St Helens Church, High Street, Wheathampstead, St Albans, AL4 8AA. Worship Times: 10am every Sunday

19-Dec Weekend Email from the Rector

 

Welcome to the email update from St Helen’s and St Peter’s Churches. Including…

  • Tier 4 Restrictions and what it means for St Helen’s Church
  • Friendly Neighbour code
  • Link to Livestream Service
  • Online recorded carol services
  • “Missing You” Tree

 

The Government has announced that Hertfordshire will move to the new ‘Stay at Home’ level (Tier 4) of local COVID alert categories on Saturday 19 December 2020. What does this mean for us at St Helen’s Church?
  • Our 10am Services on Sunday will continue. (This Sunday it will not be a Communion Service as Richard is self-isolating having been in contact with someone who has Coronavirus.)
  • Please come alone or with your household, or support bubble.  Socialising and attending with others is not permitted. Please observe guidelines (wear a mask, social distancing and hand hygiene) when in church.  Make sure you are always 2m away from people not in your household or support bubble.
  • However, we encourage you to worship and pray using the resources we make available online – including our live-stream and recorded services.
  • St Helen’s Church will remain open for private prayer.
  • Coffee in the Chancel will remain closed.

CHRISTMAS SERVICES
We have reviewed the services which we had planned and have made the difficult decision to reduce our schedule. We felt that this was necessary to minimise the risk of infection in the village.
The following is the updated schedule of Christmas services:

Sunday 20th December: Service of Lessons and Carols at 6pm.
This service will be filmed “behind closed doors” – even if you had booked a ticket, please do not attend.

Christmas Eve 24th December: Outdoor Crib and Carol Service at 4pm
This event is cancelled
Look out for a special online Nativity film later this week!

Christmas Eve 24th December: Outdoor Carols for All at 6pm
This event is cancelled

Christmas Day 25th December: Christmas Communion at 8am

Christmas Day 25th December: Christmas Communion at 10am
Please attend this service only if you have booked a ticket via this link. Very limited seats available.

 

 

 

Our livestreamed service

Our 10am service will be livestreamed on YouTube on Sunday.  This link should take you to the service.
Click here to go to our channel on YouTube. It will also be available to view later.

Alternatively, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and we have created a Playlist of Live-stream Sunday Services and we will put all the services here.  This link should always take you to these services.

Many thanks for your support and all the encouraging feedback we’ve received.  But more importantly, thank you for joining us in our worship – whether in church, live online, or at a time that suits you.

A big thank you for the Christmas Tree in the corner of the Churchyard.  This was kindly donated by Andy who sells trees in the layby on the way to Lemsford.

Christmas Cheer available HERE!



Even though we have had to cancel our carol singing outdoors on Christmas Eve, you can sing along to two carol services recorded in St Helen’s:

Family Carol Service, recorded Sunday December 13th, AVAILABLE NOW
An informal carol service with carols, and Christmas pieces sung by the Junior choir.
We also tell the Christmas story, in a modern setting, including some “familiar faces in familiar places”.

Candlelit Service of Traditional Carols and Readings, recorded Sunday 20th December,
available Christmas Eve
Our atmospheric candlelit service of lessons and carols, led by St Helen’s choir.

Our “Missing You” Tree is back!

With Tiers and bubbles and precautions being put in place, is there someone you will miss especially at Christmas? Perhaps a loved one who has died, or someone you were hoping to see, but now will not be able to visit over the festive period?

You are welcome to write their name on a star and hang it on our “Missing You” tree in the Churchyard to remember them. You may also like to say a prayer for them.

Stars are provided in a box by the tree – you may want to bring your own pen. Please observe Covid safety regulations.  There are more stars in the porch of church.