Christ is risen; He is risen indeed! A happy, continuing Eastertide to you.
This week there was an entertaining newspaper article, entitled: “Good habits: surviving lockdown, by nuns who do it 24/7.” (The Times, 20 April 2020, Joanna Moorhead.) The writer asked: What can we learn from nuns in enclosed communities – those who experience a kind of voluntary lockdown on a permanent basis? There was both a of recognition of inevitable tensions and creative ways to manage those things.
Christ is risen; He is risen indeed! A happy Easter to you.
Thank you to all of you who have been able to join in the worship of our live streamed services throughout Holy Week. And thank you for so many lovely messages received, indicating that even an empty sanctuary, can bring us together. From your messages, there are precious glimpses of your own homes. One friend corresponded: “Easter 2020 has been special in so many ways – time for reflection and meditation. My dining room has morphed into a sometime Pilates studio and, during a part of every day this past week, my sanctuary, complete with candle lit and, on Thursday evening and today, Easter Sunday, bread and wine.” Another described how a toy-strewn room became, an hour later, the place to share bread and wine on the evening of Maundy Thursday. Another spoke about Easter morning – “trumpets sounding in our hearts, if not our ears!” Post service get- togethers for “coffee in the virtual Upper Hall” continues. As a church member wrote last week: “Self-isolating doesn’t mean that we are without communication or communion.”
As we approach Easter this year it may feel very peculiar. Cut off from so many of the traditional familiarities of the season – normal school holidays, Palm Sunday processions, sombre markings of Maundy Thursday with holy communion, dwelling on the reading of the Good Friday Passion, preparing the sanctuary with beautiful blooms on Saturday, before being greeted by the trumpets and full choir, heralding Easter morning. This year some of the outer rituals will be missing, but the journey remains the same. Like any year, we will mark the events of Holy Week to draw close to the meaning of the Cross and the experience of the Resurrection. That is still there for us, however we separated, fearful or isolated we may feel.
I hope you have found ways to get through the week and that even amid unprecedented times you have had some precious moments. In the manse, April Fool’s day was thoroughly celebrated with disappearing tooth brushes and cellotaped taps squirting unsuspecting parents! Outside the domestic, the media keeps us aware that we are entering a still more serious phase of the pandemic. It is a time to pray for our own courage and to pray for strength, peace and protection for those who are working to combat the Corona Virus and those keeping day to day living, functioning.
Each of us will be acutely aware of the change to normal life currently being experienced throughout the country and around the world. The situation, and its accompanying restrictions, continue to evolve. Since last week we have had to close the church building. But, as the message on the website front page declares: “The building is closed, but Church is not shut!” Thanks to a lot of hard work and timely organisation, the Church office is open and staffed from home, so that people can be in touch, especially if they want to ask for help or update about the situation of someone they know. All members are of course encouraged to pray for, and stay in touch with each other, to offer the friendship and support that will prove so vital in these unusual times.
In this time of health emergency, rapid change and longer-term uncertainty, as people of faith we are not immune to the anxieties and fears of the wider public. As people of faith we also have responsibilities to each other and the wider community whom we seek to serve. Accordingly, in line with Government and Church guidance, we are suspending all public worship with immediate effect. However, as the Archbishop of Canterbury said: “Public worship will have to stop for a season. But this does not mean that the Church has shut up shop. Far from it.” So, here is what we are planning:
The office is open from 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m, Monday to Friday.
There is a 24-hour answering machine service.
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St Columba’s is located on Pont Street in Knightsbridge in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The Church is within easy reach of three London Underground stations – Knightsbridge (Piccadilly Line), South Kensington (Piccadilly, Circle and District Lines) and Sloane Square (Circle and District Lines).
St. Columba's Pont Street London SW1X 0BD
+44 (0)20-7584-2321
office@stcolumbas.org.uk
Getting here by tube
Knightsbridge Station
Take the Harrods exit if open (front car if coming from the East, rear car if coming from the West). Come up the stairs to street level, carry on keeping Harrods on your right. Turn right into Basil Street. Carry straight on into Walton Place with St Saviour’s Church on your left. At the traffic lights, St Columba’s is to your left across the street. If the Harrods exit is closed, take the Sloane Street exit, turn right into Basil Street. Carry straight on past Harrods with the shop on your right, into Walton Place as before.
South Kensington Station
Come up the stairs out of the station and turn left into the shopping arcade. Turn left again into Pelham Street. At the traffic lights at the end of Pelham Street cross Brompton Road, turn left then immediately right into the narrow street of Draycott Avenue. After just a few yards turn left into Walton Street. Carry on walking up Walton Street until the traffic lights at the corner of Pont Street. Turn right and after a few steps you will be at St Columba’s!
Sloane Square Station
Cross over the square into Sloane Street. Walk along Sloane Street until the traffic lights at the corner of Pont Street. Turn left into Pont Street. St Columba’s will then be in sight.
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