We were battered by wind an rain on the way to Church this morning as the remains of Hurricane Bertha crossed over the Manhood Peninsula. Father Stephen congratulated us on making it through the storm for our celebration of the Eucharist. Once again we remembered the Christians of Northern Iraq in our prayers as their situation worsens, do remember them in your own prayers. In his sermon Father Stephen spoke of how sometimes we feel spiritually in darkness, but the darkness is nothing to God who is with us, and spiritual growth comes through experiencing these dark times.
There was coffee after the service, and by the time we went home the worst of the storm had passed and the sun was stating to come out, the darkness had passed indeed.

This morning our Eucharist at 10:00am was celebrated by Father Stephen. Although it is the first Sunday of the month, with all the children on holiday we did not have a contribution from the Sunday School, but a sermon from Father Stephen. In celebrating the Transfiguration, he discussed with us the idea of a mystery. He asked for a definition of Mystery and was rewarded with the answer 'something that cannot be rationally explained.' As part of this service we are remembering the Christians in Iraq, especially those in Mosul, and Father Stephen made the point that they are more in tune with the idea of mysteries in belief, and of course are the original Christians with traditions dating back to the Apostles.
There was coffee after the service, and some photographs from the destruction of the Churches of Mosul were on display prompting further discussion, and prayer cards were available for those who wished to use them during the week.

This sign, the Arabic letter N with a cross in the position of the dot, has been used by Christians in the Middle East as a sign of solidarity during persecution. It stands for Nazarine, an arabic word for Christian

Some Iraqi Christians demonstrating outside the Houses of Parliament

On Saturday afternoon we were blessed with a glorious hot, sunny afternoon for the Annual Church Fete. This year the theme of the Fete was 'The last summer of peace 1914' and many of the stall holders and helpers were dressed accordingly. The crowds came in at 2:00pm to see Charlotte Hawkins of ITV's good morning programme, and daughter of Canon Hawkins a former incumbent of St Mary our Lady, open the proceedings. All the traditional Fete activities, Dog Show, Runaway Train, Bouncy Castle, Tea Tent,  various tombolas, Cake stall, Grand Draw, Tug of War competition, to name but a few were enthusiastically undertaken by the attendees. The Chichester City Band played a medley of songs from1914 amongst their programme, and food of all kinds, cakes, barbecue food, and Caroline's Dairy Ice cream were all available. A popular innovation this year was guess the age of the calves, which turned out to be 8 days old! At 4pm Father Stephen drew the winning tickets for the Grand Draw and the process of clearing up began,
Many thanks to every one who worked so hard to make the Fete happen, but especially to our 2 suffragette Church Wardens, and also thanks to all who came and spent their money. At the time of writing the total is edging towards £6500! or very near that sum!.

Winner, best decorated stall

Winners best costumes

dog most like its owner 2nd place

All ages enjoyed the fete

8days old!

On Sunday morning we came together to celebrate the Eucharist at 10am. Father Stephen was the celebrant, and the choir sang :Jesu Joy of Mans Desiring' By JS Bach. There was coffee after the service and much discussion of the success of the Fete!!

This Sunday, the third in the month our 10 o'clock service was Mattins. The Service was particularly well attended as it was rather a special one. The choir sang 'Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes' by Thomas Attwood, words from Psalm 119, as the anthem. At the end of the service we were joined by the Sunday school, who had all brought their Teddy Bears to church. Father Stephen told us that the Bears had been in intensive training, as they were doing a parachute jump from the top of the church tower after the service. He was confident that no bears would be injured in the jump. He then blessed the children and their bears, and the choir sang 'The Teddy Bears Picnic' (words by Jimmy Kennedy, music by John Bratton arranged by Andrew Carter). The children then went outside and prepared their bears  parachutes. The teddy bears were then taken up the  tower (by two adults) and parachuted off!! The bears were sponsored in their jumps, and the money will go to support the Family Support Worker for the Chichester Diocese,  thanks to every one who sponsored a bear!! The children and their parents then enjoyed a picnic lunch of their own.

Father Stephen blesses the children and their bears

Not only children bought bears!

Some bears with a military background

some civilian bears

bears helped to serve

making the parachutes

some bears were too elderly to jump but came to watch

these bears bought their own picnic

my bear can fly!!

preparing a parachutist

catching the bears in a blanket

Dont forget to come to the Fete on Saturday!!!!

This Sunday the Eucharist was celebrated by Father Roger, who is kindly looking after us while Father Stephen is on leave. Some 40 people joined together to sing some very well known hymns and to hear Father Roger's stirring sermon on the sewing of seeds! The Choir sang 'Lead us Lord' by Samuel Wesley. The service was followed by coffee in the North Transept.

The Fete is approaching rapidly, please do come along to the Church Fete on the afternoon of Saturday 26th of July. Stall holders would be glad of donations, in the form of glass and china, or cakes, or contributions to the refreshments tent, please contact the church wardens, or look in this months edition of the Sidlesham Parishioner for the phone numbers of stall holders! Most importantly come along to the Fete,this year the theme is '100 years ago the last summer of peace' so expect to see some stall holders in appropriate dress.  Most importantly come along to the Fete,

This first Sunday of the month, our Family Service was a special occasion. Four of our five junior choristers were presented with their first Royal School of Church Music awards. They have all passed the first test in the Junior Chorister programme, and were accordingly invested with their medals and light blue ribbons. One of the choristers couldnt be with us this morning and she will receive her medal and ribbon later. Father Roger was in charge of the service and presentation as Father Stephen is on leave. The candidates were presented to him by Mrs Joanna Chivers, the Organist and Choir Director, and Miss Beryl Rodd who has helped to prepare the candidates. The Choristers with their new ribbons and medals were then presented to the congregation and received a well deserved round of applause.
During communion the Choir sang 'What Wondrous Love is This' Words and music by Geoffrey Weaver.
Coffee was served after the service.

the junior choristers were presented to Father Rodger

Each Chorister received a light blue ribbon and medal

presentation to the congregation

The Choristers with Miss Rodd

Kristina Dolan with Fr Stephen

Sea Sunday was celebrated in style this Sunday. Our speaker Kristina Dolan was a very young and enthusiastic member of the Selsey lifeboat crew and had interesting tales to tell of rescues she had been involved with. She was very popular with the children who chatted to her after the service. The collection for the RNLI was 75 pounds. Father Stephen chose two appropriate readings. the Epistle was from Acts and told the story of St Paul's shipwreck, and the Gospel was about St Peter and the fishes, and Jesus's command to go and be fishers of men. As it was the feast of Peter and Paul it was all tied in together with the sea. The choir, and some of the junior choir sang Mozart's Ave Verun Corpus. Coffee and specially baked biscuits were served after the service.