All Saints Berkhamsted

A Warm Welcome

All Saints is a family church which draws on a variety of traditions in its worship. At All Saints we recognise that we are all on a journey together, seeking to be in a closer relationship with Jesus Christ in all that we do.

Why not join us on that journey, and discover the amazing love that God has for each one of us.

We look forward to welcoming you to All Saints.

Rachael signature
Rev. Rachael Hawkins, Minister

Covid-19 pandemic

In common with all churches, official guidance has meant that our activities have been impacted by the measures designed to slow the spread of Covid-19. The church has been closed for services during periods from late March 2020, and our halls have been closed for hiring and for church activities.

Services on Sundays have taken the form of online worship, with most of the usual congregation being able to “attend” via the Zoom video conferencing platform. We have been pleased to find that some of our house-bound members were able to join us this way.

We have now started to return to “normal” with some services in church and some on Zoom. Our current plan is for all our services to be in church from 29 August.

Please see the announcements below and the entries in our website calendar.

All Saints Facebook Group

Our Facebook Group is “public”and is open for all to view.

The posts from members are mainly to give information about upcoming services and events, and usually include photos or other pictures.

Click on the Follow us on Facebook logo in the “grey” section above to see the All Saints’ Church Berkhamsted Facebook Group.

You do not have be a Facebook user/member to do so, or provide any personal information!

Sunday 1 August - the Ninth Sunday after Trinity

The service today is :

Morning Worship at 10.30am on Zoom

This service will be led by the Revd Rachael Hawkins

(Further details will appear here beforehand!)

Sunday 25 July - the Eighth Sunday after Trinity

There are two services today:

Holy Communion at 9.00am in church

This service will be led by the Revd Rachael Hawkins

– the readings are John 6:1-21 and Ephesians 3:14-21

This is a booking link for the 9.00am service

Morning Worship at 10.30am on Zoom

This service will be led by the Revd Rachael Hawkins

– the readings are John 6:1-21 and Ephesians 3:14-21

– the hymns are:

StF 65 – Sing of the Lord’s goodness
StF 465 – Guide me O thou great Jehovah
StF 483 – We are marching in the light of God

This is a Zoom link for the 10.30am service

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Rachael’s weekly letter:

It was lovely to see those who were able to make it for our gathering in the church garden last Sunday. There was a lot of laughter and happy chatting as people caught up with each other. I know there were several of you who, very sensibly, decided not to come because of the heat. It was a hot day, but thankfully the cedar gave good shade. We also put up a gazebo and several people brought parasols and garden umbrellas, so we were well shaded.

I had several requests at the end of the day to repeat the event, so I will look to do another gathering, probably toward the end of August, but will let you know, so you can start praying for good weather once again (but maybe not quite so hot this time!)

The Gospels tell us that gathering with others, sharing food and drink, was something that Jesus did quite a lot. This Sunday’s Gospel reading tells of the feeding of the 5000, but you may also want to think of the last supper, the barbecue on the beach, the wedding at Cana. At each of those occasions Jesus could be described as the ‘host’, or in the case of the Wedding at Cana, the provider, a role that we, as the church, often play, welcoming others into our church building or our homes, putting on events that others may want to come to. Hospitality and welcome is, I believe, an important aspect of our discipleship as we share the good things God has given to us, both material things (food and drink, for example) and the good news of God’s love.

I’ve been reminded recently however, that Jesus was also often a guest, at the home of Zaccheus, Mary and Martha, Levi and Simon the Pharisee for example. Being a host can be hard work, preparing the food, ensuring guests are invited properly, that they are tended to, have what they need and feel welcome. Being a host however can also feel safe. We are in our own homes, or surroundings where we are comfortable, we know what the plan for the event is, we know which food we will enjoy, we know what the unwritten rules are. On the other hand, being a guest is not always easy. We haven’t had to do the work of preparation and welcome, but we are being invited into someone else’s space where things may be done differently and to be respectful we don’t want to get things wrong.

I remember someone once asking, ‘When is the church the guest?’ I didn’t find that an easy question to answer. As individuals we go into others houses as guests, we may visit other churches, but I’m not sure we are ‘guests’ very often. Perhaps you can think of more examples.

We are, however, all guests when we gather in worship and when we gather round the communion table, because we gather at God’s invitation and with him as the host. We may come up with our own ways of doing things and there may be tasks that we need to do to make sure that everything is prepared, but ultimately we gather with God as host. What a privilege to be there. To know that we are valued and loved and welcome in the presence of our mighty God.

Blessings,

Rachael

Services in August

We continue our partial return to services in church for August (and hoping that all services after that will be in church):

Services in church (and not on Zoom):

Holy Communion at 9.00am on Sundays 8, 22 August

Morning Worship at 10.00am on Sunday 29 August

Eucharist at 9.30am on Tuesdays 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 August

Holy Communion at 2.30pm on Thursday 19 August

COVID-19: We are continuing to keep attendance records (for 3 weeks) for Track & Trace – booking in advance helps with this; please read the information for a specific service on this website.

Please arrive in good time and observe social distancing. You are asked to sanitise your hands on arrival. We continue to wear face coverings, unless exempt.

Services on Zoom (and not in church):

Morning Worship at 10.30am on Sundays 1, 8, 15, 22 August