Welcome to St Thomas’

​St Thomas’ is a friendly, traditional church serving the community of Noak Hill and beyond for 175 years.

Following the directive from the Archbishops public worship at St. Thomas’ has been suspended for the time being. You are most welcome to come and sit in the churchyard and pray .

Palm Sunday Worship podcast The Very Reverend Nicholas Henshall, Dean of Chelmsford Cathedral – listen here

From the Vicar:

Hi Folks from JJ’s and St Thomas’

It is a week since the last update which hardly seems possible!

Firstly to say the information in the last update is still current and relevant. Click here to download an update with the plan for our on-line church Facebook posts and live streaming – there will be something every day – Palm Sunday through to Easter Day.

We’ll be using meditations for the  the resource NO ORDINARY MAN written by Nick Fawcett and published by Kevin Mayhew throughout the week.

In particular I’d draw your attention to Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

If you’d like to join us for the Maundy Thursday Virtual Agape Meal at 6.15pm we’ll do this through the Zoom platform. If you’ve not used to zoom it’s dead easy. Just let me know if you’d like to be included and we’ll send you an invite by email. This will have a link to the ‘meeting’ which you click on at around 6.15pm on the Thursday and you’ll be connected in. You don’t need any special software on your device. You need to connect through a device that has a camera – either a smart phone, iPad or tablet or laptop. After we’ve eaten together we will move to the Face book page where we will live stream a simple Agape Communion – you’ll need to have some bread and wine or alcohol free alternative ready.

On Good Friday Alan will live stream his own reflection on Facebook at 10am. We’ll then post some more Meditations at 12noon and then between 2-3pm as we spend an hour at the cross.

Also attached to this message is a Palm Sunday Bible Chat Mat useful for the children to have for tomorrows service and a picture of a Palm Cross Wreath. We can’t distribute Palm Crosses to you but if you have the one from last year, our you can make your own (see the Video on our Facebook page).

Some have asked if we can stream from or post video onto our website direct – we are looking into this though it is likely we’ll have to do it by creating a link to a YouTube account which means live streaming will not be possible.

Take care and remember         STAY HOME, PROTECT THE NHS, SAVE LIVES

God bless

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Church of England – Supporting Good Mental Health – Reflections – click here

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Our worship of God and our care for each other continue even if they cannot be done in the church building. If you are on Facebook you will be able to find St James & St John’s who will be live streaming a service of sorts on Sunday morning at 10am. Also currently Dave Bilbrough will be sharing a live session from his home at 4pm each Saturday, also on Facebook. (https://www.facebook.com/stjamesandstjohn)

Prayer for the day – each day the Church of England publishes audio and text of the prayer for the day on their website. Perhaps you would rather tune into Premier Radio if you can receive it or watch TBN UK on channel 65 on the television, which has a whole variety of programmes.

The vicar/churchwardens can be contacted by emailing gailstts@gmail.com
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

To protect the vulnerable amongst us, please do not leave your home except for essential trips.

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The Lent course and Local History talk will no longer go ahead.

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Prayer

Wherever you are please join us in prayer on the 20th of the month at 20.20 (8.20pm) for 20 minutes. For more information please click the prayer link at the top.

God of compassion,
be close to those who are ill, afraid or in isolation.
In their loneliness, be their consolation;
in their anxiety, be their hope;
in their darkness, be their light;
through him who suffered alone on the cross,
but reigns with you in glory,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

For those who are ill

Merciful God,
we entrust to your tender care
those who are ill or in pain,
knowing that whenever danger threatens
your everlasting arms are there to hold them safe.
Comfort and heal them,
and restore them to health and strength;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

For hospital staff and medical researchers

Gracious God,
give skill, sympathy and resilience
to all who are caring for the sick,
and your wisdom to those searching for a cure.
Strengthen them with your Spirit,
that through their work many will be restored to health;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

For one who is ill or isolated

O God,
help me to trust you,
help me to know that you are with me,
help me to believe that nothing can separate me 
from your love
revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

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Flower Festival

Our Flower Festival this year is planned to be on Saturday 4th July.