Parish News

New Year's at St James’s:
Fri 31 Dec, 23.00:  New Year’s Eve Watchnight service
Also note that this will be hybrid services, i.e. in church, but also simultaneously on Zoom and Facebook.

George Athansi, a member of our St James's family, has—as a labour of love—spent a good year designing and compiling a beautiful calendar for 2022, in A3 format, with a Bible text for each month in the original Greek, an English translation, and a transliteration of the Greek in the Latin alphabet (so folk whose Greek isn't good have a sense of how it might sound like when read out!).  George came in on Wednesday with a number of copies, hot off the presses, and they were sold out by Friday afternoon!  George came into the Saturday coffee morning, and there are another ten copies available; he's making these available to us, and the suggested minimum donation of just £5 (though, given the high quality, and the expense of George's having them printed professionally, we would thrilled if you could give more!), will benefit the work of St James's.  [Illustrated above are the cover, and first page, featuring one of twelve illustrations George commissioned by a local artist especially for this calendar.]

Gift bags wanted! Our churchwarden Linda would love to take any gift bags you have or may get this Christmas before you dispose of them. She can make very good use for them, as she did last weekend at the Parade of Lights in Enfield Town with a 'gift tombola' which raised a handsome £137 to benefit St James’s.  Linda also added that if she had any more bags, more money could have been raised for church! 
Any size is welcome and they do not just have to be Christmas related.  If you have any extra to requirement, please bring them into church with you next, or have a word with Linda personally.

From Tuesday through Friday (28–31 Dec) St James’s was able to be a distribution centre for free meals for needy families.  These were cooked, portioned and packed by blessed Christmas angels over at Vincent House in Ponders End, and the project was made possible by a generous grant from the Arnold Clark Community Fund.  We also used it as an opportunity to have the church open as a coffee drop-in, and over four afternoons the church was abuzz with visitors.  Our sincerest thanks to Rob Brassett of the Enfield Footsal League, who coordinated the project, but of course to our volunteers in church, who were fantastic.

Church of England Children’s Society boxes. A big thank you to all those that have contributed throughout the past year to the Children's Society collection box scheme.  this year we raised an impressive £450, which has been sent off.
If anyone would like to take part in this very worthwhile charity please see Keith or Carole Harvey in church, or contact them on 07519759820  or carkei2904@gmail.com.
Once again a big thank you to all those that have contributed. —Keith & Carole  

Updated Covid protocols. From this past Friday mask-wearing is mandatory in places of worship as part of the Government’s ‘Plan B’ provision for England.  Concretely this means that masks should be worn throughout the service by those in the pews and those who are volunteering in both  the back and main body of the church. 
Those who are medically exempt from wearing masks are under a greater duty of care, given the risk; those who require some space will have socially distanced seating in the back of the nave on the right as you come in, strictly reserved for them (these pews are now clearly marked). 
Those at the lectern, the pulpit, the chancel and the sanctuary (outside of Communion) still may be unmasked when speaking. Refreshments may still happen, but people should order from the servery with masks on, and refrain from eating or drinking until seated (in a chair or in a pew).
Be assured that the parish leadership is monitoring this very closely. Of course, our online worship continues.
NEW:  Through our church health and safety officer's contacts in the Department of Health, SAGE has made a number of strong recommendations to 10 Downing Street for further restrictions starting in January.  We will apprise you if these are legislated in Parliament, followed by guidance issued by the Church of England. What we already know is that the CofE will push very hard for public worship not to be suspended in churches.

IN ADDITION, note the following:

• Those who visit the toilet should disinfect the toilet, sink and anything they may have touched for the next person, as it was done for them.  (This is to relieve the stewards of this function, but still maintaining a good hygiene regime.)
• Biscuits will be available with tea and coffee after the service, but only from the tea cart in the kitchen. 
• There are risks in gathering in enclosed spaces without masks, such as at the community centre for the Over 50s Fellowship club on Fridays, or possibly at the vicarage for Bible study on Tuesday and Thursday.  To mitigate the risk, these spaces will need to be properly ventilated, which might mean that the room temperature is cooler than might be comfortable.  In that case, please do wear a fleece or a woolly jumper.
• In addition, we would like to emphasise that:
  • All ministers—whether lay and ordained—whilst up front in the chancel to read, preach, or lead in worship, are not mandated to have their masks on (mitigated by distance to congregation, with exception of distribution of Communion).  That said, ministers will most probably be wearing masks while 'up front' more than is legally obligated.
  • If you would like to have tea and coffee after the service, we ask that you not congregate by the servery at the entrance to the kitchen, and please have your mask on when placing your request.  Once you have your drink, we'd ask that you find a seat at the back of church or in a pew, and then you may take your mask off to eat or drink.

