A packed issue focussing on Pentecost/Whit Sunday and the forthcoming Coronation of King Charles III and the Queen Consort, Camilla.

‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’.  Romans 15:13

Wishing all our readers an enjoyable May and particularly the Coronation celebrations!  God Bless King Charles III.

May-2023_issue72_autocol.pdf

We are at church enjoying what is known as the Great Fifty Days of Eastertide during which the tone of joy created on Easter Day is sustained through to the Feast of Pentecost at the end of this month. So May is very much a month of celebration which is very appropriate for the Coronation of King Charles III.

We will be holding special Services of Commemoration at both Ockley and Capel, on Sunday the day after Coronation Day. In Ockley the service will take place outside in the Coronation Marquee on Ockley Green at 9.30am preceded by coffee and croissants from 9am! Later that day the village will celebrate with various fun events and Ocklympics on the Green.

Then it will be a quick dash for me to Capel for our Service of Commemoration in church, where we will be joined by Brigadier (Ret’d) Roger Hood, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Surrey. Brig. Roger is looking forward to being with us on this occasion and we are especially keen for children and their families to join us too as we would love them to take part in a special ‘royal parade’ within the service. Please do encourage any young, and if they would be either happy to make a crown, and/or dress up in appropriate costume that would be wonderful and Brig. Roger will be there in his special uniform too! Following the service there is to be a chocolate treasure hunt in the church grounds!

As many of you hopefully are aware, before all of this, there is to be a special screening of the Coronation Service on the Saturday in the Village Hall, preceded of course by Capel’s Got Talent on Friday evening. Yours truly and her Pastoral Assistant will be performing…. comedy of course!! Do check the rest of this magazine for all the various events happening over the Coronation weekend at our so aptly named wonderful pub, The Crown.
Bank Holiday Monday then is an opportunity for us to help out as encouraged by His Majesty and there will be a working party to tidy the school front garden and a litter pick. Details elsewhere in this edition.

Finally of course we are looking forward to welcoming you into St John the Baptist for a wonderful Flower Festival – obviously a Coronation theme! From what I am hearing it sounds as if it will be marvellous and several village groups are taking part. Refreshments will be served throughout but again do check the church events page for timings.

Please do join us if you can – we are so excited about all the lovely events which will be rounded off at the end of this month as we celebrate the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit on those celebrating Pentecost all those centuries ago in Jerusalem, which enabled the Church to truly take form.
I will finish my letter with a prayer for King Charles as he is crowned King.

Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness,
bless our Sovereign Lord, King Charles,
and all who are in authority under him;
that they may order all things
in wisdom and equity, righteousness and peace,
to the honour of your name,
and the good of your Church and people;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.da
Amen.

Dear friends,

Tomorrow is an important date in the life of our churches: the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM). The accounts and annual report are attached. There will be some printed reports available but if you can bring your own (electronically using a tablet or smart phone or printed out) that would be most helpful.

Yesterday I met some friends at the Extinction Rebellion manifestation in London. It was a great event, very well organised and very peaceful, with some inspired speakers. I met many people I know from the Guildford Diocese and other organisations. Our group was in front of the DEFRA offices, highlighting the plight of our rivers and seas (and everything that tries to live in them) and other urgent issues that are the responsibility of DEFRA.

With the pictures we continue the spring theme with tadpoles in the pond and sloes on a walk.

Happy Earth Day and God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

notes-20230423.pdf

Weekly Notes
Readings-23-April-2023.pdf

Weekly Readings
Final-Accounts-2022.pdf

Final Accounts 2022
annual-report-202122.pdf

2022 Annual Report

Dear friends,

Attached pictures are of a modest but very exciting subject: wood anemones (windflower). These humble plants usually occur in ancient woodland sites and the fact that these are growing in the St John churchyard means that they have been around for a very long time indeed. Wood anemones only propagate via their root system. They do not produce seed, which means they do not travel far. A very precious find indeed! Find out more about this spring flower by following the link below:

Wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) – Woodland Trust<www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/wood-anemone/>

Shortly you will find at the back of our churches collection boxes for candlewax that is left over. Somebody is collecting wax to make into candles that are used at the warfront on Ukraine. Please collect any wax you have and bring to church. More details to follow soon or ask Helen Burt for more info.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

