Dear friends,

The weather isn’t letting up so I decided to go over some holiday pictures.

The one above is of a Weka or Maori hen, a flightless rail native to New Zealand. Like many other flightless birds in the southern hemisphere the status of this species is ‘at risk’. This individual was particularly tame all those 23 years ago.

We should get a couple of sunny days so make the most of them!

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

notes-20231105.pdf

Readings-20231105.pdf

Dear friends,

Autumn is definitely with us now and the picture shows the strawberry tree we bought many years ago and has finally started to flower.

Hot off the press is Inspire magazine, which you can read or download using the following link:
www.capelandockleychurch.org.uk/2023/10/28/issue-no-78-november-2023/<www.capelandockleychurch.org.uk/2023/10/28/issue-no-78-november-2023/>
There will be some hardcopies in both our churches as well.

To receive notification of the arrival on the website of Inspire, Liz’s letter to the local magazines or the weekly notes you can subscribe here:
www.capelandockleychurch.org.uk/subscribe/<www.capelandockleychurch.org.uk/subscribe/>

Tomorrow will be the next LOAF (Local, Organic, Animal-friendly and Fair Trade produce) stall, this time after the parish service in Ockley. I have re-ordered the tea advent calendars as they sold out on the first day I displayed them. There will be various tea & coffee items (including biscuits) and more Christmas goodies.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

notes-20231029.pdf

Weekly Notes
Readings-20231029.pdf

The November issue marks Remembrance Sunday and there will be services at both churches, including cafe church at Capel.

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them”.

Remember … ‘Even if prayers are not answered in the way we want or hope for, the act of praying changes the one who prays’.

November_2023_autocol.pdf

Everything seems to pale into significance doesn’t it when we consider the terrible events that have unfolded in Israel and Gaza in recent weeks. War is always a terrible thing but there has been a particularly horrible brutality which threatens to destabilise the whole region aside from the suffering of those innocent victims, ordinary Israelis and Palestinians, caught up in this escalating crisis. As I write humanitarian aid has been allowed to come through from Egypt and I pray that by the time you read this letter, more will have been able to have been achieved. We continue to pray for peace and for humanitarian solutions to be found knowing that all our hearts and minds go out to all those affected by violence and war. I think our traditional services of remembrance will be especially poignant this year as we come together to remember all those who have died as a result of war, whether as service men and women or the many civilians who lost their lives. Please see the church calendar for further details of our Remembrance Sunday services.

Last month we celebrated our Harvest Festival and collected much needed produce for Dorking Foodbank and Leatherhead START. Our lovely village school Scott Broadwood really boosted our donations of foodstuffs and we had a wonderful harvest service with the children in church talking about all the good gifts that God gives us. As we celebrated all that God provides for us we were reminded that God also needs our hands to do his work to bring the harvest in and to give to those who do not have enough to eat.

This month we begin by celebrating All Saints when we are reminded of not only the remarkable men and women who lived their lives in such a way that others can see God powerfully at work not only in times past but in the present too. This includes famous saints that we might know through the scriptures to famous martyrs who died for their declaration of faith in Christ to the many ordinary saints that dedicate their lives to serve others today. Knowing this inspires us and reminds us that no Christian is solitary. We are surrounded by the company of saints whose mutual belonging not only includes us on earth but transcends death into heaven.

So Remembrance Sunday goes on to explore the theme of memory, both corporate and individual as we confront issues of war and peace, loss and sacrifice, memory and forgetting. Finally the annual cycle of the Church’s year ends at the end of the month with the Feast of Christ the King. The year that begins with the hope of the coming Messiah ends with the proclamation of his universal sovereignty. And so next month December we start our new Church year with Advent Sunday and the countdown to Christmas!! Talking of which Christmas comes early here in Capel as the wonderful Christmas Fair takes place in our village halls in the middle of the month. Suzanne and her team find unusual and inspirational stall holders for us to browse and of course it is all for a very good cause – to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease and our parish churches.
So plenty for us to be thinking about and to pray for as winter creeps in once more. God bless.
With my love and prayers as ever
Liz

Dear friends,

Storm Babet has largely passed us by here in the South but the devastation in North England and East Scotland is huge. Let’s hope and pray that today further damage, injury and loss of life can be prevented.

These last weeks there hasn’t been much opportunity to take photo’s so I delved into the archives and found this beautiful slide of the sky in Cornwall on a 1995 holiday. I hope we get some more of that in the next few days.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

notes-20231022.docx

WeeklyNotes
Readings-20231022.pdf

Dear friends,
We all look on with dread at the horror that is playing out in Israel and how it spills over into the world. Rev Liz has asked for the following prayer to be included in the weekly email:

A Prayer for the Holy Land

By Rev. Rhona Knight

Loving God

Praying for the Holy Land and its people,
praying for your deep peace,
praying that swords are turned to ploughshares,
we ask that your kingdom will come on earth as in heaven.
May those in power seek your heart.
May those suffering know your presence.
May those mourning be comforted.
May we, who watch at a distance, be open to seeing with your eyes of compassion and understanding and know how to pray and respond justly, mercifully and humbly.
In the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

notes-20231015.pdf

Weekly Notes
Readings-20231015.pdf
Weekly Readings

Dear friends,

We’ve just returned from a lovely break in Norfolk. We had planned a trip to Sicily but when that couldn’t happen we changed plans and had a lovely time. The picture is of one of numerous boot scrapers we noticed outside older houses in Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds and even built in walls of churches. We had never seen these before and had to take some pictures.

This week I will be ordering organic and fair trade Christmas goodies for the LOAF stall next Sunday after the parish communion service. Also on sale (on behalf of Stuart Cole) will be Traidcraft Christmas cards. Please come and have a look whilst you enjoy an after service coffee.

Only a few more days left of balmy weather before autumn sets in: do make the most of it!

God Bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

notes-20231008.pdf

Weekly Notes
cafe-church-Oct-2023-David-Grant-MENU.pdf

Cafe Church Menu
Readings-231008.pdf

Dear friends,

This email comes to you from sunny Cambridge rather than from Italy, where we would have been if the car hadn’t played up.

Norfolk proved to be a great holiday destination with one of the highlights the theatre show with the Rev Richard Coles last Wednesday in the Theatre Royal of Bury St Edmunds. We had an informative and entertaining tour in the theatre in the morning as well, as the picture testifies.

We are missing the wonderful Harvest Festivals and we hope you enjoy tomorrow in Capel.

God bless,

Dineke

Readings-20231001Creation.pdf

Weekly Readings – Ockley
Readings-20231001Harvest.pdf

Harvest Readings – Capel
notes-20230820-1st-October.pdf

Celebrating Creationtide and the season of harvest in the October issue.

Christian Aid Harvest prayer

The earth is fruitful
may we be generous.
The earth is fragile
may we be gentle.
The earth is fractured
may we be just.
Creating God,
harvest in us joy and generosity
as we together share in thanks
and giving.

October_2023_autocol.pdf