Sunday Worship podcast link and other news from Seal Church: Dec 3 2023

 

Dear Friends Anne Le Bas Online Worship podcast - Click on picture above Order of service You can also access this podcast by phoning 01732 928061 As usual, the link to our podcast is above - click on the picture to access it. with best wishes

In the church building today 10 am Holy Communion 6.30pm Evensong Next Sunday Dec 10 10 am Christingle service 6.30pm Breathing Space Meditative Communion This week:  Wed    Good Book Club in the vicarage Romans 16 & 1 Corinthians 11.26-end.             4.30 children's choir (last session before Christmas)             7.15 pm Adult choir  Fri        9 am Morning Prayer in Church             10.30 - 12.30 Friday Group in the church hall

Advent 1 The season of Advent begins today, when we begin to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. The sermon explores what it might mean for Jesus to tell us to "stay awake" as he does in today's Gospel reading.

All Age Ideas Are you looking forward to Christmas? How are you counting down to the day? In my house, we have an Advent calendar, and we also put out four coloured candles and one white one. We light one more candle each Sunday - there are four between now and Christmas Day - and the white one as we share Christmas dinner.  Advent comes from a Latin word which means "coming". At this time of year, Christians think about the way God comes to us day by day, as well as God coming to us in Jesus 2000 years ago.  At the end of each day during Advent, you could think of something in that day which has reminded you of God's goodness and love, write it on a slip of paper and put it in an Advent jar. Tip all your slips of paper out on Christmas Day and give thanks for all the good things you have noticed.

A LONG LOOK FOR ADVENT We live in a visually cluttered world. Images pass before our eyes constantly on the tv, online and in print all around us. and it is all too easy not to see any of them properly. That’s why I’d like to invite you to join me in taking a long look at just one picture this Advent. Just one picture? Really? For 24 days? Yes, that’s right, but don’t worry that you will get bored, because this picture is crammed with detail, all very deliberately included by the artist, Jan Brueghel the Elder, to provoke thought and reflection on the story of the birth of Jesus.  Each day's post will appear here on our church blog, and on facebook and twitter . (There are also some printed versions of the booklet available at the back of church, but if you can follow online you will be able to see the picture in glorious colour.) You can see the painting, for free, in the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square in London – it’s in Room 17 – or online here https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jan-brueghel-the-elder-the-adoration-of-the-kings  where you can zoom in on the details

CHURCH AND COMMUNITY NEWS SUNDAY 3rd DEC 11.15am: Eco Church Swap/ Help Yourself Table!  In Church (after morning service): ALL WELCOME! Please come along to help yourself for no payment, to good quality preloved clothing, household goods, books, games & toys, some of which may be ideal Christmas gifts!   If you have high quality items which you no longer want or need, and wish to declutter, please bring an item/ items to swap, or donate! You are also warmly welcome to come & take something away, even if you have nothing to donate this time. No money is to change hands. The idea is that we all intentionally reuse and upcycle previously loved items, in a bid to reduce waste to landfill, as well as to encourage us all to consider lessening our new product purchases.  Rather than buying into consumerism, could we swap/gift to others in our local community, and spread the love  ❤️ ? The timing of our first Swap Table, before Christmas for potential gifts or a new outfit without expenditure, and following “Buy Nothing Day” on 24th November (to boycott Black Friday), will hopefully be of some value, as well as be thought-provoking. Hoping that you’ll have time to look out some items for upcycling and decluttering, and come along and support our event, with or without  a donation or two! Thank you. Babs, Lise and the Eco Church Team. CHRISTINGLE DEC 10 Our Christingle service will take place on Sunday Dec 10 at 10 am. Everyone is welcome - there will be plenty of Christingles to go around. The cash collection on this day will go to the Children's Society. There will also be gift and cake stalls after the service, in aid of the church. If you can contribute a cake, or have any small gifts or unwanted items to donate for the gift stall, we would be very grateful for them.  PARISH GIVING We have recently joined the Parish Giving Scheme, set up by the Church of England to help make it simpler for people to give to their church, and especially to manage payments made by standing order, collect Gift Aid etc. Stuart Wigley, who has set up  Seal's membership of this scheme will be speaking briefly about it during the 10 am service, but you can find out more here. We are especially hoping that those who give regularly to Seal and can gift aid their gifts, might consider transferring to giving through this scheme, as it will make collecting gift aid much easier for us. You can find out more here. https://www.parishgiving.org.uk/home/ The page for giving to Seal Church is here.  There is a downloadable leaflet here