Sunday worship podcast and other news from Seal Church: Jan 8 Epiphany

 

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 10 am   All Age Worship for Epiphany Sunday 6.30pm  Breathing Space Holy Communion Next Sunday  10 am  Holy Communion 3-4.30pm Messy Church in the Church hall 6.30pm Evensong This week: Monday - 2-3.30 Talking Village at Deniz Cafe in the High Street Wed - 10 am Zoom Church Fri - 9.30am Morning Prayer in church         10.30-12.30 Friday Group in church hall Epiphany Sunday Today we celebrate the Epiphany, the revelation of Jesus to the Gentile Magi who came so far to seek him.  In church we will be blessing chalk, which we will use for the Epiphany tradition of "chalking the doors". This custom is widespread across Northern Europe. The number of the year and the letters C, M and B are chalked above the doors of churches and homes in this format  20+C+M+B+23.  The letters either stand for Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, the names of the Magi in Western European tradition, or for the Latin phrase "Christus Mansionem Benedicat" - Christ bless this house. Either way it is a prayer that God will be found in our homes and in our church, and that  any wandering wise (or foolish!) men or women seeking Christ will find him in us.   There will be blessed chalk in the church porch if you can't be with us this morning, but you could use ordinary chalk too - God will bless it anyway! - or you can write the formula on a piece of card or paper and put it in a window.  Here is a prayer you might like to use to ask God to bless your home: Welcoming God, who led the Magi to their true home in the heart of Christ by the light of a star, bless these signs of our faith today, that the welcome they proclaim may be matched by the welcome we give in our hearts to the wandering and confused, to the lonely and the lost, to those who seek for you, and those who do not know what they seek. May they find you in us and may we find you in them. In the name of Christ. Amen   All Age Ideas Today we will be thinking about the story of the Magi (Wise men/kings) coming to find Jesus. The Feast of the Epiphany, as it is called, was actually on Jan 6, but we celebrate it on the nearest Sunday. If you have a Christmas crib and the Magi have been travelling towards it, they should have arrived by now! The Magi didn't really know where they were going. They had to search for him. The star led the Magi to an unlikely place - an ordinary house in Bethlehem. We sometimes think we have to be in church to be close to God, but he is close to us wherever we are. Make a star out of cardboard and play "hide and seek" with it. When you find it, say "God is here!" The Magi came from far away (probably from Iran or Iraq) to find Jesus, and were made to feel welcome by Mary and Joseph.  Look at a map of the world and talk about the places you have been, and the places you would like to go. Do you have friends or family living far away? Say a prayer for them. People come to our country from other countries. Do you know anyone who has done that? How might it feel to be a foreigner, as the Magi were, in a strange country? Say a prayer for all who come here that they might feel welcome.  CHURCH AND COMMUNITY NEWS  MESSY CHURCH  Messy Church takes place next Sunday afternoon from 3-4.30pm. Crafts, activities, Bible story ,a bit of worship, and cake! In Seal Church hall. Free.  CHOIRS RESTART THIS WEEK  Our children's and adult choirs restart on Wednesday of this week in the church hall. Children's choir meets from 4.30 -5pm for fun songs and singing games with Anne and Rosemary. Adult choir meets from 7.15-8.15 (no singing games, but we have a lot of fun anyway!). We always welcome newcomers to either choir, so do come along and join us - there's nothing like singing to beat off the winter blues! SEAL COMMUNITY LUNCH  The first Community Lunch of 2023 will be on Wednesday 18th January in Seal Church hall.  It's completely free, and everyone is welcome for hot soup and home made pudding (as well as good company). Turn up from 12.30 - lunch is served at 1pm. It's a great way to get to know others, as well as enjoying a good meal! SEAL ECO CHURCH  St P& P’s Church, Seal, is now a registered Eco Church, working towards a bronze award at this time of accelerating climate change  and species loss.  We warmly welcome anyone along with an interest in protecting nature and caring for God’s Earth (A Rocha Uk) Hope to meet you soon! Babs Bartholomew (07973 478968)  & Lise Michaelides (07570 125115).  CHURCH CLOCK  Alas, our 150 year old church clock is currently out of action, and will need quite a lot of (expensive!) work to get it going again. We have a quote of around £6750 to do the work, which will mean the clock being dismantled and taken away to be mended. We will be launching a fund-raising drive to pay for this, so watch this space.  SEAL VILLAGE FUND: CALLING ALL ORGANISATIONS/CLUBS AND SOCIETIES THAT OPERATE IN SEAL VILLAGE Do you need some extra funding for a specific project or need? Then the Seal Village Fund may be able to help you! Successful fund raising events have resulted in excess funds being available to distribute to the groups that provide such wonderful opportunities and support in our friendly village. The Seal Village Fund will consider bids from any village organisation/club/society that benefits those that live, work or play in the village. The Rules of Engagement:- 1 - Only bids up to £250 please 2 - Submit a written proposal providing details of the project/initiative, how it will benefit the village, and the amount of funding being requested. Proposals need to be received by Friday February 24th 2023. 