We are just digesting the news that the Archbishops have this afternoon written to ask that all Church of England public worship be suspended for the immediate future.
The central part of their letter reads:
As the challenge of the coronavirus grips the world, and as the Government asks every individual and every organisation to rethink its life, we are now asking the Church of England in all its parishes, chaplaincies and ministries to serve all people in a new way. Public worship will have to stop for a season. Our usual pattern of Sunday services and other mid-week gatherings must be put on hold. But this does not mean that the Church of England has shut up shop. Far from it. We need to look at new ways of serving everyone.
We have already been doing some reflecting about being a creative Christian community if unable to meet for worship, and we are due to receive guidance on a range of issues from our own Bishop in the next day or two, so hope to say some positive things in the next few days.
