Little Gaddesden Parish Church
St Peter and St Paul’s –
Church of England
We are lucky enough to be the custodians of a beautiful, ancient church, tucked away in the Hertfordshire countryside, in an idyllic setting – the quintessential English Village Parish Church.
NEW The Resumption of Public Worship
I am delighted to say that congregational worship for our three parishes will resume this coming Sunday (28th February). For the first two weeks, there will only be one service, but all being well, we will gradually introduce more services in each of the churches. The service will be live streamed to the Little Gaddesden Church Facebook page*.
This Sunday will be a Sung Eucharist in Little Gaddesden at 9.30am, with the restrictions that many of you will be familiar with from before Christmas. This means:
- Social distancing from those not in your household or care bubble must be maintained.
- Face masks must be worn at all times in church.
- Please use the hand cleanser at the door.
- We will not be able to join in with the singing of the hymns.
- Holy Communion will be distributed in a safe manner in one kind only.
- After the service you must disperse and not stay in church to have a catch up.
I am sorry this still seems draconian, but it’s the best news we have had in months, made possible by the introduction of effective vaccines and the rapid decline in Covid-19 infection.
I look forward to seeing you very soon.
A full list of services up to and including Easter will be published shortly.
The Revd. John Russell, Vicar
23 February 2021
*If you are comfortable using Facebook, the Little Gaddesden Church page can be accessed here. The Facebook page will open in a new tab. If you visit the page, Facebook will track you even if you are not signed up to Facebook. Existing Facebook users can also find the page by searching @stpeterstpaullittgadd in Facebook or in Messenger.
Lent 2021
Lent is a very good time to try some additional and alternative devotions. Our regular pattern of services will remain online for the next few weeks at least, but there are some other services which you might find helpful.
Stations of the Cross will be available from Holy Trinity Potten, via Facebook Live (Holy Trinity page or the Berkhamsted Team page) or by visiting (www.holytrinitypottenend.org.uk/worship) on Wednesdays at 7pm (starting on the 24th February).
Each week three stations will be featured and there will be time to reflect on an image accompanied by original music specially composed by Daniel King Smith and Andy Smith. The services will last approximately half an hour and should be available to view afterwards to watch in your own time.
From Tuesday in Holy Week, 30th March, you can follow the complete series of stations, accompanying Jesus on his journey to the cross. Update 25 February 2021: This service will now be in Great Gaddesden Church and may be recorded or streamed.
Lent is also a penitential season, when some people have found it a good moment to stop and examine their lives in a little more depth, with the intention of making a new start in their relationship with God and other people.
There will be pink copies of a leaflet in all the church porches from Ash Wednesday (17th February) to help you. I can also email the leaflet if you would like.
Should you wish to make your confession during Lent, please be in touch with me via my personal email: john_russell@live.co.uk in the strictest confidence.
We can use Lent as a time to give up something like sweets or alcohol, but perhaps we’re wasting an opportunity to do something a little more life changing?
The Revd. John Russell, Vicar
11 February 2021
Wednesday 10:00am Podcasts
Recordings of pre-recorded midweek podcasts on Wednesdays, are made available on the Services page. See Coming Up… or the Calendar on the Services page for details.
Podcasts in Lent – The Beatitudes
Blessed are those who… Jesus said.
The “Beatitudes” is one of the most loved sections of the New Testament. It forms the beginning of what we know as the “Sermon on the Mount” recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 5-7. Matthew places it at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry because it is at the heart of his teaching. For the five weeks of Lent, starting on Wednesday 24th February, we will reflect on five of the beatitudes. The words of Jesus are the sort of qualities and character that he’s looking for in the people of God. Taken together they paint a picture of the perfect disciple of Christ. How will you respond?
Podcasts are first broadcast at 10:00am on Wednesdays on the Services page, where they are available for the following few days
Messy Church
New Children’s Activities: Worksheets on Thankfulness and Community. Available on the Youth and Children’s page.
Scam Alerts!
Please beware of a couple of scams that are currently circulating locally by email.
NHS Vaccine Scam – there are some emails doing the rounds that are apparently offering you a coronavirus/COVID-19 vaccination appointment. They look convincingly as if they come from the NHS. Only when you read on that you find that you’re being asked for your bank or credit card details, your passwords or personal details for ‘verification’ or some other spurious reason. Ignore the email – someone is trying to get hold of your financial or personal details for fraudulent purposes. The NHS says:
The COVID-19 vaccine is free of charge on the NHS.
The NHS will never ask for:
- your bank account or card details
- your pin or banking password
- copies of personal documents to prove your identity such as your passport, driving licence, bills or pay slips
If you think you have been a victim of fraud or identify theft, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.
Click here to see how the NHS say you will be contacted for your coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination.
Emails Apparently from The Vicar – other scam emails in circulation look as if they come from the Vicar. Typically they will ask you to get in touch with him urgently by email, but not by phone, ultimately for the purpose of getting you to send money or gift tokens – which the Vicar would not ask you to do. And often, but not always, they will be from a gmail.com address – which the Vicar does not have. If you are in any doubt whether an email is from the Vicar, please check with him either by:
- Phoning him (despite what it may say in the email); or
- Sending him a fresh email (i.e. not by replying to the dodgy one) at an address that you know to be genuine.
Incidentally, we think that many of these emails come from the same source, and with each one that arrives we are getting more information that should help put a stop to them. So if you do receive one, please forward it to scam-report@littlegaddesdenchurch.org.uk to help us in that effort.
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The church of St Peter and St Paul, Little Gaddesden, has stood here for centuries and, just as it has always done, represents a beacon of hope and light in a world which isn’t always as we would like.
The congregation and community are thriving and full of life, so whether you’re a visitor or a new resident, you will always be welcome to our services. Our style of worship combines, we hope, the formal (delivered in a relaxed and friendly way) with opportunities for teaching and reflection.
Our principal Sunday service is Sung Holy Communion at 9:00 am most weeks – although on the second Sunday of the month we have a Family Service, sometimes with communion, which offers a simplified form of worship and is aimed more especially at families and younger people. The Family Service takes the place of our recently introduced, informal ‘Café Church’ service during the coronavirus outbreak.
Children are very welcome: on Sundays other than the second of the month, a Sunday School is run during the morning service, and on the second Sunday there is a separate teaching activity for younger children during part of the service.
At least three times a month there is Sung Evensong (Book of Common Prayer) at 6:00pm, and occasionally there are alternative evening services. Please see the Services page for details.
The church is open daily for private prayer and to light candles, should you so wish, and on most Thursday mornings there is quiet service of Holy Communion at 10:00 am.
On most Tuesdays from 10.30 till noon, coffee and delicious cake are offered together with lively conversation.
The Churchyard is very important to our community. It is a place of respite for walkers and visitors to the church, who discover it to be very peaceful and tranquil. Not only is it a beautiful setting for just sitting and admiring the view, but it also provides the perfect place for people to come to remember their loved ones who are buried here, or whose ashes are interred here. For details about funerals, please first look here.
We welcome all those who would like to receive the sacrament of Holy Baptism, (Christening), and many couples are married here or have their marriage blessed. If you would like to know more about Holy Baptism (discussed briefly here), please contact the Vicar. For more details on weddings, in the first instance please go to the Weddings page.
Ministry at Little Gaddesden is shared with the adjoining parishes of Great Gaddesden and Nettleden.
The Revd. John Russell
Vicar
Little Gaddesden Church
Church Road
Little Gaddesden
Hertfordshire
HP4 1NZ
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Photo credits: Barbara Sheard, Lyn Hyde, Andrew Sheard
Tuesday Morning Coffee and Cake is back!
