Although public worship was not allowed on Remembrance Sunday, churches across the deanery remembered the fallen and gave thanks for their sacrifice with Acts of Remembrance outdoors and private prayers inside church.
Christ Church, East Sheen are releasing short videos each Sunday evening, comprised of a mixture of words and music. These aim to help continue worship at home and to bring some brightness to your Sundays at a time in which a sense of community is needed more than ever.
Watch the first of these videos from below and visit their YouTube Channel Christ Church at Home or their Facebook page for the weekly videos.
For the latest edition of TeamTalk, Richmond Team Ministry asked congregation members and clergy to write down their experiences of Lockdown. What emerged was the joyfulness and hope that was derived from the unprecedented and challenging situation we all found ourselves in. Read their stories below.
Keith Nurse writes in the latest edition of the Cornerstone:
The first Service at HTR took place on 18 June 1870, so this year is our 150th anniversary! 
Our plan was to have our main celebration on 20 June, the nearest Saturday to this, although it now seems likely that we will need to change this. The idea was to have a church morning together followed by lunch, and in the afternoon the Bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun, would join us for a Service of Thanksgiving followed by tea. We were also hoping to arrange other special events during 2020, which we will keep under review as the year unfolds.
The 28 August 1869 edition of the Surrey Comet reports on the laying of the Foundation Stone of our church on 26 August by Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck, a granddaughter of George III, grandmother of Edward VIII and George VI and great grandmother of Elizabeth II. The report explains that towards the end of 1868 “… a number of persons, feeling
the need of more Church accommodation in St John’s parish, owing to the great increase of population, consulted together and formed a committee for the purpose of promoting the building of a new district
Church, to be called the Church of the Holy Trinity.” The committee made its first appeal for subscriptions in November 1868, so it’s remarkable that the first Service took place little more than 18 months later!
The report describes in some detail the physical plans for the church and the funding needed, as well as the laying of the Foundation Stone, an event attended by some 2,000 people that ended in interesting fashion! – “The Princess had hardly left the place before several men – the attention
of the police and of the committee being temporarily diverted – commenced, in a very rough manner, pulling the festoons and wreaths to pieces, in order to secure the flowers of which they were partly composed. Probably it was done for the purpose of securing something, however frail, as mementos of the occasion, but it might have been done in a more becoming manner.”
Unfortunately the Coronavirus pandemic put a stop to the events that had been planned for the anniversary weekend. Rather than seeing this as a negative, Holy Trinity have decided that instead they will have a whole year of celebration, culminating in a big celebration on Trinity Sunday 2021. In that year Holy Trinity will not only have events but also some challenges the first of which challenges you to come up with 150 things to be thankful for over the next year.
Check back here for more events and challenges as they happen or click here to find out more.
Our Churches may have reopened and we may be seeing our fellow parishioners again but with sitting apart in the church, waving the Peace from a distance and no coffee after the service, we may feel more apart from our friends than before.
St John the Divine, Richmond recognised this and continued it’s Sunday after-service ‘coffee mornings’ via Zoom when the Churches reopened. They are looking at replacing these with weekday evening congregational get-togethers on Zoom. There will be about 20-25 minutes for conversation, and the session will then conclude with a short act of worship, the office of Compline (Night Prayer).
St Michael and All Angels, Barnes have resumed their Zoom coffee on Sunday mornings with a speaker each week and a chance for parishioners to catch up.
Congratulations to Rev Martin Calderbank from St Michael and All Angels and Rev Sarah Atkins from St Richard’s, Ham on their ordinations as priests by Rt Revd Dr Richard Cheetham, Bishop of Kingston at All Saints, Kingston on Saturday 17th October.
The wind blows where it chooses,
and you hear the sound of it,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
John 3:8
Congratulations to Ruth Martin who is a Reader in the Richmond Team Ministry. She and with six others were awarded the Lancelot Andrewes Medal by Bishop Christopher for distinguished service during the pandemic on Sunday 27th September. As Diocesan Secretary, Ruth worked with Bishop Christopher on the Coronavirus Task Group.
Speaking of the award, Bishop Christopher said: “The Lancelot Andrewes medal is in my personal gift and I have awarded them initially to those who have worked closely with me or on the front line during the pandemic. They are given as a token of my personal esteem and appreciation. In the coming weeks and months I shall be making further awards to mark the heroic work undertaken around the Diocese as we rise to the challenges presented by the pandemic.”
Click here to read the full press release.
Please see below a job opportunity with Riverbank Trust. Riverbank Trust is a Christian Charity which seeks to love, support and befriend vulnerable single Mums and their families in the London Borough of Richmond.
Holy Trinity, Richmond are currently looking to recruit a Children, Youth and Families Minister who is:
More details and application form at htrichmond.org.uk/cyf.
The closing date for applications is noon on Wednesday 30 September.
