Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. … For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:5, 16, NIV)
Christians believe in one God, consisting of three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As much as we try to find pictures to help us understand God’s three-ness and one-ness, it is impossible to find one that truly describes how it works.
What we can know is that, from before the creation of the world, God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - have been working together for our salvation. God’s rescue plan for us is part of the unity of God, and of his love for us.
We see it in John’s gospel as well: God the Father sent God the Son to rescue us from death, and so that we can have new life through God the Holy Spirit.
I hope you’ll be able to join us either in person, or online, as we look together at God’s love for us, and how we can be part of God’s family.
Sunday Services
You would be very welcome to join us at our 10:30am service this Sunday. We are now able to have social contact indoors under the rule of 6 (or two households) inside (and up to 30 outdoors).
There will be a service of Holy Communion at 8:30am in St Thomas, Northaw, this Sunday.
The 10:30am Sunday morning service of Holy Communion will be taking place simultaneously online and in-person at St Andrew. Streaming for the 10:30am service will start at 10:25am, and can be accessed directly via Facebook or YouTube, found on our website, and is advertised on our Facebook page and YouTube channel.
If you are attending the 10:30am service, please indicate that using this form, or contact me directly (chris@norcuff.com, 07446 516945), to let me know that you are planning to attend.
Children’s Church
Our Children’s Church is running this Sunday. All babies and children (and their grown-ups, if they are not old enough or comfortable enough to stay alone) are welcome to join us in the Undercroft any time after 10.20. Pre-registration is very helpful where possible, so that we can get details and explain the COVID requirements in advance; please contact Anna in order to do this (families@norcuff.com).
Services on 6th June
I'm very pleased that next Sunday (6th June), the Rev'd Atalie Gaines, vicar of King Charles the Martyr, Potters Bar, will be taking our services. The vicar will be taking the service at King Charles the Martyr.
Foodbank
Our foodbank collection this month is Wednesday 5th May. You’re welcome to take donations to Sandra at 16 Northaw Road East (the house door is on King James Avenue), or be in touch with Gill Hall (gillhall2526@gmail.com, 01707 874872) to arrange delivery or collection.
PCC Meeting
On the 17th May, the PCC met for the first time after the APCM. A brief summary of the meeting is available online.
Audio Recordings
The audio from the 10:30 service will be available (01707 927907) later in the afternoon, once it has been processed. As well as the ‘dial-in’ service, audio recordings of all services are also available through SoundCloud.
Church Family Fellowship
After the Sunday service, we’ll have coffee together via Zoom (details on the website); if you’d like to be part of the meeting, please email me.
Wednesday Prayer @ 10am
Do please join us on Wednesday mornings, via Zoom, for a short service of Morning Prayer: https://zoom.us/j/93894170814.
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
The Wednesday evening Bible Study is paused until June, when we plan to relaunch it.
Praying during the week
Please can I encourage you, when possible, to stop at noon and spend a few minutes praying; we’ll email out possible areas for prayer each week. If you would like to make any suggestions, please email prayers@norcuff.com.
Step 3 Changes
On Monday 17th May, England moved into Step 3 of the roadmap out of lockdown. There are not as many changes as we might have hoped for - there is still no corporate singing, for example - but there are still some changes to our services.
We are now able to sit in groups of six (or two households if more) during services, if we want to. These groups need to be socially distant from each other, and there should be no mixing or mingling between groups. Because of this, we will be removing the seat markers at St Andrew’s to allow for greater flexibility of seating.
If you would like to sit as part of a group, please do - if possible, please arrange this before finding a seat. Please also remember that there may well be those who do not want to sit as part of a larger group.
How to join us live
The website has the information on how to join our live services and virtual coffee. Do feel free to share the links to our services with friends and relatives; everyone is very welcome to join us, no matter where they are in the world.