URC Mid Somerset Group

Today's service for Pentecost - the birthday of the Church, featured one Church in particular, Curry Rivel URC - 180 years old. Jointly led by Tim Richards and Rowena Francis we welcomed Wells United Church to our Zoom 'virtual' service, with 28 participant households on video plus a few dialling in by telephone. Steve provided an overview of the 180 years of history and the service that the Church has provided to the local community, right up to the present day local foodbank helping disadvantaged families in lockdown cope with the corona virus. You can download or view a copy of the service (unfortunately only including one of the 'breakout rooms') from the < Services > tab in the page list above, which shows all the available services to date. If you want to go direct to today's service, click HERE .

Volunteers’ Week takes place from 1-7 June 2020 and is an annual celebration of the contribution that millions of people make across the UK through volunteering. Churches are a big part of the volunteer scene, providing premises and facilities and supporting various groups in their communities, and, of course, lots of church members are active volunteers. Because of lockdown most of those groups can't meet, so, to relieve the boredom, Royal Voluntary Service has put together a 'Virtual Village Hall' (could be Church Hall in our case) with various activities from Art to Zumba, that could be of interest.Have a look at their web site - just click HERE .

The June copy of The Link is now available on this website. Go to the tab labelled 'The Link' in the page list and then look for the June issue. Click on the link alongside to download and read on screen. You can also download a copy and print it out, for yourself, or to pass to a friend.

You can watch this morning's service from Curry Rivel, when we were joined by people from Street, Glastonbury and Somerton as well as our local congregation. The service was put together by Dr Tony Potts and Jenny Potts. To view it and other services from weeks past, click HERE .Then go to the folder labelled with the relevant date. The file you need has a .mp4 suffix, but the order of service is also in the same folder.

The Somerset Emotional Wellbeing podcast is a new, free fortnightly show hosted by Dr. Andrew Tresidder, promoted by Wellbeing South Somerset. Each episode features a different topic related to mental and emotional wellbeing and Dr. Tresidder will be joined by a guest co-host for each conversation. The show is aimed at the people of Somerset and beyond; the advice and guidance provided should apply to anybody who needs it, whenever they need it. The first episode focuses on Loss & Grief at this difficult time. Please find the Somerset Emotional Wellbeing podcast at the link below now, or on Spotify, Deezer, Podcast Addict, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts: https://somersetemotionalwellbeing.podiant.co/

Our news media seem to concentrate only on what is happening on these islands of ours, and are neglecting news from around the world that would otherwise make headlines. While our own involvement with the coronavirus pandemic is important, it is a world-wide phenomenon, affecting rich and poor countries alike. NASA Earth Observatory image of Cyclone Amphan Take the Indian sub-continent. They have just suffered Super-cyclone Amphan, one of the largest cyclones of the last 20 years, in the area at the top of the Bay of Bengal, affecting Orissa, West Bengal including Kalkata (Calcutta) and the low-lying delta area on the border of India and Bangladesh. Communications have been totally disrupted, thousands of homes and businesses destroyed or damaged and an unknown number of people, certainly hundreds, have lost their lives. This is in an area already struggling with the problems of Covid-19, which has affected the poorer slum areas particularly badly, and where water and basic sanita...

Some of you will be using Zoom to relay services, for virtual meetings with friends, family and your organisations. Zoom is stepping up its security measures, so now is the time to upgrade your software to the latest, more secure version. (Version 5). After May 30th, Zoom will forcibly upgrade your software when you log in for the first time. This can be disruptive, so it is preferable to do it before you need to. It only takes a few minutes. Depending what device you are using you can find the Zoom Messenger software in the Google Play Store, Apple Store or, for computers, on https://zoom.us. If you need some help to set up Zoom or a Zoom meeting, I'm happy to help. E-mail me on urcmsg@gmail.com.

The regular on-line Sunday Service from Curry Rivel on 17th May (200517 ARR CR) featured our Minister, Rev. Tim Richards in the 'Witness Box'. With a series of searching questions asked by Alison Reed Richards, we heard about his faith journey, with interesting insights into his life and thoughts for the future. You can view the service online if you click HERE or by going to the 'Services' page on this web site. You will find the order of service in the same folder as the .mp4 file of the service.

Click HERE to download a copy of the UK Blessing, an interesting use of technology during the coronavirus outbreak. Typical of the innovation happening in our churches, this brings together socially distant singers and groups to combine in one rendering of the blessing. Steve Beney used this to sign off the 'virtual' Zoom service from Curry Rivel on 10th May, but it is well worth another look.

The service from Sunday 10th May, which included Holy Communion, is now available to view online or download. Go to the 'Services' page of this web site and follow the instructions there. Alternatively, you can click HERE   to go direct to the link.

If you would like to have a look at the virtual service that took place from Curry Rivel on Sunday, 3rd May, please CLICK here. The theme was Psalms, with favourites, or those with special meaning, chosen by members of the congregation, and appropriate hymns to accompany them. Steve Beney put the service together and we are all immensely grateful to him for his efforts. There are a couple of points where the internet produced a few hiccups of its own, but we hope you enjoy it. Please make it known to your friends and colleagues that this is now a regular event, every Sunday morning at 10.30. As you will see it is also an excellent chance to catch up with what is (still) going on and have a social time together.

Tomorrow's service from Curry Rivel has been organised by Steve Beney and looks interesting. Members have chosen Psalms with special meaning to them and an appropriate hymn alongside. If you want to join, the service is conducted on Zoom, just Click this link , from 10.15 onwards, which should take you straight into the 'waiting room'. The service starts at 10.30. You can watch on a laptop, tablet or smartphone, as long as you have internet access.

Any elderly people in Somerset or North Somerset who feel isolated or lonely in the present lockdown situation, and would welcome the opportunity to talk to another human being, can register for Age UK Somerset's Friendly Phone Calls service. Details are below, or you can CLICK here to go to the Age UK website. Click on the image below to enlarge it.

  OrphFund, like many other charities, has been hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic. Now, more than ever, they need our support. Their schools are closed and as countries are now in lockdown, the kids have been mostly sent to stay with trusted guardians in their home villages. The charity's income has been heavily hit by falling revenue from markets in their home state of Victoria, while the costs of providing essentials for their projects has risen steeply. They have shared this video which highlights some of their achievements over the last 14 years. Take two minutes to watch it. Just CLICK here. If you feel able to, you can make a one-off donation. CLICK here.