Sunday worship podcast link and other news from Seal Church: Dec 4 Advent 2

 

Dear friends 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 today - Dec 4 Advent 2 10 am  Holy Communion 6.30pm Evensong During the week Monday              2-3.30pm Talking Village drop in at Deniz' Cafe in the High Street. Wednesday       4.30-5pm Children's Choir in the church hall                            7.15-8.15 pm Adult Choir in the church hall                          Friday                 9 am Seal School Nativity - No Morning Prayer in church today.                           10.30-12.30 Friday Group in the church hall Saturday            3.45 Christmas light switch on in Seal High Street, with some carol singing   Next Sunday  10 am   All Age Christingle Service, followed by cake and gift sale. 6.30pm Breathing Space Holy Communion Advent 2 Today's Bible readings both mention trees, felled or about to be felled. Trees are very important to us, physically and symbolically, older than us, bigger than us, and speaking to us of continuity and strength. But even the strongest tree can be felled in a few hours. But from the stump, new shoots can grow, and life can come out of what looks like death.  The readings invite us to think about what we are rooted in. Are our roots healthy and life-giving? Are we rooted in God's love? In the Old Testament reading, the prophet Isaiah says that " a shoot shall come from the stump of Jesse." This Bible verse gave rise to the image known as the "Jesse Tree", a visual representation of the "family tree" of Jesus, tracing Jesus ancestry from David, Jesse's son (Matthew and Luke's Gospels each give a slightly different version of his family tree). It was a way of (quite literally) rooting Jesus squarely as a part of the history of God's relationship with the people of Israel, rather than a departure from it.  Jesse Trees can be found represented in many forms - in stained glass, in carvings and in paintings. The picture on the right is by Jacques de Besancon, from about 1485, and shows Mary, holding Jesus in her arms, at the end of a long twisting shoot, coming up from the body of Jesse.

ALL AGE IDEAS  Today's readings talk about trees, and their importance as symbols of the life of God, which goes on, no matter what happens. Even if a tree is cut down, new shoots can grow from its roots. Find a tree near you and really look at it. It might be in your garden, or in a park - Seal Recreation ground is full of trees! Do you know what sort of tree it is? Does it have any leaves on it, or have they fallen off? Is it "evergreen", like yew, holly and fir trees, or "deciduous", meaning its leaves fall off in the winter?  What is its trunk like? What might live in "your" tree? Can you collect leaves or seeds from "your" tree. What can you make from them? What happens if you plant a seed from "your" tree in a pot?  Watch "your" tree as the seasons change, and make friends with it! God made it, and loves it as much as you do! The Woodland Trust have lots of great activities to do with trees and in woodlands. Some ideas for Advent below, repeated from last week, in case you didn't catch them then!   Make an Advent ring with four coloured candles and one white candle. In church we use three purple candles and one pink one (for the third Sunday of Advent). We light one candle each Sunday in Advent, and the white one on Christmas Day. In some churches the candles are red. Make an Advent countdown candle. Mark 24 lines on a plain candle and burn down through one line each day, being still and thinking, or talking to one another as you do. Send Mary and Joseph on an Advent journey. Find or make a Mary and Joseph - you could make them by decorating some cardboard tubes if you haven't got any. Take it in turns to hide them somewhere in your house each day during Advent for others to find, and think about the long journey they had to make from Nazareth to Bethlehem before Jesus was born. What might it be like for people who have to leave their home and become refugees today? Collect a "reverse Advent calendar"  - a box into which you can put one item of food each day during Advent. On Christmas Eve, bring it to church, and put it in the foodbank box by the font. Follow our Advent series this year, which is called "One Word" , and looks at one word connected with Advent or Christmas and asks some questions about it. There is also a colouring sheet to fill in each day, where you could write the word or draw something connected to it in each space. There are copies of the booklet and the colouring sheet in church, but you can also download them from the link below, or you can follow it on the church blog, where each day's post will appear, from Dec 1 onwards. What will you do to make Advent a holy and blessed time?

WHAT'S ON IN SEAL... CHRISTINGLE. Our Christingle service takes place next Sunday at 10 am. Come along and join us! The collection will be in aid of the Children's Society, who work with vulnerable children and families across the UK. You can find out more about their work here - https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do, and donate online, if that is easier for you. We will be holding a cake and gift sale, in aid of Seal Church funds, after the service (see below) CAKE BAKERS NEEDED! We are looking for cakes to sell after the Christingle service on Dec 11, as well as small gifts etc. so please let us know if you can help with this.  CHRISTMAS LIGHTS THANK YOU to who helped put up Christmas lights around the village yesterday. It was a mammoth labour, completed in record time because of those who turned out to help.  The lights will be switched on next Saturday, at around 3.45, when we will sing some Christmas carols outside the village hall at the end of the Over 60's Christmas tea! Come and join us to lend your voice. KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOURS FAMILY PARTY IN EARLY JANUARY We will also need help to organise this please, so  please let Marion know if you can offer your assistance in any way. marionjgilchrist@gmail.com PLEASE PRAY... For our finances - we are currently running at a loss and having to eat into our reserves. Just like everyone else, our costs are rising, and income is falling! You can donate online by clicking here.