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Service in church-sliced
David Combes
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Attending worship at church

We have now put more chairs back in church, providing capacity for our usual numbers on Sunday morning whilst still maintaining a safe space for members of the congregation.

Here is a brief reminder of what you can expect, and what you need to do for yours and other people’s safety:

  • The external doors will remain open to provide good ventilation, so please wear extra layers and we encourage you to keep your coat on in church.
  • Please ensure you have a mask, which must be worn whilst you are in church.  However, we can now sing behind our masks.
  • We are serving refreshments after services once more, and you are encouraged to take your drink outside and chat to others there.

We look forward to welcoming you to worship at church.

Mailchimp_header
David Combes

Are you receiving the Newsletter email OK?

We are looking forward to the day when we can all safely worship together once again, which hopefully won’t be too long now.

In the meantime we continue to reach out to the church community through various channels, including the MHMC Newsletter email. If you’ve not already subscribed to receive the email, please register here and you should get your first Newsletter email within a week or so.

However, some folk have reported that they are no longer seeing the Newsletter email, which may be due to email services such as Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail having recently tightened their filtering rules. If you are in this situation, here are a few simple steps to help ensure that future MHMC Newsletter emails reach your inbox:

I’m a Gmail/ Googlemail user

As a Gmail user, your inbox is probably split into Primary, Social and Promotions tabs, and the MHMC Newsletter emails are being placed in the Promotions tab.

  1. Go to www.gmail.com and sign-in to your mailbox.
  2. Click on the Promotions tab and find a recent MHMC Newsletter email from newsletter@mhmc.org.uk, then click-and-drag the email into your Primary tab.
  3. On the pop-up message, tick the box that says ‘Do this for future messages from newsletter@mhmc.org.uk?’ and future MHMC Newsletter emails will arrive in your Primary tab.

I’m an Outlook/ Hotmail/ Live/ MSN user

All these email services are provided by Microsoft and the spam filters are defined in your online settings, so go to www.outlook.com and sign-in to your email account.

  1. Click on Settings (the gear symbol in the top right), then on View all Outlook Settings at the bottom.

  2. Within the Email settings, click on Junk email.

  3. Within the Blocked senders and domains section, find the entry for newsletter@mhmc.org.uk and click the wastebasket icon at the right to delete this entry.

  4. Then scroll down to the Safe mailing lists section, click the + Add button, type newsletter@mhmc.org.uk, hit Enter then Save to update your settings. You should now receive the Newsletter emails in your inbox!

I’m a Yahoo user

As a Yahoo user, you may find the Newsletter emails are in your Spam folder within your online account.

  1. Go to mail.yahoo.com and sign-in to your email account.

  2. Open the Spam folder (in the folder list on the left), then look for a recent MHMC Newsletter email from newsletter@mhmc.org.uk 

  3. Open the Newsletter email, then click on the Not Spam button on the menu bar. You should now receive Newsletter emails in your inbox!

I’m using a different email service/ need help with this

Please get in touch with me directly and I’m sure we can work together to sort it out!

 

Easter Sunday
David Combes
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Easter Services

Palm Sunday Hybrid Worship – Sunday 28 March 10.30am
See here for details of how to attend in person or on Zoom.

Maundy Thursday Holy Communion – 1st April 7.30pm
In church – please email Bev on comingtochurch@mhmc.org.uk to attend
 
Maundy Thursday Tenebrae Service – 1st April 9pm
On Facebook Live and YouTube
 
Good Friday Service – 2nd April 10.30am
On Zoom (meeting ID  676 254 7363, passcode  527197)
 
Easter Day Holy Communion Sunrise Service – 4th April 7am
In the Gardens at Church – no need to book
 
Easter Day – 4th April 10.30am
Easter Celebration of Resurrection Hybrid Worship
See here for details of how to attend in person or on Zoom.
 
Easter Day – 4th April 4pm
Messy Church at Home – online on Facebook or Youtube

Hybrid Worship at MHMC logo v2
David Combes
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Hybrid Worship comes to MHMC!

‘What is Hybrid Worship?’, we hear you ask. It’s where we bring together both physical and online attendees in real time through the power of technology, enabling both communities to meet and share together in the same act of worship.

Hybrid Worship is a step-on from ‘Live Streamed’ worship (which allows you to watch a live service, but not participate in it); in Hybrid Worship, Zoom enables people at home to appear on screen in church and contribute to the service, and for the folk in church to greet their friends who are online.

To attend Hybrid Worship from home, just click on this Zoom Meeting link at the time of the service (or go to www.zoom.us and follow the instructions to join a meeting using meeting ID 995 195 4464 then enter the passcode 123456).  To chat with other online folk and be greeted by people arriving at church, do join the meeting from around 10:20.

We look forward to seeing you with us on-screen at our Hybrid Worship!

