Christ Church, East Sheen have a new YouTube series for young families providing a story, time for prayer, and an activity. Click here to find the video each week. The first one can be seen below
All posts by deanerysynod
Seminars on TS Eliot’s Four Quartets
Richard Harries will be convening a series of seminars on T.S.Eliot’s Four Quartets on Thursdays at 4 or 4.30 pm (to be confirmed) beginning on January 7th 2021 and lasting for one and a half hours. The first two will be in church, socially distanced. All are welcome, no prior expertise is needed and all you will require is a copy of the poem, available in paperback from about £10. You can also listen to T S Eliot reading the poem on YouTube
The series may run into Lent.
This poem expresses Eliot’s mature faith and repays close reading. It would help to have a rough indication of those expressing an initial interest. Please send your name to Cheryl at the office on office@stmarybarnes.org.
Advent and Christmas Services around the Deanery
Services for Advent Sunday are below. Keep checking back for details of Christmas services around the Deanery.
Advent Sunday, 29th November
4pm Advent Carols from St Michael and All Angels – Advent Evening Prayer via Zoom including pre-recorded music from St Michael’s choir. Email admin@stmichaelbarnes.org to join.
6:30pm Advent Carol Service from All Saints, East Sheen – streamed live on Facebook.
6:30pm Advent Carol Service from St Anne’s, Kew – streamed live on Facebook. The service will explore through music, anthems, antiphons and readings the great Advent theme of longing for light. Music by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Josquin des Préz, Orlando Gibbons and James MacMillan will intersperse the readings and prayers.
6:30pm Service of Music and Readings for Advent from Richmond Team Ministry – streamed live via the St Mary Magdalene Facebook page. Music by McDowell, Joubert, Bach and Knight Click here for the Order of Service.
6pm Southwark Cathedral Advent Procession – All are welcome to join this special service online to mark the beginning of the season of Advent. The Cathedral Lay Clerks will lead everyone from darkness to light, in the candlelit Cathedral as we celebrate the biblical figures heralding the birth of the Messiah. Click here.
Sunday 6th December
5pm Advent Music and Readings by Candlelight at St Luke’s, Kew – join this traditional Advent service in person or via Facebook.
Holy Trinity, Barnes
St Michael an All Angels, Barnes
St Mary’s, Barnes
St Mary the Virgin, Mortlake
All Saints, East Sheen
Christ Church East Sheen
Richmond Team Ministry
Click here for more details about the Richmond Team Ministry Christmas Services and to book a place. Contacts for Zoom Services:
Rev Neil Summers email neil.summers@richmondteamministry.org
Rev Anne Crawford email anne.crawford@richmondteamministry.org
Rev Canon Wilma Roest email rector@richmondteamministry.org
Holy Trinity, Richmond
St Anne’s, Kew – Online Services Only
St Lukes, Kew
St Peter’s Ham
St Richard’s Ham
Advent Talks, Discussion Groups and Trails around the Deanery
Liturgy of the Ordinary from St Michael and All Angels, Barnes
This year, St Michael and All Angels has an Advent theme of prayer and spirituality at home, inspired by the amount of time we have all had to spend at home this year.
Rev Stephen Stavrou writes:
“Our sermons, books and discussion groups seek to help us connect our faith with the daily practice of living. To see the sacred in the secular and secular in the sacred.”
They recommend two books for Advent reading (see below) and will be holding Advent book groups via Zoom. Please email admin@stmichaelbarnes.org if your are interested in joining.
Christmas Tree Festival at St Michael and All Angels, Barnes
Advent Journey from Christ Church, East Sheen
Each day during Advent receive by email a daily reflection based on an image poem or text, following the themes of change, uncertainty, light and hope. Each day there will be a simple activity or craft. Please email russenbergerjudith@gmail.com if you wish to take part.
Advent Talks from All Saints, East Sheen
This year All Saints, East Sheen are looking at the Nativity and Person of Jesus – what the Gospels say about his birth, what Jesus says about himself, and why these things matter to our faith. There will be a bit of preparatory thinking for each session.
The talks will be at 8.00 p.m. on Tuesdays 24th November and 1st, 8th, and 15th December. Please email alexbarrow1@gmail.com for the link to the Zoom meeting.
Advent Meditations from Richmond Team Ministry
Each Wednesday during Advent clergy from Richmond Team Ministry will each lead a short reflection on the theme of Advent, which is
concluded by saying Compline together. Click here for the order of service for Compline.
The reflections will be at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesdays 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd December. Click here to contact Richmond Team Ministry for the meeting link..
Advent Book List from Richmond Team Ministry
The Richmond Team Ministry clergy have put together a short recommended Advent booklist.
Prayer, Where to Start and How to Keep Going by Stephen Cottrell
No one ever becomes an expert in prayer, but this little book sets out to help become more open to God’s presence, which is the heart of prayer.
Let it Slow, an Advent Calendar with a Difference by Stephen Cottrell
Christmas can be one of the most joyful but stressful times of year. This guide offers another way to approach December.
