Easter Sunday worship podcast and other news from Seal Church: April 9

 

Happy Easter! 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 N.B. There won't be a podcast next Sunday, as I am taking time off this coming week, so won't have time to make one, though I will be taking the service (with a baptism!) in church on April 16, but you can access the Church of England's online service of worship here.  You can find the texts of the sermons from Maundy Thursday and Good Friday here.

In the church building today 10 am   Holy Communion for Easter Sunday 6.30pm Breathing Space Meditative Communion Next Sunday   10 am  Holy Communion and Baptism 6.30pm Evensong This week:  Wed     No Zoom Church this week.              10.30 All Age Eco Church event in the churchyard.  See below! Fri        10.30 - 12.30 Friday Group in the church hall

Easter Sunday Happy Easter from all at Seal Church!   Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. The sermon explores Matthew's version of the story, which is characteristically dramatic. Tissot's painting of the women at the tomb conveys some of the shock and strangeness of this story; the guards falling back in terror, the women unable to believe their eyes.  We can disappear down a theological rabbit-hole very rapidly if we try to explain or understand the resurrection; it's very essence is that it is inexplicable, a mystery that we can't fathom. In some ways, the best proof that something extraordinary happened on that first Easter Sunday, though, is the continuing existence of the church itself. There was no real advantage to the early Christians of insisting that Jesus had been raised from death if they knew he hadn't been - if, for example, they had stolen the body - which is what those who stationed guards at the tomb feared. As a martyred, dead hero he could have had just as profound an effect on his followers, inspiring them to continued action. And if the authorities had taken the body, they would have produced it very quickly to scotch any rumours of resurrection. The disciples stubbornly insisted, though, that  he had been raised from death, and it was this which brought them into conflict with the authorities, and led to their persecution. Whatever we might have seen if there had been CCTV cameras trained on the tomb, something happened on this morning, and the days that followed it, which changed the course of human history, and whose light we are still living in.

All Age Ideas Easter Sunday is the day when Christians celebrate Jesus being raised from the dead, a strange story, but one which reminds us that nothing is stronger than God's love.  Can you see any signs of new life around you? New leaves on the trees, flowers blossoming, maybe some frogspawn in ponds or birds feeding their new chicks... Why not come along to our Eco Church event on Wednesday morning at 10.30am, to explore the wildlife in our churchyard! Jesus said that when he died, it would be like a seed falling into the ground and then growing a whole new plant, bursting with new life. You could sow some seeds and watch as they come up.  At our Messy Church on Good Friday, we cut out butterfly shapes from paper, and wrote the word "Alleluia" on them - one letter on each butterfly (you need 8) to make some alleluia bunting. You could make and decorate some alleluia bunting - it doesn't have to be in butterfly shapes - and decorate it in bright colours to celebrate.

CHURCH AND COMMUNITY NEWS SEAL ECO CHURCH EASTER EVENT  - see above. NEXT ECO CHURCH WALK 10.30am Saturday 22 nd April ’23:  Easter Eco Walk : Bluebell Woods &  Passion Trail Please do join us for a stroll following the Oak Hall Easter Passion Trail through the breathtaking Bluebell woods on the North Downs above Kemsing. Some guided meditation on the beauty of God’s creation, short prayers, scripture & a poem on the way, with a gentle environmental conservation reflection or Eco idea thrown in. Refreshments at the Rising Sun/Chequers/Italian Deli afterwards, maybe! With Lise and Babs. Please meet at the front lych gate, St P & P Seal Church, at 10.30am for car sharing up the hill, where we’ll park and start our walk. (If anyone more adventurous than us wishes to walk from Seal or Kemsing, good on you! We’ll meet you up there at 10.45-11am!) Lise and Babs. CORONATION FESTIVITIES Sunday May  7th from 3-6pm  We are planning to gather on Sunday May 7th, from 3-6pm, beginning with a short open-air service in the churchyard (or in church if wet), and a picnic tea (also in church if wet!). Please bring your own picnic, but we will provide tea/coffee pot and squash! There will be crafts and activities for children (and maybe adults too!), and a chance to celebrate the coronation, and our own local community. It's open to everyone, so do put the date in your diary and come to join us.  WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN OUR PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL? The PCC meets six times a year to discuss a wide range of matters to do with church activities, services, fabric and finance. Members must be prepared to have a DBS check, and do safeguarding training. They must not have been disqualified from being charity trustees. They need to be confirmed, and have been on the church electoral roll for at least six months. Elections will take place at our APCM on May 21, but if you would like to find out more in advance, please let me know. There is a copy of the Role Description on the noticeboard. We are also looking for people (on the PCC or not) to join our Fabric and Maintenance team, to help organise repairs and routine maintenance etc. If you could help, let me know! ELECTORAL ROLL If you are not on our Electoral Roll, and would like to be, please fill in a form which you can find at the back of the church. Being on the church Electoral Roll qualifies you to vote at the Annual Meeting, but also means that, if you don’t live in the parish, you could be buried in the churchyard, if you want to. Electoral roll forms can be found at the back of church or downloaded here. https://www.parishresources.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Application-for-Enrolment-Electoral-Roll.docx Completed forms should be returned to the Electoral Roll officer, Wivine Turner, c/o The Vicarage, Church Street, Seal, TN15 0AR CONFIRMATION SERVICE Saturday May 27th 4pm in Westerham. Would you like to be confirmed? Please let me know if you would like to be prepared to make this commitment.

Good News on the Church Clock appeal. We think we have reached our £6000 target! Many thanks to all who have contributed. We are hoping this will be enough to repair the clock, but the repairers can't be sure exactly how much wear and tear there will be until they take it apart, so there may be some added expense to come.  At the moment we are going through all the necessary steps to get official permission (known as a "faculty") from the church authorities to have the work done, which always takes a while, but we are hoping the repairs will be underway soon! What we can be sure about is that there will always be more issues with the church fabric. A medieval church is bound to need work fairly regularly! One way to contribute to keeping the church in good repair is to give regularly to the Friends of Seal Church. Gifts made to this account are used solely for maintenance and improvements to the fabric, rather than to the ministry of the church. You can find out more here.