Happy Easter!
The links to our audio podcasts, Zoom sessions etc are below, as usual.
If you, or someone you know is in need of any kind, please let us know and we will do our best to help.
Stay safe and keep others safe!
Best wishes
Revd Canon Anne Le Bas
April 4 Easter Sunday
Online
Morning Worship podcast Morning service sheet Hymn words (both services)
Evensong podcast Evensong service sheet
Don't forget that you can also listen to a shortened version of the podcast by phoning 01732 928061 - if you know someone who doesn't "do" the internet, please pass on the number to them. It costs the same as any phone call to a Sevenoaks number.
In Church
TODAY - Easter Sunday
10 am Holy Communion - Fully booked. If you haven't booked in advance we won't be able to fit you in. Many apologies!
6.30pm Said Evensong (You don't need to book to come to this service)
Numbers limited to 35 people. Facemasks required unless medically exempt. Services are said, with recorded music – there is no singing in church, but we do now have permission to sing outside, so there will be a congregational hymn at the end of the Easter Sunday 10 am service outside.
On Zoom this week email sealpandp@gmail.com for links
Zoffee - Sunday morning chat 11:15 AM
Wednesday Zoom Church 11 am. An informal service including Bible reading, prayer and a short talk.
No Zoom Children's Choir this week - back the following Wednesday
Zoom Adult choir Wednesday 7.15 pm contact philiplebas@gmail.com for the link.
Easter Sunday
 After the roller coaster of Holy Week, we finally come to the joy of Easter. The services during Holy Week are deliberately quiet, and a bit sombre, as we walk through some of the worst things that can happen to humanity, and the worst that humanity can do. We go into the darkness with Jesus, and in solidarity with those who are in the darkness now, but having done so, the light is so much brighter, and the joy of Easter so much more real.
But the first Easter Sunday wasn’t all about cute chicks and spring flowers. Those who witnessed the events around it, like the women who came to the tomb, were terrified and confused by what they saw. Even after the angel spoke to the (you can see him through the doorway in this picture by William Adolphe Bougereau) they could not make sense of what they were hearing. Or perhaps they understood it all too well, and realised that they had just been called to walk a challenging path as disciples not of a dead teacher, however much they had loved him, but of the risen Messiah.
ALL AGE IDEAS Make an Alleluia banner , spelling out the word on triangles of paper, like bunting. Hang it in a window or around a doorway to cheer up passers by.
You could have a different sort of Easter Egg hunt, around the house (or in the garden if you have one). Cut out and decorate 12 egg shapes, and write one letter on each to spell "Jesus is risen". There is a ready made template here if you have access to a printer. but you could just as easily draw them yourselves if you haven't. Cut out the eggs and decorate the other side of them as you want. Then hide them around the house or garden for someone else to find. You could make as many sets as there are people who want to find them, so that everyone can make the whole phrase.
You could also play a game with them. Make several sets. Turn them letter side down, and take it in turns to turn just one over at a time. You have to make the phrase "Jesus is risen" , but you have to turn over the "J" first, then the "E", then the "S". If the letter you turn over isn't the one you want, turn it back again, but try to remember where it was so you can find it when you need it again!
You could also make the Easter eggs into bunting by decorating them, sticking them to some string with sellotape.
My Pinterest board has more Easter egg ideas, and also suggestions for different ways to make caterpillars and butterflies - often used as symbols for the resurrection, as well as Easter chicks hatching from eggs. |
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Would you like us to pray for you?
Email your prayer requests to:sealchurchprayer@gmail.com Your email will be read by Anne Le Bas and Kevin Bright, the Vicar and Reader of Seal Church who will hold you in their prayers. |
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CHURCH AND COMMUNITY NEWS
We are sorry that the church building has had to be locked outside service times during the last week. We had a couple of incidents of trouble last weekend with young teenagers who mucking about in church and making a mess. Fortunately there was no major damage, but we decided we should lock the church while we improved the security and surveillance of the building. We hope to reopen the building again during the day some time in the coming week . We are very committed to keeping the church open, because we know how much it means to the local community to be able to come in and find peace.