3 - You must be prepared to come and present your case at the Seal Village Fund AGM which will take place at the Know Your Neighbours Meet and Greet session on Saturday March 11th 2023 in Seal Village Hall at 11,30. 4 - All successful bids will be notified shortly after the AGM. Any questions and written proposals to be sent to Becky Watson (Seal Village Fund Secretary) at beckywatson@btinternet.com SAVE THE DATE - SAT MARCH 11TH 11.30-1.00 SEAL VILLAGE HALL  KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOURS MEET AND GREET PLUS SEAL VILLAGE FUND AGM. Come along, have a coffee, cake and a chat with members of local village organisations and find out what happens in our village. Also, let's have your ideas for what you would like to see in the future. SEAL LIBRARY NEWS Happy New Year from the library- we are already up and running with the first Reading Group session taking place already on Tuesday. I do have a couple of copies left of this month's books if anyone fancies a copy: The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell, a cold case thriller and  The Offing by Benjamin Myers, a story of friendship across age, gender and class after WW2. Storytime and Baby Rhythm is back on Friday 6th January 10:30am with a different theme each week hosted by a lovely group of volunteers. There is also free crafts and chat time afterwards to enjoy! There is no Tea-set this month but on Friday 17th February we will be celebrating 50 years of the current library building in Seal.  In the morning we will have a coffee and cake morning and Frances has put together one of her brilliant quizzes focusing on the 1970’s to help everyone reminisce!!  There will be a small exhibition on the library history including photos of events held throughout the 50 years, together with themed book displays from 1973 and beyond! Any more photos, memories etc gratefully received. In the afternoon Sevenoaks Wildlife Trust will be holding a craft event for children on British birds from 12:30- 2:30pm - this will be a free event but bookable via the Trust. It is half term week so we hope all ages will be able to come into the library and celebrate with us.  The Tea-set meets on its usual fourth Tuesday of the month at 2:30pm. In February we have local thriller author Robin Nye. If anyone would like to read a copy of either of his books beforehand do let me know so I can reserve some extra copies. Thank you and I hope to see everyone soon Jillian  A REQUEST FOR UNWANTED GIFTS PLEASE To help fund Seal Tea Set at the library, a monthly raffle is held. Frances Fish would be very happy to accept any unused/unwanted gifts to raffle please, and she will happily accept at 2 Zambra Way Seal. Many thanks. KENT WILDLIFE TRUST Winter Walk Challenge Kent Wildlife Trust’s Sevenoaks Greensand Commons Project is running a Winter Walk Challenge! Can you please help us to raise awareness for challenge? Did you know that spending time in nature can alleviate the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder? The project manages eight commons across Sevenoaks, Westerham and Seal, and we want to raise awareness of their value so that residents can take advantage of the sites for leisure, exercise and more this winter. The Winter Walk Challenge pack is free and includes information on species identification, the heritage of the Commons and parking and public transport information. The pack includes maps of the sites and information on how the plant and animal species of West Kent use the Commons during winter. The pack has been designed to help families to continue exploring natural spaces despite the cold weather! Spending time in nature is crucial for our physical and mental well-being. If your organisation can help us to spread the word about these free resources, our staff and volunteers would be incredibly grateful. If possible, please share the Winter Walk Challenge via your website, social media and mailing list.  The Winter Walk Challenge can be accessed here. Participants can download their packs digitally and physical copies are also available for collection from our Visitor’s Centre at Bradbourne Vale Road, Sevenoaks TN13 3DH. 2023 - JUST PUTTING IT OUT THERE!!! Just a thought, we know there will be a very big day to celebrate in May next year - King Charles' Coronation.  As a village, we will clearly want to celebrate this in a big way, but, once again, we will need people to take on the organisation of this community event. Those of us that have taken on these events over the past years/decades, are feeling somewhat jaded, and really need new blood to take over. We would like to suggest that plans are started early, maybe put your good selves forward (maybe individuals or several groups of friends). I am happy to compile a list of names and introduce you to each other. We know there are loads of skilled young people out there - we need you!!  Again, we will have some funds thanks to our 100 Club revenue, but, undoubtedly, more will be needed. We can help in this way, but we really need you to come forward and take over please! If you are planning, or already running some activity in Seal you would like to share with us, please contact marionjgilchrist@gmail.com, and we will do our best to spread the word. Also, please remember to tell any new neighbours about Know Your Neighbours, so that we can add them to our circulation list, or they can use the FaceBook page - search for Know Your Neighbours in Seal.