Come and have some free fun this half-term!
Everyone is welcome at our free Family Fun Day with a free lunch which will take place on October 27, 10.30am-1pm at St Mark’s Church.
There will be crafts, music, games, table tennis and a lunch with vegetarian and meat options. There will also be a quiet area for those who prefer this and an adviser to talk to families about special needs if required. Free of charge, donations welcome. For more information email Michelle.
Media outlets have a new rival – the Roman Broadcasting Company (RBC) whose reporter has been recording virtual interviews, trying to uncover the truth behind strange events taking place in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. The interviews will be broadcast on this website on Sunday, May 31, in a Pentecost service which will be online from 9am.
The RBC will be investigating stories of ordinary people being transformed from scared individuals into confident and joyful women and men who started telling everyone about Jesus, a man from nearby Galilee who had been killed by crucifixion but had risen again and was offering a new way of living and coming close to God.
The story, of course, is the one recalled in chapter two of the book of Acts, when the disciples received the Holy Spirit and began a new ministry which saw the beginning of what became the Christian church. This story will be celebrated on Sunday, May 31, in three services – a formal one and an informal one available in the morning, and an all-sung service in the evening, available from 6pm. The informal service will include a dramatised version of the story involving the RBC interviewing witnesses of the events. You may also want to have a candle, a pot of bubbles and also cake to help you take part!
Here’s what Lesley Crawley has to say about it: “A few days before the events we celebrate at Pentecost, the risen Jesus had ascended to heaven and had promised that the disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit came down on them, enabling them to be brave and follow Jesus in loving service to others. This is what we are reflecting on here. And of course, the Holy Spirit wasn’t just for those early disciples but is available to all of us and is in us as we work to help others and love others, trying to be the hands and arms and heart of Jesus today.
“So come and join us online on Sunday, May 31, at our formal or informal services in the morning or our all-sung service in the evening from 6pm. Even the sermon is being sung! It’s all on https://badshotleaandhale.org/ and everyone is welcome!”
Pentecost also marks the end of The Kingdom Come, the period from Ascension Day which each year is dedicated to prayer. We are celebrating Thy Kingdom Come with a different version of the Lord’s Prayer each day at noon and sharing resources from the Thy Kingdom Come organisers.
Next Thursday (May 21), we will be celebrating Ascension Day online with a special service for all ages which will be available on this website from 7.30pm.
Ascension Day is a Christian festival which takes place 40 days after Easter Sunday, and which celebrates the story of Jesus ascending to heaven as told in the Bible in the book of Acts, Chapter 1.
The service will incorporate many of the elements which will be familiar to followers of the parish – hymns on fiddle, double bass and keyboard, photos of members of the church looking up to the sky (they may even be wearing tea towels on their heads in time-honoured fashion), prayers, a story about the impact of Jesus on the life of his disciples and a talk about the impact he still has. There will be contributions from people from all across the parish.
We do still need a bit of help though. Can you pop a tea towel or scarf on your own head and transport yourself back 2,000 years to the time just after Jesus died and rose again? Imagine you are one of the disciples and you are with Jesus when he ascends to heaven. Look up to the sky and take a selfie.
Maxine Everitt, who is organising the service along with Kris Lawrence, explains a bit more: “We would like you to imagine what it would have been like to watch Jesus ascend into heaven; the tea towel or scarf is to help you get into character.
“What would you be thinking? Can you capture that in an expression? Individuals, couples and families including youngsters would be great too – Please!”
Once you have taken your selfie, send it to Alan, then join us here on Thursday, May 21, from 7.30pm or on Facebook.
We will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of VE Day this Sunday (May 10) with an online service of music and memories of wide appeal for all, and on the website from 9.30am.
Led by Wendy Edwards, Licensed Lay Minister, the gathering includes a Gospel reading by Lance Corporal Bibbings of The Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment, Farnham; music from wartime by members of TS Swiftsure, Badshot Lea; and a thought-provoking World War II evacuation memory from Hazel Edwards, Wendy’s mother-in-law. Wendy makes comparisons between World War II and the coronavirus emergency. She draws hope, comfort and and wisdom from both these times of enormous personal and national challenge and ends the short service with prayers for peace.
