Sunday Worship podcast and other news: Oct 17

 

Join us for worship online, on the phone or in the building today.  with best wishes Anne Le Bas Online Worship podcast        Order of service You can also access this podcast by phoning 01732 928061 In the church building 10 am   Holy Communion 6.30pm  Evensong (Said) During the week Wednesday@10 am Lavender Fields Communion (Sorry, LF residents only at this point)                          5pm  Children's choir                          No adult  Choir this Wednesday Friday              9.30 am Morning Prayer in Church                             10.00-12 noon   Friday Group in the church hall Trinity 20 Hebrews 5.1-10, Mark 10.35-45 Today's Gospel is the last in a series from Mark chapters 9 and 10 which focus on greatness and littleness, pride and humility. These chapters of Mark's account of Jesus' life are a turning point in the Gospel. Jesus starts to move from his itinerant ministry in Galilee towards Jerusalem where he will be arrested and crucified. It's a crucial moment, for him and for the disciples, during which he tries to prepare them for what is to come, and drum into them the nature of the Kingdom of God, which will not be like the kingdoms of the world around them, based on power and force, but on love and service. The disciples don't get it, though, and, again and again, miss the point. In today's reading, they are squabbling (again!) about which of them is greatest and who will sit at Jesus right and left hands when he is enthroned... ALL AGE IDEA In today's Gospel story, James and John, Jesus' friends, ask if he can make them his special friends, closer to him than all the rest of the disciples. They think that he will soon be made a king and sit on a throne, and they want the best seats on his right and left hand side. But Jesus tells them that it won't be like that. Those who are the greatest in the kind of world he wants there to be will be the ones who serve and help others. Think about... ..."Best friends" Have you got a best friend? How did you become best friends? Have you ever stopped being best friends with someone? What is good about having best friends? What might be bad or difficult about having best friends?  ...Signs of being special. Jesus' friends wanted to sit in special seats close to him, so that everyone would know they were his best friends. Jesus said that people would know this, instead, by them helping and serving others. How can you help and serve others this week? How do people help and serve you? You could draw some pictures of people helping and serving.  Listen to today's Gospel story (below)

This week's Gospel story.

STORY OF THE WEEK – Colossians 3   During October we are reading through the letter to the Colossians – one chapter per week. In Colossians chapter 3, Paul talks about the new life God wants to give us and what it looks like. Our lives are “ hidden with Christ in God”, he says (vs 3). God knows us, holds us and treasures us, and is at work healing and recreating us if we will let him, allowing his word to “dwell richly within” us, so that we can put off bad habits and put on the love he wants us to show. The chapter ends with some controversial words about wives being subject to their husbands, something his culture would have taken for granted, but the real surprise is that he immediately tells husbands that they have a responsibility to treat their wives well, something they wouldn’t have expected to hear. He goes on to rebalance the cultural expectations of children and parents, slaves and masters – there should be mutual care, not domination and abuse. With our 21st century expectations, we may miss the challenge in his words, but his first hearers wouldn’t have done.   What do you think is on God’s agenda for you? What needs working on and changing in your life? What do you think about Paul’s words about wives and husbands, children and parents, slaves and masters?

CHURCH AND COMMUNITY NEWS   CHURCH HEATING Apologies that the church is chilly because of delays to the fitting of the new boiler and on fuel deliveries. We hope the heating will be able to be switched on in a couple of weeks’ time. In the meantime, please wrap up warmly if you are coming to church in the building! KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOURS MEETING Seal Village Hall. Sat Nov 6th, 10.45-12 noon Please join us for a cuppa, to chat about what goes on now in our village, and what you’d like to see in the future, along with how we might achieve this?  Everybody is welcome! Hopefully, we will have representatives, or at least information, of all the organisations and activities which already take place in our village. Please spread the word that this gathering is happening to others who may be interested.   There will be a CHRISTMAS BAZAAR in Seal Village Hall on Sunday November 21st from 10.30am-3pm. There will be a range of independent stall holders, but any overall profits from hiring out the stalls are being donated to the church by Annie Fish, who is organising the event. The church will be organising refreshments and a tombola stall. We need your help… If you are a regular at a local business in Seal or Sevenoaks, could you ask them if they might donate a tombola prize? Please tell Marion Gilchrist who you will be asking, so the local shops aren’t inundated with requests! Could you commit yourself to making some cakes for the refreshments on the day. There is a list at the back of church for this, or you can email marionjgilchrist@gmail.com For more community news from Marion Gilchrist, check out the Know Your Neighbours blog. https://knowyourneighbours.blogspot.com/