All Saints Whitstable additional Xtra

Initial reflections on the Crisis we all face

The Coronavirus crisis that has become to take hold of our own nation in dramatic ways is going to affect our lives for years to come – that is what experts are predicting due to the economic effects it will have.

FOOD

However, our immediate concerns must be centred on caring for the needy and vulnerable in our own community.

I am pleased to see that Whitstable is already bringing together volunteers to help ensure those who have no access to the internet can receive meals at home and emotional support through things like “phone buddy” systems. We are already starting this at All Saints and I am sure the wider Team and other churches in the town are adopting similar measures.

I am pleased to hear that restaurants and pubs are beginning to organise home delivery services for meals.

I understand full details of these will be circulated in due course and I would ask all pubs and restaurants and voluntary organisations to please work together in providing a comprehensive list of alternatives.

I am not one to advertise companies but these are unusual times. With online retailers having a three week wait and supermarkets being emptied by 8.30am in the morning, please encourage your elderly relatives and neighbours who are unable to get to local smaller food shops to look at other alternatives and help them if they dont know how to shop online.

Away from local provision one shop I found which is delivering frozen meals is Oakhouse foods. Another is Allplants.com

There are plenty of others. We need to encourage who walk to the shops and find the shelves empty to think and plan ahead

That said I am sure that once the panic buyers have no more storage space the pressures on some of the supermarkets will begin to ease.

There are already people without food in their house and who are housebound and we are only in Week 1 of the new measures that have come into place.

On a limited scale and protecting our own health, I have received offers from volunteers who are willing to shop for others at this time. If you would like to help – please contact me.

tillotsons@gmail.com is my email address

LONELINESS

This is my second chief concern. For those who have adapted to the internet and more crucially do not live alone, loneliness is not such  a factor (though psychologists tell us it can still be a factor if relationships have broken down, which sadly can happen too often). 

However, for those who are now isolated at home who are not used to Facebook and Twitter and other social media, and who probably don’t even have a computer, the problems of loneliness is going to be a huge one to face and probably already is.

That is why I am so grateful that I have received a number of offers of help with the phone buddy system we are operating. You will agree to phone one, two or three people each week regularly. I will set it up with you. If I don’t know you, I will ask for references that can be emailed to me and a phone interview, just so I can be confident you are the right person for this. You do not need to be religious or a churchgoer to be a phone buddy but you do need to be open to the fact that the person you are calling may well be religious.

ILLNESS

We have no idea what will happen in the coming weeks but the forecasts are grim.

Can I suggest that if you meet people in the street you do not talk right up to their face but allow a bit of distance between you.

Please remember that if you are feeling ill particularly with a sore throat or temperature you should remain at home for 7 days or 14 days if you live with someone else, and they should do this at the same time as you. With all the other messages we are receiving this can be forgotten.

Please remember that we are not meant to be seeing friends at social gatherings  but only meet with people when it is absolutely essential and even then through safe distancing. It is possible to keep in touch by phone and online. 

Please pray for our wonderful health service, and for the brave doctors and nurses and other medical care staff on the front line.

Please pray for people like myself and other clergy who are taking funerals at the moment and having contact with the public on a regular basis through this, even though we are now asked to do as much preparation before the funeral over the telephone.

Please pray for wedding couples whose immediate wedding plans have been put into jeopardy and who now face restrictions on the number of guests they are to have at church weddings.

Please make sure you give yourselves plenty of rest, and use the phone as much as possible to talk to friends and family. 

We are all experiencing a huge amount of challenge at the moment and the psychological effects will be huge on all of us. I have noticed myself feeling more tired than usual due to the sheer challenge of adjusting to the situation that now faces us all.

TOGETHER

I am delighted to be part of the Whitstable Team Ministry. Rev Rachel Webbley, our Team Rector, Rev Paulette Stubbings, Rev David Vannerley and I are in the process of putting together action plans for each of our churches and our districts. A Facebook page for the whole Team has brought together people from across the Anglican churches in a way that we have not seen before and which is surely of God. I am in close contact with Rachel, Paulette and David and I am sure we will work very well together as we are already to ensure the Team rises to this challenge. Please pray for Rachel in her role as Team Rector in this. 

We will be working with our ecumenical colleagues too over the coming weeks and months to come up with new strategies to deal with the challenges we face.

I want to pay tribute to local councillors who are working hard on developing action plans for the whole town and will post on Facebook details of these as they emerge.

I will be doing a daily email with thoughts and reflections and I am sure my clergy colleagues will be doing this too. We are going to synchronise broadcasting on Facebook of the daily office too. I will also post additional regular video messages and acts of worship which I will post on the All Saints and St Peter’s websites and Facebook pages. These have already begun. These help to keep us together. 

GOD

I can understand people asking if there is a God why is he allowing this? This is a difficult question to answer but I would say that the bible provides a united picture of a world where suffering and pain lies at the heart of the human and global condition.

I have posted a message on the All Saints website about this and compared it to two worldviews or climbing frames which are separate – one purely based in this world and the other which is based in the framework of faith. Now of course I realise that there is huge crossover between the world of spirituality and faith and the real physical world around us. But there are also key differences. I would like you to watch the video if you have not watched it yet.

You can find it at www.allsaintswhitstable.com

What I would like to assure you is that God is still present and if we ask him for strength I believe he will respond. I have often thought that crises can either strengthen or weaken our faith and trust in God. My prayer is that you will be given strength and grace at this time of need and that you will sense the presence of Jesus with you all the time. 
I and my other clergy colleagues will be posting lots of spiritual content so do please keep in touch with this.
Also do google searches on the Church of England website which has a host of spiritual provision that is excellent including details of live streaming. Check out the Canterbury Cathedral website which also is streaming live services regularly.

Also and crucially please check our website as soon we will be posting times when all the churches in the Team will be open for people to visit to come in and pray and reach out to God. It is important we do not all just sit at home and this is one way the church can help by encouraging you to come into the church and take time reflecting and praying whilst still observing safe space with those you meet. 

If you want to be part of a regular daily email from myself with reflections and news of what is happening and may be of help to you, please email me now at tillotsons@gmail.com and I will add you to the list. 

Thank you for following this latest message.  Your friend and praying for you. 
The Vicarage
Church Street
Whitstable 
tillotsons@gmail.com
Mobile 07833 448287