ZoomCoffee
David Combes
,

Coffee & Chat after online Sunday service

Each week we hold a Coffee & Chat session on Zoom video-conference after the online Sunday morning service, and it would be great to see you there. Distant contacts welcome! Please remember to respect confidentiality during these conversations. The session starts after the end of the morning service and continues for about an hour, possibly longer if some people want to go on chatting, so please feel free to join or leave at any time during that period. If there are sufficient attendees, we have a number of smaller group sessions to aid conversation.

From a computer, tablet or smartphone, you can join using this link.

If you don’t have Zoom already installed, this will lead you to install it (an easy process).  Alternatively, you can search for Zoom in your browser and join the meeting by quoting meeting ID: 995 195 4464 then enter the passcode 123456.

If you haven’t used Zoom before, please don’t be daunted as it is very straightforward to use and can be run on a smartphone, tablet or computer, and if you would prefer not to install the application you can just use your web browser. So why not give it a try!

A few quick tips:

  • Make sure you have checked your sound and video beforehand, and that you have suitable lighting that lights your face rather than your background.
  • It’s best to use ‘Gallery View‘ when there are many people present so that you can see lots of people at once (although if you using a mobile or tablet, you will need to swipe left or right to see other faces).
  • Please try to keep background noises to a minimum (and your own interjections), as outbound sounds cut across what anyone else is saying!  Ideally, consider keeping yourself ‘muted’ unless you have something to say, and hold your hand up to indicate that you would like to speak.

Should you need help…
In case of any difficulties, please call Brian Simpson (07879 668347) or David Combes (07901 853405) before or during the session. Feedback afterwards would be appreciated! Please email Brian (bandgsimpson@aol.com) or David (d.r.combes@gmail.com) or call our mobiles – thank you!

Emmanuel A6 artwork (2)
David Combes
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Christmas is not cancelled…

The Prime Minister has just announced that Christmas is cancelled.  For those of us in London we now enter into a new tier 4 which allows no mixing and no travel. We rejoice that Mary & Joseph were allowed to travel to Bethlehem because of a census and how we long for the time we can travel and move around freely.

However, the good news is that no prime minister or government can cancel the Coming of Christ – Christmas – for God continually comes among us offering life and hope now and for the future.

A king and those in power sought to destroy the Christ-child and failed. Throughout His life and ministry people sought to destroy Jesus and in the end, when the time was right, He gave his life on a cross to bring salvation, hope and life to the world in every generation.

And as we remember the death and resurrection of our Lord, especially in the holy communion or the eucharist, so we celebrate the mass of Christ – Christmas……Alleluia!

Christmas is not cancelled for every day is Christmas when God surprises earth with heaven and bursts in upon our lives again.

Matt, Myrtle and Stephen

Service in church-sliced
David Combes
,

Christmas Services

Due to Covid Tier4 restrictions, we have had to adapt which services we offer this Christmas.  Text that is struck-out indicates services that have been cancelled. However, we continue to offer online services as shown below:

We continue to hold Sunday morning services in the church, although space inside the church sanctuary is limited, so please read these directions and prebook before you attend.

Alternatively, you can now attend our Hybrid Worship in real-time on Zoom!  See this post for more details…

Here are details of our Christmas Services, indicating which are available as Hybrid Worship (interactive), Live-streamed (to watch when it happens) or Online (pre-recorded, watch any time):

December 20

10.30am

Pop-up Nativity and Carols
Hybrid: join us at church or on screen via Zoom
Come dressed as your favourite Nativity character!

December 20

10.30am

Circuit Online Worship
Online: watch on Facebook or YouTube
 

3.30pm

Carols in the Gardens
Live: in the grounds or watch on YouTube

December 24

3.00pm

Messy Christmas Christingle Service
Online: watch on Facebook or YouTube
See here for more details…

December 25

10.30am

Christmas Morning Celebration
Hybrid: join us at church or on screen via Zoom

December 25

10.30am

Circuit Christmas Morning Celebration
Online: watch on Facebook or YouTube

December 27

10.30am

Circuit Christmas Sunday Celebration
Online: watch on Facebook or YouTube

Here are the details you need for each type of service:

Hybrid:   Join the church’s Zoom meeting from 10:20 to greet friends online and at church before the service starts (meeting ID: 995 195 4464 and passcode: 123456). Or join by using your landline phone by dialling 0203 481 5240 and entering the above numbers when prompted!

Live:   Go to the MHMC YouTube or New River Circuit YouTube pages.

Online:   Go to the church’s Facebook or YouTube pages, or the the New River Circuit’s Facebook or YouTube pages.

Emmanuel A6 artwork (2)
David Combes
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Community Christmas Card

We invite you to share your Christmas Greetings and reflections on our theme of ‘Emmanuel, God with us’ by posting a reply to this post. This is our virtual ‘Christmas Card’ – a substitute for the Church Christmas Card and Community Display that we would have been doing if we were bustling through the building! And if you are able, please make a donation to Action for Children through our Donate page – thank you.
Make a donation here - thank you.
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