Sunday worship podcast link and other news . Feb 19

 

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   Holy Communion 3-4.30pm Messy Church 6.30pm Evensong Next Sunday   10 am  Holy Communion 6.30pm Evensong This week: Mon      2-3.30 Talking Village at Deniz Cafe in the High Street Wed     10 am Zoom Church              4.30pm Children's Choir in the hall              7.15-7.55 Choir practice in the church hall (note end time, because of Ash Wed service)              8pm Ash Wednesday Holy Communion with Ashing Thurs   10-11.30am Lent Group in the church hall  Fri         9.30 am Morning Prayer in church              10.30-12.30 Friday Group in church hall Sunday before Lent Kevin Bright preaches on today's podcast, which explores the Gospel story of the transfiguration. This story is always set, in one of the Gospel versions, for the Sunday before Lent begins. It is a vision of glory before the traditional time of fasting and abstinence of Lent. In the Gospels it comes just before Jesus begins his final journey to Jerusalem, where he will be crucified. It is as if he and his disciples need the reassurance and strength that come from hearing God's voice. It will be hard to believe that he really is God's Messiah as he hangs on a cross, looking as if his mission has ended in complete failure, so this reminder is very important. Many of the early Christians, the audience for the Gospels, also faced hardship, but this story reminds them that suffering and death aren't the end of the story.  What keeps you going through hard times? All Age Ideas Today's Gospel story is about Jesus' friends seeing him shining with glory. God tells them to listen to Jesus.  Spend a minute in silence. What can you hear when you really listen? Make a shiny picture out of things you can find around your house, and put it somewhere where it can cheer you up, or give it to someone who needs cheering up.  Looking for something to do during Lent? Muddy Church have some great ideas.  https://www.muddychurch.co.uk/lent-40-moments-and-40-bags  https://www.muddychurch.co.uk/lent-challenge-sheets   CHURCH AND COMMUNITY NEWS  MESSY CHURCH takes place this afternoon (Sunday 19 Feb) from 3-4.30pm. Story, Crafts, Worship and tea, on our Lent theme of Holy Communion. All Welcome - you don't have to be a child or have a child to come along.  LENT GROUPS Our Lent groups, focussing on Holy Communion, begin this Thursday in the church hall (sorry this course is now full) or next Monday evening on Zoom at 8pm. If you would like to join the Zoom group, please email me for the link.  sealpandp@gmail.com.  Printed copies of the booklet accompanying the series for those attending will be available in church from today, and there will be some spares for those who want to follow it at home, but you can also download a copy here.  CONFIRMATION SERVICE Saturday May 27th 4pm in Westerham. Would you like to be confirmed? Confirmation is the chance to affirm your faith, and receive prayer from a Bishop as the next step on your Christian journey. There will be a Confirmation service in Westerham in May, which I would be very happy to prepare you for and take you to. For adults Confirmation is normally the gateway to receiving Holy Communion, (though children can be admitted to communion before confirmation), so if you normally come up for a blessing in church, rather than receiving the bread and wine, this could be your chance to change that! Anyone who wants to be confirmed will normally have some meetings with the vicar before hand, and the Lent Course this year will be an excellent preparation course for confirmation, so do join in with the Zoom course (the Thursday morning "in person" course is now full) ,or, if you can't do that, let me know so that we can arrange alternative preparation. Please talk to the vicar if you would like to be confirmed! ASH WEDNESDAY There will be a service of Holy Communion with Ashing at 8pm on Wednesday Feb 22. Everyone is welcome to this simple service to start Lent.  SAME SEX BLESSINGS You may have seen reports recently of the debates in the General Synod around the possible authorisation of services of blessing for same-sex couples following a civil marriage or partnership. General Synod voted to approve this, and, once the suggested services have been finalised and commended by General Synod at their next session in July, it is anticipated that blessing services for gay couples will be possible in churches where the PCC and clergy are happy to do them. Seal has been affiliated to Inclusive Church, which has been working towards this, for some time, and I am personally  delighted that this will soon be possible, and look forward to being able to celebrate the relationships of those who would like to seek this, whether they are gay or straight. You can read more about this on the Church of England website here.  SEAL CHURCH CLOCK Are you missing the chiming of Seal Church clock? So are we! The mechanism, which is over 150 years old, is badly in need of repair. It will cost around £6000 to do the job, which will involve dismantling the clock, getting it down the tower stairs and taking it to the clock repairers workshop, then doing the whole operation in reverse when it is complete. If you can help with raising the money for this you can donate here https://givealittle.co/campaigns/08d6ce0f-43b4-4d7a-aee7-b94c269b0555, or by cheque payable to Friends of St Peter and St Paul Church" or in cash delivered to The Vicarage, Church Street, Seal, TN15 0AR We're hoping the repairs can be started as soon as possible! 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 beckywatsonuk@btinternet.com  (please note the corrected email address) 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. CORONATION CELEBRATIONS We have been discussing the logistics of having one large village celebration, and in light of the lack of people keen to organise such an event, we were thinking, maybe some of you might prefer to organise a more localised celebration just for your immediate neighbours - a proper old fashioned street party - just for your street or direct neighbourhood. Of course, this will be more difficult for some roads than others, but there is always a solution to be found when getting together with others ! We will all have memories, however young or old, of royal celebrations, and it would be great to pass this legacy on to the very youngest of us. If you feel you want to do this, and may need some support, please let us know and we will help you to facilitate this in any way we can. For instance, if you would like to get together with others who are also planning something similar, we could have a get together to discuss how we can all move the plans forward and support each other. Again, we will have some funds to share, thanks to our 100 Club revenue, but, undoubtedly, more will be needed. 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. Copyright © 2023 St Peter and St Paul, Seal, All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you are a part of our church family, and we thought you would like to know the latest news from Seal Church/ Our mailing address is: St Peter and St Paul, Seal Church Street Seal Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 0AR United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.