Heaven in Ordinary, a Poet’s Corner Collection by Malcolm Guite Everyday events and encounters, landscapes and poetry, stories, memory and a sense of the sacred: the musings of a poet’s mind
Frequencies of God, Walking through Advent with R.S. Thomas by Carys Walsh
28 reflections on Thomas’s poetry as a guide for this season, exploring themes of waiting, accepting, journeying and birthing.
Christmas Trails
Look our for Christmas windows and displays in homes around Richmond, Mortlake and Ham as Churches encourage us to display the joy of Christmas. Holy Trinity, Richmond are even having a competition (click here)! Click here for a trail map around Mortlake and visit St Michael and All Angels, Barnes or click here to pick up trail maps around Barnes. Click here to see more pictures.
Mission Advent Calendar from Holy Trinity, Richmond
During Advent Holy Trinity, Richmond are highlighting the various aspects of mission they support. Every day they will highlight a person or organisation they are connected with, and a new one will be revealed each day. Click here daily to find encouragements for your faith and ways to pray for mission during Advent.
Online Advent Calendar
Online Advent Calendar produced by a group of clergy gives a daily
reflection, a reading, pieces of art and music for each day during Advent, starting Sunday 29th November. Good for the soul and easier on the waistline!
https://adventonline.faith/advent-calendar/
Pictures of Advent and Christmas from Around the Deanery
Virtual Posada from St John the Divine
Over the last few years, members of St John the Divine have participated in the Posada in which the (knitted) Holy Family travel around from house to house during the lead-up to Christmas, symbolising the journey to Bethlehem.
Sadly, it can’t happen in the usual way this year, so they have devised a virtual Posada instead! They will be sending out pictures with Mary, Joseph and the donkey travelling around familiar local scenes, culminating in their arrival at St John’s on Christmas Eve.
Click here to follow the Posada.
Christmas Stable at St Mary’s, Barnes
Carol Singing
Christmas Lights from Holy Trinity, Richmond
Christmas Windows
Nativity play from Holy Trinity, Richmond
Nativity from St Mary, Barnes
Retelling of the Christmas Story from St Mary the Virgin, Mortlake
Lights and a Snow Machine at St Michael and All Angels, Barnes, Nativity
Oh Christmas Trees!
All Saints, East Sheen 
St Luke’s, Kew 
Christmas Tree Festival at St Michael and All Angels, Barnes
Christmas Cribs
St Mary Magdalene, Richmond 
St Michael and All Angels, Barnes 
St Peter’s, Petersham 
St Anne’s, Kew 
St Luke’s, Kew 
St John the Divine, Richmond
Christingles
St Mary, Barnes 
Christingle bags for children visiting St Mary Magdalene, Richmond 
All Saints. East Sheen 
Christingle bags for St Anne’s, Kew, virtual Christingle Service 
Virtual Christingle service from St Anne’s, Kew
Welcare December Newsletter 2020
Diocesan Synod 5th December 2020
OPEN MEETING WITH LUCY ABRAHAM FROM GLASS DOOR
We held an Open Meeting via Zoom with Lucy Abraham from Glass Door on Thursday, 26th November. Lucy spoke about the current situation for rough sleepers locally, Glass Door’s intended response in line with the Covid related restrictions and the support that churches and individuals can give to Glass Door.
If you missed the meeting you can listen here:
The slides from the meeting are available here:
During the talk, Lucy mentioned many ways that you can support the work of Glass Door or help a homeless person.
If you are concerned about someone over the age of 18 that you have seen sleeping rough in London, you can use the Streetlink website to send an alert to StreetLink. The details you provide will be reviewed by the StreetLink team who will look at the information you provide and make a judgement as to whether the alert is suitable to be sent to the local street outreach for the area in which you have seen the person, to help them find the individual and connect them to support.
It is important to note that if you think the person you are concerned about is under 18 please do not contact StreetLink but instead call the police.
Please click here to find out how you can help the work of Glass Door this winter.
Lockdown Pictures and Bells
Daily Bell at St Mary Magdalene, Mortlake
A single bell has been rung at St Mary Magdalene, at 6 o’clock each evening since the beginning of the current lockdown.
On All Saints Day, the Archbishops wrote to all the clergy in the Church of England. In this letter, they stated their conviction that the first and primary response of the Church at this time was prayer.
“Bearing in mind our primary vocation as the Church of Jesus Chris is to pray and to serve, we call upon the Church of England to make this
month of lockdown a month of prayer. More than anything else, whatever the nation thinks, we know that we are in the faithful hands of the risen Christ who knows our weaknesses, tiredness and struggles and whose steadfast love endures for ever.
The Archbishops, in consultation with the House of Bishops, decided that this call would take the form of an invitation to every Christian
and person of goodwill to pray at 6 pm every day, beginning on Thursday 5 November for the period of this present lock-down.
In order to stimulate this time of prayer, where it is possible, churches are encouraged to ring a single bell at 6 pm.
Daily Lockdown Pictures from St Mary the Virgin, Mortlake
St Mary the Virgin, Mortlake is posting daily pictures of the local area on Facebook and Twitter.
Deanery Synod 3rd November 2020
This was held via Zoom at 7:30pm on Monday 3rd November. See below for agenda and minutes.