You may have wondered why you hear St George’s bell every day. We ring the bell at 12 noon each day to invite our community to prayer. We have received many words of thanks for hearing the bell every day. Thank you to everyone for your generous support for the Floodlighting of the Tower.
Like everyone else, St George’s church life has been significantly disrupted in the past months. From March 16 all services were cancelled in Anglican churches across Tasmania. The following week our buildings were also closed. The Anglican Diocese of Tasmania has responded by posting four different services on their website each Sunday. We encouraged people to watch these. From March 29 we started a virtual morning tea via Zoom. After Easter we transitioned to a full live church service via Zoom 10am Sundays. This has involved lots of learning new technology for all of us, sometimes with comic results! It’s a poor substitute for face to face, but we’re grateful we can continue to meet.
Many of our Bible study groups have also transitioned to Zoom. We also run 10 minute Morning and Evening Prayer services on Zoom Monday – Friday. An advantage is that people who have never been to church or who find leaving their homes difficult for any reason can now join in online. And we’re all making good use of the phone to stay connected. You can find out about our regular activities and listen to or watch our sermons on our website.
Another unexpected way COVID-19 has affected us was that 4 of the masons working on the stonework restoration works, including the foreman, had to travel home to New South Wales. The foreman has returned and is back on site after 14 days quarantine. It’s been great that some of the masons were able to continue in his absence. The last of the 4 tonne stones are now due to be installed by crane the second full week in May and hopefully the scaffolding will come down soon afterwards.
We continue to pray for our community and all affected by coronavirus. Please get in touch if you have prayer requests or enquiries. You can contact Rev. Victor Shaw, the Rector of St George’s Battery Point on 0424 230 579.
