Dear friends,

Spring has sprung and I hope you have noticed it too: more birdsong and stand-offs in the garden over territories, budding trees and the first daffs and crocusses.

With Lent around the corner your church is getting active once again after winter too.

* ‘Living life in love and faith’ is the title of the Lent course that is starting in the last week of February. Monday evenings and Tuesday afternoons so hopefully one of those times will suit most of you. It’s an opportunity to learn and grow by listening to God and each other. Today’s picture illustrates!
* We will have soup lunches on most Saturdays in Lent in support of the Bishop of Guildford’s Lent Appeal. This year 50% of donations will go to the Earthquake appeal and the other half will be donated for relief in our own country, where the cost-of-living crisis is as pressing as ever. Great opportunities to get together and donate to these deserving causes. Joy will be coordinating soups and would be pleased to hear from you if you would like to offer.

Details of both Lent activities are in attached notes.

Further on the Earthquake appeal: three people have already volunteered to shake buckets in Dorking later this week. If you have some time Thursday, Friday or Saturday, please let me know and I will pass your details on the organisers.

Lastly, a last minute change hasn’t made it into the notes: next week there will be communion service in St John instead of Morning Worship. As always, the website info is correct!

God bless,

Dineke

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notes-20230219.pdf    Weekly Notes
20230219.pdf  Readings Sheet

A few days ago, the General Synod of the Church of England welcomed the Bishops’ proposals for providing prayers to bless same-sex couples in church which is I am sure, something you have heard about through media coverage. Synod members also voted to ‘lament and repent’ of the failure of the Church to welcome LGBTQI+ people and for the harm that LGBTQI+ people have experienced and continue to experience in church. This was a landmark debate with a last minute proviso that the use of these prayers would not contradict the Church’s historic and current teaching on marriage. The debate overran by several hours and although the Synod passed the motion, it is very clear that the Church of England is very divided on this issue. The debate follows six years of listening, learning and discernment known as Living in Love and Faith. The Synod debate heard many different arguments from members’ personal experience and the Church Times newspaper asked the Archbishop, Justin Welby about the place of personal experience in decision making. He reflected that if you read the Book of Acts – the Acts of the Apostles, the clearest and most important decisions were a combination of scripture, of observation and of personal experience. I like the way the Archbishop puts this and it certainly fits with the way I interpret scripture and encourage others to do so likewise. As I wrestle with the opposing views within the wider Anglican Church, one word came into my mind very clearly. That word is humanity and more precisely, that we show humanity to others. This is what I believe Jesus did always in his teaching. He showed humanity.

In order to explore what these landmark prayers of blessings might mean for us in our local situation we are running as this year’s Lent Course, the actual course based on the six years of listening, learning and discernment also known not surprisingly as ‘Living in Love and Faith’. Please do join us on an evening or afternoon to journey with us as we as a group or in smaller groups, reflect on our experiences, consider others’ and examine scripture, all in a context of mutual respect. Details and times are in the Church diary section. Do contact me if you would like further information on these.

The importance of showing humanity to others has never been more important when in recent weeks we have watched with horror and waited with hope for survivors of the devastating earthquake in Turkiye and Syria. Described as truly apocalyptic our hearts and prayers have gone out to those affected and many of us will be donating to the Disaster’s Emergency Committee (DEC) via many different aid agencies or directly. Some have also been involved in sending out much needed baby goods and supplies for all ages. We are donating funds collected from some of our church services to send to the DEC. It would be good to know of other ways we can help too…. With this in mind we will be holding on most Saturdays during Lent a simple soup lunch at Capel Church. Donations will be given to the Bishop of Guildford’s Lent Appeal – to help the vulnerable and needy and 50% of the fund will also be given to help the earthquake survivors. The heating will be on I promise and expect in any case a warm welcome!

With my love and prayers as ever
Liz
01306 711260 liz@hostmyserver.co.uk

Dear friends,

It can’t be said too often: The earthquake on the border of Türkiye and Syria requires our full attention and support for the recovery effort must be financially supported. Donations to the Disaster Emergency Committee and all the usual suspects (Red Cross Christian Aid, Tear Fund and many more) will be very welcome. In Syria the situation is even more precarious due to the ongoing conflict, especially in the north where the earthquake has struck hardest.

In fact, Churches Together in Dorking (which I believe we support) are asking for volunteers to shake buckets in Dorking from Thursday 23 – Saturday 25 February for the DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal. If you can spare a few hours, please let me know by reply email (with preferred times and contact details) or contact Elizabeth Dobson on emddh7@hotmail.com or 01306 881479. It would be great if we could collect a substantial amount to send in aid of the homeless surviving in the cold.

The picture below is of our recent toilet twinning effort. This is a great way to provide permanent, ongoing support for communities in poorer countries. Both our toilets are now twinned.

God bless.

Dineke

Please Note: These emails come from my personal account. In order to strengthen the Church’ data protection process, we would prefer you to subscribe to receive them from our website.
This will give you exactly the same content but you control directly which publications you would like to receive and stop when you no longer wish to receive. Also, the more of you sign up that way the less admin will be required from volunteers. Just let us know when you have signed up for the different publications and we will take you off all personal mailing lists.

