bell is rung three times and these words are said:
V. The Angel of the Lord brought tidings to Mary

R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
V. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you,
Blessèd are you among women,
and blessèd is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
R. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now, and at the hour of our death.

The bell is rung three times a second time:
V. Behold, the handmaid of the Lord;
R. Let it be to me according to your word.
V. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you,
Blessèd are you among women,
and blessèd is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
R. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now, and at the hour of our death.

The bell is rung three times a third time:
V. The Word was made flesh
R. And dwelt among us.
V. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you,
Blessèd are you among women,
and blessèd is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
R. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now, and at the hour of our death.

The bell is rung nine times:
Let us pray.
We beseech you, O Lord, to pour your grace into our hearts;
that as we have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel,
so by his cross and passion we may be brought to the glory of his resurrection,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The collect for the Feast of the Annunciation on 25th March)

This is an ancient prayer, a reminder of God-with-us in times of fear and uncertainty, and is prayed by many Anglicans around the world. I will be saying it daily at noon as I ring the bell.

If you would like to pray with us at noon but do not wish to use the invocation to the Virgin Mary, you could use this link to the Prayer of the Day instead:
https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer/todays-prayer

Or you could pray the Angelus, but instead of the Hail Mary, use this prayer:
Blessèd be Jesus, true God and true Man, blessèd be the Name of Jesus.
Jesus, Son of Mary, have mercy on us, now and at the hour of our death.

This year, let's make the Feast of the Annunciation a joyful day of corporate prayer, rising from our homes wherever we are. Keep well!

Marjorie, Nick & Mark