Dear friends, I’m happily writing to let you know some more details about tomorrow, the Sunday 25th July. There has been some information about the day shared already on emails, on the Facebook livestream last Sunday and on the website at Back to the Future… July 25th MBC opens its doors on a new beginning (moortownbaptistchurch.org.uk) However, I’m pleased to let you know some of the finer details here.
At 11am there will be a 50 minute family friendly all age service in the main room (known to many as the Sanctuary). This will include a song or two, reading, prayer, sealed covid friendly communion pack for each person, ‘Ayo’ story cartoon and a visit from our BMS mission partners John and Sue Wilson from Paris to find out what God is doing in France. If you would like to come into the building for the service can you let Shelley or the ILT know this week by emailing or passing on a message.
ilt@moortownbaptistchurch.onmicrosoft.com or shelley.dring@moortownbaptistchurch.onmicrosoft.com
I have talked to Carole Smith and Kate Slater and we are aware of a few people who are not in touch electronically so Carole has included all his information to them in her mailout.
We will be broadcasting the service live from YouTube with information on Facebook for anyone who can’t make it or for those who aren’t ready to be inside a building with others. Also, there’s the option to sit in the carpark, patio or under the gazebos if you would prefer to stay outside. If you have a phone or tablet, you’ll be able to access it from there. There will be some outdoor seating available or feel free to bring a fold out chair. There won’t be coffee and tea on this occasion but feel free to bring your flask. There will be toilets that you can use.
Following the service, there will be an opportunity to catch up in the carpark by the gazebos, bring your lunch and chat with others or for the spritely amongst us you may want to picnic on King Alfred’s field over the road. Again, please be mindful of others.
From 1pm the gazebos will be needed so that the team can set up for a Moortown Cream Tea, 2pm to 4pm in the carpark. This has been arranged by Karen Ross and her helpers. Its free but donations are welcome to support Romania. If you know you are definitely coming for a cream tea at some point in the afternoon, can you let Karen Ross know please? Her email is HR@moortownbaptistchurch.onmicrosoft.com You don’t need to book so if you find you can make it to the cream tea on the day that’s fine, but it helps to get an idea of how many cream teas we’ll need. We should have some live music in the service and at the cream tea.
As we will be using the carpark quite a lot that day, we are asking that only those who need to park in the carpark do, as there will very limited space available, and we need to allow space for people who cannot walk to be dropped off too. It may mean some people need to walk, park somewhere else or use the carpark as a drop off point but then find a suitable space outside the carpark. I know this isn’t ideal for many but it would help things at this stage. We’ll keep reviewing it as time goes on. If you have any questions about this do get in touch. Over the last few months, we have held Beacon and other groups in the carpark as well as hosted funerals and weddings, so this has helped us to continually review our practice.
Here is some specific health and safety guidance you might find useful that has been agreed by leaders and health and safety teams here at Moortown.
“Although COVID restrictions are no longer mandatory as of 19th July, we have a duty of care to keep everyone as safe as we can. Therefore, we will be operating within 1 meter plus social distancing guidelines. The capacity in the Sanctuary is for 100 people in bubbles with a gap of at least 1 meter between bubbles.
When you arrive at church, you will first of all be asked if you have had any COVID-19 symptoms. This is still a very important part of the process. We have an obligation to turn people with symptoms away and also if people display covid symptoms you won’t be able to stay and will be advised about getting a covid test. We will support you in this.
You will then be asked to sign in, sanitise your hands and find a seat. Once you are seated in your family group/bubble, please make sure that there is at least one meter between your group and the next seat (you may need to shuffle the chairs a bit).
The rules on singing are as yet a bit unclear. At the moment we are working on the presumption that you will be able to stand and sing as long as you are wearing a face covering and facing forward. If you are exempt from wearing a mask, then please refrain from singing. If these rules change between now and 25th we will let you know. (Update 19th July 2021: “As of today there are no rules on singing” The Baptist Union of Great Britain : Coronavirus although it does say “Nevertheless, as infections continue to rise, the Government recommends continuing caution. Good ventilation, diligence in hygiene, wearing a face covering in enclosed and crowded spaces, and limiting contact with those we do not live with, are all noted as beneficial behaviours.”
We are encouraging all those who are coming into the building to wear a mask. People need to let MBC know if they test positive for covid within 2 weeks of attending the service, so that Trustees can inform public health/test and trace and take any action advised regarding contacting those people present at the service/sitting near the positive case. The same thing is being asked of other groups meetings at church such as being asked of Lunch Club seniors/their families.
Pay attention to the signage at church which will remind us all about keeping safe e.g. one-way system through the Sanctuary, pointers to which toilets to use.
In terms of ventilation, windows will be open in the Sanctuary.
Once the service is over, please exit into the Gazebo by the side door next to the music room to avoid a bottleneck in the foyer. Please sanitise your hands on your way out.
If you are at all concerned about meeting in the church building, then please feel free to sit outside under the Gazebo or in the garden and watch the service on your phone or tablet, as it will be streamed live on MBC’s YouTube page. This will also be an option for latecomers if we reach full capacity in the Sanctuary. (Church WIFI details are MBCnet, Password: Net204WoRk)
If you have any questions, concerns or joys do get in touch with me. Hopefully there are opportunities for everyone to connect in at some point through the day.
I know as I write that some will be excited and for others it brings more anxiety as how to move forward with fewer restrictions. As a church community, let’s put Jesus first as we were reminded on Sunday by so many on the playlist and let’s be mindful of each different person, assuming we do not know how people are feeling, who is vulnerable and who isn’t. Let’s look at this Sunday as a brilliant opportunity to put Acts 2:42-47 into practice and let’s be excited about the new things that God wants to do here across our families and our wider communities. It’s going to be a great day.
Isaiah 43:19
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
In Christ
Shelley
The alabaster jar has been sitting on the shelf for as long as I can remember. Just sitting there, unopened, gathering the dust of years. I can barely look at it. The jar is meant to be so full of promise – a gift from a parent to a child to be given to the new husband and broken at his feet as an act of commitment, honour and devotion. But I have no need of such a gift or promise. There is no one who would consider me as a bride. My hopes are unfulfilled, wasted, as the jar sits there accusing me, as I have given myself to so many different men. I have lost count of the number of men who have used and abused me. I do not know their names and I am now nameless and ashamed, my entitlement to marriage gone. But the jar of precious perfume, the oil that should be poured out as an act of extravagant love, sits there still. 
But how can I enter the house of the Pharisee? I have met with so much rejection that it is an old friend to me. so, I will not knock at the door to be turned away. I have decided. I will take my precious jar, the one thing that I have and enter secretly, quietly, unnoticed. My one thing I will give to Him, pouring out the precious oil from the jar, as my act of love. I am nothing. So, I entered the room secretly, hiding my face and settled at the feet of the prophet, the One on whom all my hopes were laid as He reclined at table. My heart was bursting with emotion – my overwhelming need, my longing for forgiveness and relief, my love and devotion for the one who could turn my life around. And so, my scarf falls away and as my tears fall freely, I wash His feet, dry them with my hair and pour out the precious perfume on His feet. The room is filled with the perfume but also the angry silence of the onlookers and the Pharisee. He says nothing. He does nothing. They are all stunned by the sight before them. 