Lesley Crawley reflects on the service: “It is 75 years since the end of World War II in Europe and it is fitting to remember the sacrifices made by so many people in defence of freedom. Obviously, our celebrations this year are rather different from what we might expect and perhaps the memory of those sacrifices is made all the more poignant by taking place in these difficult times. Do join us online from 9.30am on Sunday.”
The link to the service on Sunday will be here.
The service of thanksgiving and prayer for the NHS and other frontline workers has been hugely welcomed and reflected the gratitude and creativity of our community as well as the importance of prayer for many of us (online searches for information about prayer have skyrocketed since the outbreak of Coronavirus began).
Our thanks to the masses of people who were involved in the service which Alan and Lesley put together: Farnham Heath End School; the Scouts; people across the community who sent in beautiful rainbows and other works; keyworkers who allowed themselves to be photographed and the pictures shown as Olivia Jasper sang Amazing Grace; church members; the Mayor of Farnham, Pat Evans; and local MP, Jeremy Hunt.
Lesley Crawley reflected on the service: “I have been bowled over by the gratitude of others for this service and I hope it is enabling others to take their thoughts and anxieties and feelings of gratitude and turn them into prayers. For me, I find prayer always helps; it always makes me feel more peaceful and bit by bit it makes me a better version of myself. In the case of a nation praying it gives us a helpful and even hopeful way of expressing our concerns and worries and also a way of focussing on the good and being grateful for that.”
Our thanks to those who have sent images and thoughts for this Easter weekend. Please keep them coming.
We would usually have an Easter Garden at the churches but as we can’t visit them at the moment, people have been creating them in their own gardens.. Here are ones by Sorrel, Maxine and Kris. We also have embroidery from Margaret Emberson, poetry from Richard Myers, photos from Wendy-Rae Mitchell, Kris Lawrence and Alison Ridgeon, a reminder of how much we love our churches in some art from St Mark’s, and of course Emily Tarrant’s poem which you can read here.
There’s also music every Sunday from Margaret Emberson which you can find here.
Outside the World, by Richard Myers
On the first three days of this Holy Week we will be having services of Compline with a short video and reflection. Today we look at Jesus Trial.
As these services use a clip from a longer piece, you cannot click through to YouTube for the film clip, as the clip doesn’t stop if you do!
On the first three days of this Holy Week we will be having services of Compline with a short video and reflection. Today we look at the Watch.
If you click on the YouTube logo at the bottom of the screen you can make the video full screen. This doesn’t work on the video clip, as the clip doesn’t stop if you do!
If you cannot see the responses at the top of the screen, please move your mouse so that it is not over the video.
Article referred to in meditation:
On the first three days of this Holy Week we will be having services of Compline with a short video and reflection. We start today with the foot washing.
As these services use a clip from a longer piece, you cannot click through to YouTube for the video clip, as the clip doesn’t stop if you do!
I have just discovered that my videos have text over the words I put into them. If you move the mouse away from the video these other display items will disappear, allowing you to read the text.
I am not going to stream a service. Instead I will curate (not as in a curate) one, picking bits and pieces from all over the place! The links are all to YouTube and they will open in another window. Close that window to return here. Some videos have adverts, but there is usually a button at the bottom right that will skip them after about 5 seconds.
Other services do exist! the Church of England among others.
Most merciful God,
who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ
delivered and saved the world:
grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross
we may triumph in the power of his victory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
OR
Gracious Father,
you gave up your Son
out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know eternal peace
through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 11:1-45 – Alan or Rachel
I’m afraid you can have lots of these!
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is,
seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Please send feedback on this service to Alan. Also, it is possible that we could hold a live service that anyone with a computer with a camera and microphone can join in along with everyone else. Is this something that you are interested in doing? Please email Alan.
I hope you enjoyed this. If you would like to take part in a future service by contributing a clip, please let Alan know. I am trying to follow the rota, but of course there isn’t one for St Mark’s, and not everyone on the rota has the ability to record a video.
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 