This week we’ve had the first anniversary of the national lockdown, and the start of a very unexpected season. It has been an interesting year, I know many of us have faced all sorts of challenges, grief, loss and changes to so much of how we live. I’m writing in a season where many of us have now received our first vaccination, and some are starting to receive their second vaccination. As the daffodils are starting to bloom, there are more glimpses of hope in our world, and thanksgiving for all that scientists have been able to do.
I’m delighted to be able to write to you this week, to let you know about the next steps for St Mark’s Church, as together we find the way forward for being church in this place. On Easter Sunday, 4th April, we will resume public worship in St Mark’s Church building. There is still very strict guidance in place for what is possible in public worship, similar to when we were last open before Christmas.
If you have any symptoms of covid, please do not come to the church building.
- Entrance will be through St Mark’s Room, including hand sanitiser station and collecting track and trace contact details (which will be held for three weeks).
- Face coverings are required in a place of worship
- Congregational singing is not allowed
- Distribution of communion will take place outside at the end of the service
- We need to adhere to social distancing. To help with this we have markings on the floor outside the church and inside. You will be directed to your seat as you come in, with those arriving first being seated at the front of church. At the end of the service, we will leave from the back rows first. Given social distancing and seating, there will be a maximum number of people that can attend worship. At St Mark’s Church, this is up to 34 small house holds. If the church is full we will not allow additional people to enter, and you will need to join in the service online.
- Socialising is not permitted, either in church, or in the church grounds
- Ventilation is important, so wear warm clothes!
Our services for April 2021
Easter Sunday – 4th April
- 8am – BCP Communion service (in St Mark’s Church and streamed online)
- 9am – Contemporary communion service (in St Mark’s Church and streamed online)
- 10am – Online service, shared Lymington and Pennington Church
Sunday 11th April
- 9am – Contemporary communion service (in St Mark’s Church and streamed online)
- 10am – Online service, shared Lymington and Pennington Church
Sunday 18th April
- 8am – BCP Communion service (in St Mark’s Church and streamed online)
- 9am – Morning Praise service (in St Mark’s Church and streamed online)
- 10am – Online service, shared Lymington and Pennington Church
Sunday 25th April – St Mark’s Patronal Festival
- 9am – Contemporary communion service (in St Mark’s Church and streamed online)
- 10am – Online service, shared Lymington and Pennington Church
Holy Week
Holy Week will be online again this year. Enclosed in this envelope is a palm cross for you, that I have blessed in Pennington Church, and a pilgrimage guide for you that you may want to use for walks during Holy Week.

Regular activities
During current restrictions, the following activities are taking place each week. All are welcome to join us:
Sundays
Current Sunday services as per previous page
- ~10:45am – Zoom Coffee on Pennington Church general zoom link
Mondays
- 9-9:20am Morning Prayer on Zoom with Sarah and Jane – Parish Prayer zoom link
- 10:30am-12 – Zoom Study group on Pennington Church general zoom link
Tuesdays
- 9-9:20am Morning Prayer on Zoom with Sarah and Jane – Parish Prayer zoom link
- 11am-12 – TakeTime Meditation Group on Zoom – Parish Prayer zoom link
Wednesdays
- 9-9:20am Morning Prayer on Zoom with Sarah and Jane – Parish Prayer zoom link
- 10:15-11am – Zoom Coffee on Pennington Church general zoom link
Thursdays
- 9-9:20am Morning Prayer on Zoom with Sarah and Jane – Parish Prayer zoom link
- 1-2:30pm – Fareshare Larder – St Mark’s Community Hall Car Park
Fridays
- 9-9:20am – Morning Prayer on Zoom with Sarah and Jane – Parish Prayer zoom link
Saturdays
- 9-10 Parish prayers on zoom, followed by coffee – Parish Prayer zoom link
Online Connection Information
Zoom Details
- Pennington Church General Zoom link:
- From a landline phone: 0203 481 5240 Meeting ID: 971 631 0618 Passcode: 1839
- Parish Prayer Zoom Link:
- From a landline phone: 0203 481 5240 Meeting ID: 895 2990 2640 Passcode: 2020
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PenningtonChurch
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StMarksChurchPennington
Electoral Roll and Annual Parochial Church Meeting
Our Annual Parochial Church Meeting will be held on Sunday 9th May at 6pm. This will be within a service of Evening Prayer in St Mark’s Church and on Zoom. We must now review our Electoral Roll. Please contact our electoral roll officer, Rebecca Rickaby (pccsecretary@penningtonchurch.uk or 01590 675662), if you are not already on the Roll and would like to join, closing date Wednesday 24th April.
