Dear friends,

As I write this the sky outside is slate grey with a drizzle falling as it has been for most of the week – such dreary weather requires a concerted effort to overcome the gloom, but as a wise woman said to me this morning, the thing is to look for the little things, the signs of spring and warmer days that are all around us and cherish each little spark. Many of you I know are struggling with all sorts of difficulties, bereavement, illness, job losses, family or financial worries, please don’t feel you are alone, we can pray for each other in this wonderful community and know that someone else cares about how you are feeling.

Lent started on Wednesday this week, so one last reminder that Newdigate church is running an online Lent course over the next 5 weeks beginning on Monday at 8pm. The course is on ‘unanswered prayer’ . A number of our church community have signed up, so if you would like to join in as well do email David Newbery who is co-ordinating it on newberyda@gmail.com <mailto:newberyda@gmail.com> I look forward to seeing you there! If you would rather not join a course but would like to receive a daily email, the Church of England is doing a daily Lent reflection which can be found here: www.churchofengland.org/embracingjustice

The awful news from the Ukraine continues to be uppermost in our minds, so I have attached the lovely prayers issued by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, there are also hard copies in our churches, our thoughts are with the people of the Ukraine whose world has been turned upside down and who are living with daily violence and death all around them.
If you would like to do something on a practical level as well, Leigh De Souza is collecting baby clothes, warm coats, baby food etc which will be taken on Tuesday to Hungary to help the refugees. If you would like to donate anything the items need to be with Leigh by Monday evening at the latest.
Also, the World of Roses is donating 100% of the sales proceeds of the famous rose ‘Peace’ in the month of March to charities directly supporting the people of Ukraine. Many of you will know the Peace Rose, which is a beautiful pale yellow rose edged in pink which was created in 1945 to celebrate the end of the Second World War, it also has a lovely scent.

Our services tomorrow are:
9.30am Matins Ockley
10.30am Family Communion Capel.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Lastly, the photos of the week this week were kindly sent to me by Sally Wyborn.

With love and prayers

Debbie von Bergen
debbievonbergen@icloud.com
07774 784008

prayers-for-ukraine.docx
6-March-2022.pdf
weekly-sheet-22.03.06.pdf

‘The flowers are blooming, the time of birdsong has come!’  Song of Songs 2:12

This issue celebrates the beginning of Lent and forthcoming Mothering Sunday.

March-Colour_2022.pdf

Dear Friends,

Who would believe that next week is the start of March! I can see green shoots on our hawthorn hedges – always one of the first plants to come back into leaf, and the snowdrops have now been joined by crocuses and some early daffodils – the march of spring has started.

Sadly, in other parts of the world they are facing fear and devastation, we can only pray for all those who have been caught up in the violence in Ukraine. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have designated tomorrow as a day to pray for peace and have issued the following prayer:

If you would like to look at more of the Church of England’s resources around this day please follow this link:
www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/praying-peace-world

I do hope you will be able to join us at one of our services tomorrow. They will be as follows:
9.30am Holy communion Ockley
10.30am Morning worship Capel

This week sees the start of Lent so there will be a service at 11am on Ash Wednesday at Capel, please do come if you are able to.

So many people are struggling at the moment with illness, the aftermath of Covid, pressure of work etc. We hold prayers every Friday evening at 5pm at Capel Church where we pray for everyone on our prayer boards and the health of the parish, it lasts about half an hour and is a wonderful calm time to make the break between the working week and the weekend. Do come if you can.

Finally, our photo of the week is of an oak tree on Holmwood Common this morning – it has obviously withstood last weeks storm and stands proud in the sunshine.

With love and prayers

Debbie von Bergen
debbievonbergen@icloud.com
07774 784008

Readings-27.02.22.pdf

weekly-sheet-22.02.27.pdf

Dear Friends,

I have just returned from the most productive morning I’ve had for a long time. I was part of the working party that have started to clear the ground for the remembrance garden at Capel Church. A massive thank you to everyone who came and helped, particularly Norman, David, Doug, Liz, Viv, Steffi, Andy, Eric, Joy, Leigh and Mandy, with your help we have made a considerable difference to the area, most of the brambles are gone and long forgotten graves cleaned of their ivy. In amongst the brambles was a lovely display of snowdrops which we have preserved and there are primroses to come. For those who are worried about wildlife we did check the area but found no evidence of early nesting birds, hedgehogs, or even rabbits. Do go and look if you have time.

