Sunday Worship and other news...

SUNDAY WORSHIP June 14 Trinity 1 Morning Worship Podcast        Morning Worship Service sheet       Morning hymn words Evensong Podcast                    Evensong Service sheet                    Evensong Hymn Words Seal Church Zoom meetings this week: email the vicar for links Zoffee – Sunday chat at 11 am Wednesday Zoom Church – Wed 10th 11 am Twenty minutes of informal worship with our friends at Lavender Fields. Everyone is welcome. email sealpandp@gmail.com for the link. Zoom Children’s Choir - Thurs June 18th  4pm NOTE NEW TIME AND DAY Email sealpandp@gmail.com for the link. Any children are welcome for 30 minutes of fun songs. Zoom Adult Choir – Wed June 17th  7.15pm. Sing some favourite hymns with us. Everyone except the hosts are muted, so it doesn’t matter how well (or otherwise!) you sing. Email Philiplebas@gmail.com if you’d like copies of the music and words. Zoom home groups and Friday Group – email sealpandp@gmail.com for the links. TRINITY 1 In today’s reading Jesus sends his disciples out to preach and heal. It’s the first time they’ve gone out without Jesus. Luke names each one of them. What each does matters. It’s a challenge to all of us. What are we doing to build the Kingdom of God in the places where we are sent? What does our “mission” look like? We may never have thought we had one, but each one of us can make a difference, for good or ill. Some of us might travel the world (there’s not much of that happening in any physical sense at the moment, but we may be in contact with people on the other side of the world through the internet or on the phone, or by letter) , but even if we are stuck at home we have the power to affect the lives of others. The way we speak to, and of, others, the choices we make about what we buy and who from can all change the world in good or bad ways. Jesus call to us is to make sure we are proclaiming the Kingdom of God, making it possible for all to thrive, in the way we live. In today’s sermon I particularly ask how we might be part of problem or the solution to the painful issue of racism, and how we are challenged by the current wave of action by the “Black Lives Matter” movement in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. Think about the people you have met – physically or over the phone or internet – in the last week. What impression do you think you might have made on them? How might you have helped them (or not)? How do you feel about talking about your faith? What would you say to someone who asked you why you were bothering to read this, or listen to our worship podcasts? All Age Resources All Age resources from Reflectionary for Trinity 1 on Psalm 100 https://reflectionary.org/2020/06/13/together-apart-psalm-100/ Roots on the Web resources for Trinity 1 https://www.rootsontheweb.com/i-am-looking-for/public-copies/worshipathome14jun If you have children who are wondering or worried about what they are seeing on the television about racism at the moment, Blue Peter produced a very good short message to explain and reassure. Highly recommended.

Reopening Seal Church for private prayer The government have now decided to allow churches to reopen for private prayer. No services can take place yet, and we have no definite date for this to happen. The PCC and I have decided to reopen Seal Church from next Wednesday (17th June). We will be asking people to observe some common sense guidelines to make this as safe as possible for everyone. These will include: washing your hands in the sink in the corner of the church, or using hand sanitiser staying at least two metres from anyone else who might be in church at the same time. As far as possible we ask you to “look but don’t touch” while you are in the church. As this coincides with us being allowed to conduct small funerals in church again, I will have to make the proviso that, if a funeral is booked, the church will be closed for 72 hours before and after the service. HYMN OF THE WEEK All my hope on God is founded This well-loved hymn, like many others, has a long history. It was originally a German hymn  "Meine Hoffnung stehet feste" written in around 1680 by Joachim Neander, who also wrote “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”, but was translated into English by the poet, Robert Bridges, who was choir master at another St Peter and St Paul, in Yattendon. Originally it was sung to its original German chorale tune, but in 1930 the director of music at Charterhouse school asked a friend, the composer Herbert Howells, to compose a new setting for the school. He received the request over breakfast and said that a tune came to him on the spot “while I was chewing bacon and sausage”. He originally called the tune simply “A hymn tune for Charterhouse” but a few years later Howells' infant son, Michael, died, and Howells decided to rename the tune after him. It didn’t come to wider popularity until the 1960s when it was included in the supplement to Hymns Ancient and Modern, but since then has rapidly become a favourite, with its words of assurance that whatever else is happening around us, God’s love endures. A message from the Tuesday Home Group The Tuesday Home Group met on Zoom as usual. All of us found we were feeling anxious and worried, not only about things going on for us personally but also because of the death of George Floyd and the circumstances around this. We shared our outrage, our frustration and disbelief that this horrific thing could still happen. After spending some time talking and supporting each other we were quite drained emotionally and almost didn’t look at our bible passage suggested by Wivine. She felt the letter written to the Philippians when Paul was in prison would be helpful to us in our current situations of isolation. We read chapter 2 and actually found it immensely encouraging and positive. Despite his circumstances Paul sounds positive and almost joyful about the reports he has received about this church; he reminds the Philippians (who he calls ‘beloved’) that there is ‘encouragement in Christ’,  ‘consolation from love and sharing in the Spirit’ and ‘compassion and sympathy’ (verses 1-2). We particularly liked how he wanted them to ‘shine like stars in the world’ (verse 15). Whilst stars individually are just tiny pinpricks of light in the night sky together they shine out and light up the sky. Whilst we feel helpless in the face of things going on in our broken world our individual small acts of kindness and support make a big difference to those who share and receive them. Paul’s letter is full of warmth and compassion for the Philippians and we found ourselves feeling consoled and encouraged after our reading and discussions knowing we are together in Christ and we can bring our worries, concerns and burdens to him in prayer. Wivine, Mark, Babs and Vanessa Prayer of the week The prayer below was written by the Revd Canon Jeremy Blunden, the Bishop’s Adviser on Black and Minority Ethnic issues, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd  Would you like a visit (or to visit me)? Zoom (and phone and newsletters etc) are all very well, but there’s nothing like seeing someone face to face in the flesh! Now that we are allowed by law to meet with a small group of others outside in our gardens, it is possible for me to visit those who would like a face to face chat. I am more than happy to come to you if you have a suitable outdoor space (and I can get to you on my bike!) or you can come to the vicarage, or we can meet in the churchyard. It’s important to stick to social distancing rules, and because of that I will bring my own mug of coffee ( and encourage you to bring a mug of your own if you visit me!) and we’d need to be careful to stay two metres apart.  If you would like a visit, please get in touch to arrange a date and time for us to get together. And finally... While we haven't got a date yet for when public worship might be able to resume in some form in Seal Church, I am inspired (!) by the thought and care that Bethany Baptist Church have been putting into preparing for their post-lockdown worship...Some good ideas here for our Parochial Church Council to consider... Copyright © 2020 St Peter and St Paul, Seal, All rights reserved. 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