Fareshare Larder and Pennington Community
Many of you may already be aware that this year we now have Fareshare Larder operating from St Mark’s Community Hall Car Park every week on Thursdays.
Anyone is welcome to join this membership scheme to help the household groceries budget.
Weekly membership fee is:
- One person: £2.50
- 2 people: £3.00
- 4+ people £5.00.
Please bring ID if you’re registering for the first time. Bring a cool bag for chilled / frozen goods.
Each week you get a standard box of general groceries plus a box of what’s available that week, like veg & fruit, sometimes meat / pizzas / energy bars. Typically we see about 35 members turn up, usually busiest between 1pm and 1.30pm because if demand is high: it’s gone when it’s gone! Groceries come from supermarket chains, passed to FareShare for distribution. Usually, end of line stock or close to best before date. Never out of date.
If you’d like to support other church volunteers with this, helping with setting up tables, with making cups of tea for volunteers, and supporting this great project, please get in touch with Jane Nicholson. (01590 672896)
Gentleness
I realise there is a lot in this letter. I’m also aware, as I write, that there is a whole mix of emotions going on for many of us. I want to encourage you all to be gentle with each other as we find our way forward. For some (myself included!), after a year of ‘stay at home’ advice, I’m aware that social anxiety is increasing. We are going to have to get used to being around people again, at working out how we do that well and safely, within guidance that continues to develop. Some people really need to be able to worship in the building again, and I’m delighted that we will be able to make that possible again here from 4th April. I’m aware that for others, the thought of being in a shared space with others may well be a long way off, and that is OK too. I encourage you to make the decisions that are right for you, week by week, to find ways to worship, to connect with God and with our community, be that in the building or online.
Our intention is to stream all the services that happen in St Mark’s Church building, so that you will be able to join in either in the building or from home. We will also be continuing our online services, and are encouraged that some people have been able to join our services for the first time during this season.
Generosity
I want to extend my huge thanks to so many of you who have continued to give generously to support our church and community in so many ways. Those who are giving financially, those who are praying, those who are phoning each other staying connected, encouraging, those who are doing administration and technical, those are publicising and sharing our story, God’s story with others, to all of you, thank you for being part of our community.
If you are able to help financially in anyway, any gift small or large is very appreciated. If your usual pattern is to give via weekly envelopes, please contact Teresa Nivison, 07541 842025 to arrange monthly collection. If you are able to consider giving via our planned giving scheme, which allows you to set up a direct debit, please also contact Teresa, or register online at parishgiving.org.uk with our Parish Code: 416011301
Questions
I think this season has forced many of us to face some of the really big questions of life and death, and for many, may have left you wondering where’s God in all of this. I encourage you to sit with your questions, to wrestle with them, to bring them before God. It’s OK to get cross with God, to be angry, to come to God, however we are. If you want to speak with someone, please do get in touch with me, or any of the leaders here at church. I want to encourage you, that it’s OK to be feeling however you are feeling, and that it’s OK to bring those feelings to God too.
Often, when we pray, I think we’re asking for God to make things different, to heal someone, to change the difficult situations we’re facing. I’m sure many prayers in the last year have been asking for covid to go away, for the saving of lives, for the removal of pain. As we have seen the number of deaths increase, the suffering of so many people, the challenges all around us, it hurts. I encourage to pray with the Psalms. Within the Psalms there are many prayers of lament too, that echo these prayers, such as Psalm 13, Psalm 22, Psalm 42 and many others.
I think often our other prayers are asking for the Holy Spirit to be with people in all that they face, to bring peace and comfort.
Over the last year, many of us have felt helpless in the face of all that has been happening. I want to encourage you with a third way that you can pray too. Some of us recently did the Being With course, and encountered this prayer from Sam Wells.
‘Make this trial and tragedy, this problem and pain, a glimpse of your glory, a window into your world, when I can see your face, sense the mystery in all things, and walk with angels and saints. Bring me closer to you in this crisis than I ever have been in calmer times. Make this a moment of truth, and when I cower in fear and feel alone, touch me, raise me, and make me alive like never before.’
Other Information
If you’re not already, please sign up on our website penningtonchurch.uk to receive our email newsletter and regular updates. Please hold us all in your daily prayers.
My prayer is that through this season, we will grow in love, hope, courage and peace, and that there will be glimpses of God, within the darkness and in the light, in this unusual season. With my daily prayers.
Rev Rachel Noël,
Priest in Charge