The next stage will be to draw up a plan of how we would like the area to look eventually, we will display this in church for everyone to see, in the meantime the area will be kept under control to stop the brambles taking over again and the rubble that we discovered will be removed.

Thankfully the weather this morning was fine and calm, all remnants of storm Eunice seemed to have disappeared – I do hope you were all safe and without too much damage. Our neighbour had a couple of trees down, one across the Horsham Road which blocked off the Northern entrance to the village for a couple of hours, but it was cleared very quickly and our gate needs some repair work, but we seem to have escaped any major damage and I hope your experience was the same.

Tomorrow we have the following services:
9.30am Matins Ockley
10.30am Family Communion Capel

There are two funerals in Ockley this coming week, Judith Edwards on Wednesday and Tim Pryke. Tim’s funeral is family only – there will be a Thanksgiving service later in the year.

March is fast approaching so here are a few events coming up in the next couple of weeks:
26 February: Capel market 9-12
Supper club at the Crown – booking required.
5 March: WI Jumble Sale Capel Memorial hall
Ockley Society Quiz from 7pm – Ockley Village Hall 07860 473 239 to book a place
8 March: Quiz night at the Crown – a really friendly evening with a lovely supper and a fun quiz.
12 March: Clive Carroll in Concert at Capel Church 8pm book your tickets at www.capelboxoffice.co.uk <www.capelboxoffice.co.uk/>

Do let me know if there are other village events you would like to publicise on these emails.

Photo of the week this week is from a lovely walk in Norbury park a week ago when the weather felt much more spring like!

I wish you a calm and peaceful week.

With love and prayers

Debbie von Bergen
debbievonbergen@icloud.com
07774 784008

Readings-20.02.22.pdf

weekly-sheet-22.02.20.pdf

So this month begins on a strong note with Ash Wednesday. The day before is of course one of my most favourite days – Shrove Tuesday – or Pancake Day! Oh dear I am hoping to stick to my diet for the next six weeks before Easter and here I am already anticipating pancakes…. anyway I digress, back to Ash Wednesday!

Ashes are an ancient sign of penitence which became the custom from the middle ages as a way of marking the beginning of Lent. By way of preparation by the clergy it involves burning palm crosses from last year and mixing the ash with oil. Have you ever tried frying last year’s palm crosses in a frying pan?! A rather mucky business to be honest! Luckily these days you can buy ready made ash.

This custom of ‘ashing’ is not something I knew about until I attended a church that practiced it but now I know it I actually rather like it! Yes it can look a bit like you haven’t washed your face with a dirty grey mark on your forehead. Yet it is the sign of the cross marked in ash along with the immortal words ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ’. It indeed acts as a symbol of our mortality and as a sign that we intend to move away from those things we know are not good for us and to begin again. Another fresh start! Something that has always rather put me off Lent is the rather austere practices that have been associated with these six weeks of preparation before Easter. I’m not good at austere! One of which is the habit a lot of people seem to have of choosing to give up chocolate or similar treat during this time. As I said I hope to use the time as a bit of personal discipline I know, but on my diet you can eat treats! I have said it before I know but I like to think of Lent as not so much giving things up, well not good things anyway, but of doing something different particularly in a giving way that I don’t normally do. A sort of adding something to my life during Lent which will bring life in the fullest sense.

Later on this month we will be filing our churches with Spring flowers as we celebrate Mothering Sunday so I hope you may join us at one of our services that day. Posies of flowers are given to all and left in our porches for you to pass on to someone you know who might appreciate it. So I wish you a good Lent and please do join us on Ash Wednesday at 11 o clock in St John the Baptist if you care to join us in a meaningful start to the season. Study wise you may like to join an online course run by St Peter’s Newdigate on the subject of unanswered prayer (details below). Each session stands alone and will cover some of life’s most difficult questions. Please see details below.

As always my love and prayers
Revd Liz