From the Know Your Neighbours network
SEAL VILLAGE FUND (from the Seal Village Association and Know Your Neighbours)
We continue to receive feedback regarding ideas of ways to spend the money we have to enhance our community . We will continue to collate all the feedback, and there will be a further full Zoom meeting at 8pm on Thursday April 29th to make a decision. In April's edition of Your Local Advertiser, there is a reminder of current ideas, and the opportunity to add further ideas of your own - both by email, or by completing and returning the form inside the paper. Please be as specific as you can. For instance, if you are voting for a Talking Village bench, or benches generally, please specify where you would like to see them. We need to get this right for the whole community.
FRIDAY GROUP is able to meet up again outside, in groups of 6 from ,depending on weather,. But should it be ridiculously cold or raining, please remember you can a;sp join the group by Zoom every Friday from 10.30am just email marionjgilchrist@gmail.com for your invitation.
HMS Seal
Richard Priest, a filmmaker from the Isle of Wight, is planning to produce a documentary of the story of HMS Seal, the submarine which had deep links with this village - see here for the story. His interest was sparked by a memorial in Shanklin Cemetery to Charles Biddlecombe, a native of the Isle of Wight and one of HMS Seal’s crew. The film is planned to be over an hour long and will be available on YouTube.
Richard and his crew are planning to visit Seal in April or May to take some film of the village (including the village sign with its image of HMS Seal) and would like to meet and interview anybody who has memories of the crew reunions or any connection with the story.
If you can help in any way or would like to know more about the project, please contact David Williams on 01732 764068 or williamsredcourt@gmail.com
Wildflower Verges Project and Talk
Seal Parish Council has embarked on an exciting project to bring back wildflowers into our verges and public areas.
There will be an illustrated talk on Zoom on Wed 28th April from 7.30 - 8.30pm.
Do join us to learn more about our native wildflowers and what we can do in the Parish to encourage more in our roadside verges and other open spaces.
If you would like to attend the talk please email christavspc@btinternet.com
DONATIONS OF LAPTOPS FOR SEAL SCHOOL, are still being sought. Remember, if you have a device you no longer use and would like to donate, please contact Marion Gilchrist, and she will collect for Seal's IT guru, Derek, to cleanse and prepare for the use of one of Seal's pupils.
SEND YOUR FAVOURITE LOCKDOWN RECIPES TO Marionjgilchrist@gmail.com FOR A BOOK WE HOPE TO HAVE READY LATER THIS YEAR.
GET MOVING WITH LUCI'S DANCE FOR FUN CLASSES BY ZOOM _ ONLY £5 PER LESSON> contact Luci lucinapleton@gmail.com
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| HYMN OF THE WEEK Thine be the Glory This Easter hymn is far more modern than we might think. It is an English translation of a French hymn called A toi la Gloire by Edmond Budry (1854–1932) a Swiss hymn writer and Evangelical pastor. It was inspired as he mourned the death of his first wife, Marie de Vayenborg. It was translated by Richard Hoyle in 1925 with the permission of Budry for the World Student Christian Federation, an ecumenical organisation for students founded in 1895 and caught on rapidly.
Its tune was already well-known. It was composed by Handel in 1747 originally for the oratorio Joshua. It became so popular that Handel reused it in Judas Maccabeus, and Beethoven composed variations on the tune for piano and cello. It is probably the antiquity of the tune which makes the hymn seem older than it really is. It is a splendid celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. Through him life spills out into the world, touching our lives and lifting us up.
As well as being sung at Easter, it is often chosen for funerals, with its promise that “death has lost its sting”.
Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son;
endless is the victory, thou o'er death hast won;
angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave clothes where thy body lay.
Refrain:
Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son,
Endless is the vict'ry, thou o'er death hast won.
Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
Lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
let the Church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing;
for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting.
No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life;
life is naught without thee; aid us in our strife;
make us more than conquerors, through thy deathless love:
bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above.
• What difference does the Resurrection of Jesus make to your faith? The hymn describes it as an “endless victory” – what do you think that means? |
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