notes-20230416.pdf

Weekly Notes
Readings-16-April-2023.pdf

Weekly Readings

What a lovely time of the year Spring is! A time of new life in creation with the beautiful blossoms, Spring flowers and the sounds of the new born birds and animals around us. We so need the beauty of our surroundings as we live in this somewhat disordered world – it gives us hope, restores our soul and assists us in what we call in our modern world – our wellbeing! We are drawing to the end of Lent now and as this month begins we mark the beginning of the Easter Season with Palm Sunday, a day when we celebrate with Jesus his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his way paved with palms. The triumphal atmosphere doesn’t last long however as the excited crowds who welcomed Jesus are replaced by a baying mob and demand that he be crucified. Each year we read the story of the Passion and this year it is the turn of Matthew’s gospel as we perform a dramatised reading of the events leading up to the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus. This acts as a springboard for the rest of Holy Week and allows us to enter into that journey through the pain and suffering which bursts into the glorious new life on Easter morning.
It is certainly for me the most special time of the year and the events of Easter underpin my own faith and those of other Christians. To help us with this, the choirs of St Peter’s Church Newdigate and our own church choir here in Capel have been rehearsing the St Luke Passion by J.S. Bach which we will sing for you on Good Friday at St John the Baptist Church at noon. Hot cross buns and other refreshments will be available later that afternoon at 3pm in church also. The church otherwise is still laid bare as is traditional until that glorious Sunday morning when we unlock the church doors and are welcomed by festoons of glorious Spring flowers wherever we look along with their glorious scent. The flower fairies have been again – aka Joy, Helen and their wonderful helpers!

Speaking of flowers we are all very much looking forward to the King’s Coronation and for the first time in many, many years, Capel Church is holding a Flower Festival. This is very exciting and the first one in my tenure for sure! The Coronation will be the theme and local groups are represented by the different arrangements. Teas will be served in the afternoons which will run from Saturday through to Monday. The festival is just part of the Capel Community Coronation programme and we are looking forward to the other wonderful events being planned. I am particularly looking forward to watching the Coronation itself in the Village Hall on the big screen with lots of you I hope. The evening before that we hope to raise much needed funds for playground equipment at Scott Broadwood School on the Friday, through Capel’s Got Talent. After the Coronation we plan to enjoy some patriotic singing at The Crown and of course on Sunday our churches will be hosting special services of commemoration. At Capel, we are hoping many families and children will join us, dressing up(?), with the crowns they made earlier (!) followed by a chocolate treasure hunt afterwards. You will see further details for all events elsewhere in this magazine!

Easter is the time we proclaim the risen Christ. Many said and still say “I don’t believe it!” I pray that you may believe it, that you will encounter the risen Jesus in a way that speaks to you. That may be in worshipping with us or visiting our churches in a quiet moment but also as Mary encountered her Lord in the garden, Christ is simply all around us in his wonderful creation.
Happy Easter!

All blessings
Liz

Dear friends,

Happy Easter to you all!

Attached are some pictures of the cathedral of Chartres. Well worth a visit.

God bless,

Dineke

Sent from Outlook for iOS<aka.ms/o0ukef>

notes-20230402.pdf

Dear friends,

The picture this week is from the aquarium in Boulogne-sur-Mer: well worth a visit!

No readings this week as I do not have access to them at the moment.

God bless,

Dineke

notes-20230402.pdf 

Welcome to the Easter 2023 issue!  This issue features many Easter articles and lots on the forthcoming Coronation of King Charles III.
Wishing all our readers a blessed Easter.

For Jesus said: “I am the Resurrection and the life… whosoever liveth and believers in me shall never die.” (John 1.26)

April-2023.pdf

Dear friends,

Daylight savings is upon us and that means Earth Hour.
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world will turn off their lights tonight between 20:30 and 21:30 to give their time for nature. Join them and think about the state of our God’s creation and how we can help improve it. Make a pledge to do something – anything – differently in aid of our planet. Change your bank account, use the car a bit less, put your washing on the line instead of in the dryer or just eat a vegetarian meal one more day per week. Follow the link below and see the suggestions the WWF offers and read more about Earth Hour.

Join One Of The World’s Largest Movements for Nature | Earth Hour 2023<www.earthhour.org/>

You may have heard that the Church of England has pledged to be carbon net zero by 2030. This could be one of our contributions to make that happen for the country.

I will be away the next two weeks. Liz has kindly offered to edit the notes. I can upload them to the website whilst we are away but unfortunately I can not send the emails so please sign up to receive these emails via the website or you will not receive them in the next two weeks. See below for instructions.

Today’s beautiful picture was kindly sent to me by Mike Reeves.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

notes-20230326.pdf

Weekly Notes
readings-26-March-2023.pdf

Dear friends,

Mothering Sunday and Dik and I plan to go to the Cathedral today. In front of the cathedral is a travelling statue (also known as the National monument against Violence and aggression) called the knife angel. I thought it appropriate to post this here today as the main victims of knife crime are young people, whose parents don’t always realise how dangerous a place this world can be for their children. If you would like to know more about it have a look:
Knife Angel – Wikipedia<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_Angel>

On a practical note, I am still looking for someone who will take on collating the weekly notes for Sundays 2 and 9 April.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

notes-20230319.pdf

Weekly Notes
readings-19-March-2023.pdf

Lectionary Readings
Ukraine-Spring-collection-2023-information-for-EOFG-Website.pdf