Important information for lesson readers in church. We've printed all of the readings through the Sunday after Christmas, and for those who are scheduled to read Scripture lessons at the 10am service on the rota, we have extra printed copies for you to take home and prepare. 
Sunday readings are kept in a transparent folder, which you can find in the drawer of the table on the right-hand side as you come into church (near the baptismal font).  With every hope and effort, we will continue this in coming months. 
[UPDATE:  We aim to have readings for all of January available at church by this coming Sunday.]

Covid Booster news. Important information from our Health and Safety Officer, Richard Griffiths, who has has received this from the Department of Health:
Anyone in one of the eligible groups who had their second dose of a coronavirus vaccine at least six months ago can turn up at one of hundreds of vaccination sites across England.
People are advised to use the NHS online Walk-in finder to check where their nearest centre is. [Click on the blue link, and you'll be sent straight there.

Since the re-opening of the church for public worship, we have have not been passing around the collection plates, to reduce the number of items that are touched.  That, and the number of people who have either only been worshipping with us one (or due to circumstances, not at all) have contributed to a massive reduction in giving.  We fully understand that many have been hit hard economically since the beginning of lockdown, and our situation is no different from other churches up and down the country, but at the same time, many would be keen to to make an offering, but the usual opportunity has been taken away from them.
With that in mind, this is a gentle reminder for those coming to church who would like to make their offering, that this can happen in church either as you come into the church (at the collection plate illustrated above) or at the contactless terminal at the back of church.
Particularly for those who are still worshipping with us online, we'd like to encourage you to use the online giving link, which you can access by clicking on this illustration: 

There is also the facility to make a donation via BACS transfer to benefit the ministry and mission of St James’s—details are at the bottom of this newsletter.

The December 2021 edition of the Edmonton Episcopal Area newsletter is available here to download:  Edmonton Newsletter for December 2021

Bible studies—still going strong!  For the last number of weeks, Bible studies have continued via Zoom, and they have been engaging and entertaining, enriching and encouraging.  Why not join in, if you are able and available! 

The afternoon Bible study on the Book of Joshua will next meet on Tuesday 4 January at 1pm, in the vicarage and on Zoom.

The evening Bible study, which has been studying the Second Letter of Paul to Christians in Corinth, will next meet on Thursday 6 January at 7.30pm, in the vicarage and also on Zoom.

The Over 50s Fellowship Club is reconvening, and will gather again in the Community Centre on Friday 7 January.

Recent sermons are available to download (click on the blue link below):
[We can now report that sermons are also available on the parish website, organised by month:  click on https://www.stjameschurch.cc/copy-of-sermons]
Sun 26 December (Feast of Stephen, Deacon and Martyr), preached by Aleksandra
Sat 25 December (Christmas Day), preached by Henderson
Fri 24 December (Christmas midnight), preached by Keith
Sun 19 December (Advent 4), preached by Ian
Sun 12 December (Advent 3), preached by Ian
Sun 5 December (Advent 2), preached by Henderson

Carol Harvey, our stewardship secretary, would like to ask that if any in the congregation have been making donations by envelope, but haven’t been to church yet, that they let Carol know (stewardship@stjameschurch.cc) or the churchwardens, and we’d be happy to collect donations, which would be very helpful, and would make our treasurer ecstatic!

NEW! Online giving now available.  Ever resourceful, our intrepid treasurer Derek has found a way for us to provide a means for people to donate to St James's online in these times when we are unable to worship in our holy house or prayer and praise (otherwise known as the church building).  This we were able to link through the same scheme that provides our contactless donation terminal in the back of church, but merely by clicking, we have a dedicated webpage (screenshot above) that allows donations (even gift-aided) to be made by debit or credit card. 
You can choose one of the suggested amounts on the screen, or even choose your own amount to give, and donors will also be sent a receipt via email.  This is especially useful to those who would like to make a one-off financial gift to our church's ministry and mission, and to those who aren't on our giving scheme by standing order. 
To give to our church online, clicking the illustration above, or the button below, will take you to the online donation page:

To pay via BACS, here are the details:

• Account name:   St James Enfield Highway PCC 
• Account number:  02710560
• Sort code:  60–07–38 (NatWest)