Sunday Worship Podcast link and other news from Seal Church: April 23

 

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 6.30pm Evensong Next Sunday   10 am  Holy Communion 6.30pm Evensong This week:  Wed     10 am Zoom Church             4.30-5pm Children's Choir              7.15-8.15 Adult choir Fri        9.30 am Morning Prayer in Church             10.30 - 12.30 Friday Group in the church hall Easter 3 Today's Gospel tells the story of Jesus appearing to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus, a village seven miles outside Jerusalem.  The sermon explores the importance of journeys, even, or perhaps especially, the ones which turn out to be detours...  How do you feel about travelling? Is it a pleasure or a chore? Are there journeys you would rather not have made, or things that went really wrong on the way? How do you like to travel? If you could be "beamed up", instantly transported, would you, or is the journey part of the pleasure? If you drew a picture of your life as a journey, what sort of landscapes would you have travelled through? All Age Ideas Today's Gospel story has a long walk in it. Two of Jesus' disciples, feeling sad, decide to walk home, seven miles from Jerusalem to their home in a village called Emmaus. The disciples don't recognise him at first. He knows they need just to walk together and talk about everything that has happened. What's the longest walk you've done? Were there times when you felt like giving up? What was good about walking? Have you ever looked at a map  of where you live? (You can find one here, and there are some  fun map reading activities here from Ordnance Survey) What does it tell you about your area? You could draw your own map of the places you know, or even make up a map of an imaginary place! Today's Gospel story reminds us that Jesus is with us wherever we go. We can talk to him wherever we are. What would you like to say to him today?  ST GEORGE Although many people will be celebrating St George's Day today, in the official church calendar it is moved to tomorrow if it clashes with a Sunday in the Eastertide, as the readings for the Easter season always take precedence. But here's a picture of him anyway! According to legend he was a fourth Century Roman Soldier, from Anatolia in modern Turkey, whose mother was Syrian. He became a Christian, which brought him into conflict with the Roman Emperor, Diocletian, and was beheaded for his faith in 303AD. The story of him rescuing a maiden from a dragon is apocryphal, but popular! The dragon was often seen as a symbol of the devil. I can't help thinking this particular princess in this manuscript miniature, made in Verona in the second half of 13th century, looks less than enthusiastic about being rescued! He has been celebrated as Patron saint of England, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Georgia (unsurprisingly!) Catalonia, Aragon and Moscow over the centuries. He became particularly popular in England during the Crusades, because he was a military saint, and probably displaced native English saints like Edward the Confessor, Edmund the Martyr, St Alban, and many other Saxon saints like our own St Edith, who, arguably, have a far better claim to veneration in England! George didn't ever come to England, as far as we know, and the hijacking of his flag to bolster English Nationalism would probably have completely baffled him.  Regardless of the uncertainties around his story, and the dubious ways he has been used, his story reminds us of the courage of those Christians who stood against the military oppression of Rome, and those who stand up against oppression today.  CHURCH AND COMMUNITY NEWS 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 - The last date to sign up for this, if you are not already on it , is next Sunday.  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 LAST CALL FOR CONFIRMATION CANDIDATES! If you would like to be confirmed, there is a service on Saturday May 27th 4pm in Westerham for which I am preparing a couple of people. Please let me know if you would like to join them in this!  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 "facutly") 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.