Holy Communion at Bethlehem
Following relaxation in government regulations, and in keeping with the directions of the bishop of the district, we are at Bethlehem now preparing to offer again the Sacrament of the Altar.
While the church will legally be open for public worship from Monday the 1st of June, there will be restrictions in place that will make offering the Sacrament at Sunday services difficult - it is probable that our Sunday services will be non-communion services under the current phase. This will not stop us, however, from offering many times for small groups to meet for the celebration of Holy Communion.
Our proposal, at least in the current phase of restrictions, is to offer short (half hour) holy communion services for groups of up to 20 people as part of morning prayer (which starts at 9.30 am) on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings. We are proposing Wednesday the 3rd of June as the first of these services.
We will also be able to offer communion for groups of up to 20 people on Saturdays at one-hour intervals 9.00 am. 10.00 am, and 11.00 am. If all those times are utilised to the full, we will willingly offer further times.
At this stage we will need you to indicate both the day and time that would like to come by either calling the office (8223 6662) or emailing the office (bethlca@adam.com.au). Once you have verbal or written confirmation of your attendance from the office, please come at the set time. We will leave the iron gates directly behind the church open for parking. There will also be some spaces available in the under croft – the code is available from the office.
At this stage we will ask those who do not have weekday work or family obligations to come in on weekdays, and to leave the Saturday spaces open for those whose options are limited.
The current proposals outlined here are somewhat exploratory and will likely change in response both to further government regulations, and to how the services themselves work out.
Please do let us know if you have any helpful suggestions as we plan to serve the church as pastors at this unusual time. Please also be patient with us, as we expect that there will be teething problems in how we administer attendance at these services.
In Christ,
Fraser Pearce and Joshua Pfeiffer