This Week/Holy Week and Easter. We welcome you to all of our special services for Holy Week and Easter. Join with us via facebook.com/stmartininthefields as we follow the way of Christ through death to resurrection.

  • The Lent Course concludes on Wednesday with Sam Wells preaching.
  • Maundy Thursday Foot Washing and Institution of the Eucharist 6.30-7.30pm led by Sally Hitchiner. If you would like to join in by washing the feet of those in your household, please have a bowl, jug of warm water and towel to hand. This will be followed by a vigil of the watch until 10pm.
  • Good Friday includes The Stations of The Cross at 10am, a Good Friday service for the Chinese Congregations at 10.30am and The Three Hours, with reflections by Sam Wells on the theme of Boasting of Foolishness: Christ’s Cross in the New Testament Epistles.
  • Easter Sunday begins with the Vigil and First Eucharist of Easter at 5.30am followed by a Eucharist at 10am (in English) and a Eucharist for the Chinese Congregations at 1.30pm.

The Facebook Congregation Group continues to go from strength to strength. As a closed, private space it allows the SMITF congregation to grow stronger during this period of physical separation. It’s the main location for clergy and congreagation gathering together for spiritual and emotional support. It’s a place for prayer, sharing what we’re up to and learning new skills in Crafternoon sessions; using the group is also a great way to keep in touch with friends and make new ones! If you’re a regular member of the congregation and not yet on Facebook or if you have any questions about the group, please email Siân with your telephone number; she can help set up an account for you and answer any queries you might have (sian.conway@smitf.org). In addition, the team are calling round parishioners not on email so we can keep in regular contact. These calls may come from a number labelled as ‘blocked’ or ‘private’.

Faith Companions. Last week Sam and Sally launched the Faith Companions initiative, encouraging small groups of four to make a commitment to get in touch with each other one a week. This may be just asking how wer’re doing but as times may become more difficult theses simple acts of companionship may be s lifeline. So far, there are 15 groups up and running successfully.This initiative is for everyone to join in with so don’t worry if you don’t use the internet. Please contact us if you’re interested to find out more and get involved: sian.conway@smitf.org or 07761 661 529.

Children’s activities. We are planning activities for Holy Week and Easter and don’t want anyone to miss out. If you have children in your household who might like to be involved, please email harriet.merz@smitf.org with their name and age.

Clergy contact. We recognise that many of us will face extreme circumstances over the next few weeks and months. In situations of bereavement or emergencies relating to physical or mental health, a member of the clergy can be contacted by texting 07910 652573 or 07761 661529; one of the clergy team will call you back.

Great Sacred Music. The weekly online Great Sacred Music series podcast is available at soundcloud.com/greatsacredmusic/. The next in the series will be released on Thursday 9 April.

Congregational giving. Following the closure of the business on 17 March St Martin-in-the-Fields Ltd (SMITFL) overnight lost almost all its income and the PCC is now wholly reliant on congregational giving and donations for its funding. You can give to the worshipping and congregational life of the church online here:
www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/life-st-martins/congregational-giving/

News from SMITFL. Like many other employers around the country, St Martin-in-the-Fields Ltd (SMITFL) will be applying to the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to cover a significant proportion of our staff costs (both SMITFL and PCC) over the coming months. Under the terms of the scheme an employee can accept our offer to furlough their position which means they will remain in our employment but we will not have any work for them to do during this period. The government will cover up to 80% of an employee’s wage / salary to a maximum level of £2500. In addition to this we are ensuring that all staff receive their full pay for April and those on lower wages will receive full pay for April, May and June. For more details, please see Ally’s letter in this week’s Parish Pipeline.

This year’s Diocesan Lent Appeal is on behalf of ALMA and the devastating effect climate change is having in Angola and Mozambique. ALMA is the Diocese’s Companion link with the Anglican Church in Angola and Mozambique. Please prayerfully consider how you can generously support the Lent Appeal 2020. As we are unable to take up a collection for the Diocesan Lent Appeal this year, please donate direct at www.give.net/lent2020/ or send a cheque, payable to “London Diocesan Fund” (with ALMA Lent Appeal 2020 marked on the reverse), to: ALMA Lent Appeal 2020, London Diocesan House, 36 Causton Street, SW1P 4AU. Thank you.