Click on the link to subscribe: Subscribe – The Parish of Capel and Ockley (capelandockleychurch.org.uk)

notes-20230212.pdf Weekly Notes

Reading-20230212.pdf Reading Sheet

Dear friends,

Having heard about this comet that passes our way every 50,000 years or so, Dik and I went to the coast last Tuesday evening to see if we could spot it. The sky became clearer closer to the coast and we had good hope. What neither of us had registered was that some articles mentioned that this celestial object could only be spotted with difficulty with binoculars (which we brought) before sunset when the moon wasn’t interfering. Ah well …. Hope some of you were better prepared. It’s humbling though to think that the last time this comet came close was when Neanderthal people walked the earth. Who knows what this comet will find next time it comes this way.

We are in for another cold spell. The picture this week is of my car windscreen in the previous cold spell. The cab is a bit leaky and the moisture had frozen against the inside of the glass. Double scraping joy!

God bless,

Dineke

notes-20230205.pdf Weekly notes

reading-20230205.pdf Service Sheet

Welcome to the February 2023 issue of InSpire.  Celebrating St Valentine’s Day and the beginning of Lent 2023.

“Whatever I go through, I choose to rejoice in the Lord and Glory in God my Saviour”  Habbakuk 3: 17-18

February_COLOUR.pdf

Dear friends,

This weekend is the annual big garden birdwatch from the RSPB. This is an initiative to gauge the population of garden birds in the UK, which has fallen in number quite dramatically (especially sparrows and starlings). You just sit and watch the garden for an hour and make a note of the different bird species you see and how many of each you see at one time. The highest number counts. See what you need to do here:

The RSPB Wildlife Charity: Nature Reserves & Wildlife Conservation
The RSPB is the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home and secure a healthy environment for wildlife. Join us.
www.rspb.org.uk

I have just done this and noted 14 species.
Do remember to leave lots of shelter and nesting possibilities for your garden birds. This is even more important than leaving bird food out.

The picture today is of the poster we have used to advertise the Christingle service this Sunday. Please come if you can and bring some children if they will come with you!

God bless,

Dineke

notes-20230129.pdf Weekly Notes

readings-20230129.pdf Service Sheet

Dear friends,

In the last week I assembled this nesting box. It is made of replaced train timetables from Dutch railway stations. What a great idea to cut up the redundant plastic to serve nature. It serves as a reminder that we should all look in our own environment at what we can do to minimise waste and support nature as well as we can. It was a thoughtful gift from family who came to stay over Christmas. It will have to go up soon: winter is still with us but the birds will start to look for nesting opportunities soon.

Don’t forget the Christingle service in St John next week. There is more information in the notes attached.

God bless.

notes-20230122.pdf weekly notes

rename-20230122.pdfLectionary Readings

Dear friends,

We are fast approaching the end of January and therefore the Capel Christingle service on the last Sunday. We are hoping that Scott Broadwood school will support us and that there will be lots of children making Christingles and and moneys raised for the children’s society. Please support the service on 29 January in St John and bring your children, grandchildren, nephews and grand nieces (if you have any to hand).

The pictures today were taken several years apart:

* The midday sun illuminating the mountain tops in Norway, north of the Arctic circle early January 2015
* The setting sun in Newdigate the same month 7 years earlier.

Alan Smallwood has sent in an article on the day of the donkey. I hope you can read it as it is an unusual shape and I didn’t have time to edit it.

God bless,

Dineke

PS For some of you this may be a duplication but for others, their system may not have been able to process the excessively big files I attached. I now have a tool to reduce pictures.

notes-20230115.pdf Weekly Notes

readings-20230115.pdf Weekly Readings

Dear friends,

Here’s to a new year.
I have never made new year’s resolutions. We didn’t grow up with the concept and growing up I realised two things: hardly anyone ever stuck with them for more than a couple of days and changing your habits takes more than deciding one day that everything is going to be different because you wish it so. In the past I have managed to change a few bad habits but not without falling back occasionally to have to clamber back out of them again. The point is to be aware, be prepared to put in an effort and seek guidance.
On that note I have noticed that having two attachments with the same name is highly confusing so I have changed the name of one of them starting next week. Not a resolution but an action!

This Sunday is cafe church and I have attached the menu as made available by Bob. The first prayer in the notes has been nicked from this menu.

The picture this week is of our Friesian horse last month in the snow. Maxie is a coldblood and therefore very hardy. She is much happier when it’s freezing than in summer with high temperatures and enjoys rolling in the snow on a regular basis.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

20230108.pdf weekly notes
20230108.pdf reading sheet
cafe-church-8th-January-2023-8-Page-MENU-1.pdf Cafe Church Menu

Happy New year to our readers! Welcome to the first issue of 2023.

‘Help us Lord
To delight in Your company,
To walk Your safe way,
To shine Your clear light
Of hope for the year.’

By Daphne Kitching

January_colour.pdf