This morning our 10 am service was Choral Mattins, conducted by Father Stephen. The readings, as is the practice at Mattins, were from the King James version of the Bible.
As it is Lent the Canticles included the Venite, the Benedicite, and the Jubilate Deo. The Benedicite was sung in the setting by Lloyd, and the Jubilate by CV Stanford in B flat. was sung by the Choir. Also as part of our Lenten worship we sang the Litany from the Book of Common Prayer.

The Gospel Reading, from St John, was the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. As Father Stephen pointed out, this is another of the dialogues, similar to the one last week between Jesus and Nicodemus, where the verbal 'fencing' brings out more than just the literal meaning of the words. The action of Jesus to ask for water from the unclean Samaritan women speaks of his message to include all not just the apparently righteous!

There was coffee after the service. Next week we will be celebrating Mothering Sunday as a family service, and so the following week, Passion Sunday will be a Parish Eucharist.

Look out for our Easter Holiday entertainment, 'Pirates Day' on the 22nd of April, a Treasure Hunt, competitions, a Story teller and Tea, Tickets, family or individual, from the Church Wardens (£10 or £5)

This morning our 10 am service was a Eucharist, celebrated by Father Stephen. We met on a rainy morning the weather very much suiting the mood of Lent! The story of Nicodemus and his dialogue with Our Lord was the Gospel today. In his sermon Father Stephen gave us some insight into this story, which happened at night, and the conversation would have taken place in darkness, allowing Nicodemus to pose some interesting questions. Through this dialogue we learn about the coming of the Spirit, and our re-birth into a closer relationship with God through the Holy Spirit. We meet Nicodemus again when he brings spices and perfumes to the tomb for the preparation of Jesus's body after his death. He was probably a pharisee, but drawn to the teachings of Jesus.
We used the new setting for our service today, after our preparation last week, we sang the setting known as the Wiltshire Service by Richard Shephard. It was well sung by every one!
The choir sang 'O Saviour of the World' by John Goss as the anthem. There was coffee after the service.

Money continues to come in from the knitathon, if you sponsored a knitter please do make sure to give them your money. More hats are also being finished, we have 22 already!

We are now thinking about our next event. On 22nd of April we are having a Pirates Day. In the Church Hall and Church Yard, there will be lots of events, a Treasure Hunt, competitions, a fantastic visit by a Smuggler who will tell us about the history of Pirates and Smuggling, and of course a Sidlesham Tea! More details in due course.

We enter the season of Lent this week. On Wednesday evening we started our Lent Journey with a Eucharist at 7:30 pm including the imposition of ashes. This lovely service was celebrated by Father Stephen. The traditional act of marking each person with the ash was followed by the Eucharist. The Choir sang Ave Verum Corpus in the setting by Mozart as the anthem.
On Thursday evening the Lent group met for the first time and considered the opening of St Mark's Gospel; the time of baptism and temptation in the wilderness. Father Stephen used a combination of images and video clips, together with Bible reading. The following discussion gave us a thoughtful start to Lent.

This Sunday, being both the first of Lent and the first of March we had our Family Eucharist. The Children gave us a very interesting demonstration of the temptations and choices we have to make about our behaviour, and where they may lead us! The intercessions were read by our young parishioner, Emily, and the collection taken up by Seth and Hazel. The choir sang A New Commandment by Peter Nardone as the Anthem and there was coffee after the service.



On Sunday afternoon 12 redoubtable knitters convened at 'Russetts' home of Adrian and Janet Harland and at 3 pm commenced the Knit -a -thon! The item we were knitting was a woolly hat for the Mission to Seafarers, and having previously cast on 120 stitches they began to knit in knit 2 purl 2 rib as fast as they could!! After 45 minutes of knitting and conversation there was a break for tea, kindly prepared by Marilyn, after which a further 45 minutes of furious knitting was called to a halt at 5pm. Measuring the lengths it became apparent that the longest was that of Mrs Field, who was duly presented with a small prize of flowers and hand cream. The knitters will go on to finish their hats, to add to the 17 already knitted, and we hope to have a large consignment of hats to send to the Mission with the speaker who will be with us on Sea Sunday in July. Its not too late to knit a hat, the pattern is on a sheet at the back of the church!!!

Sponsorship of the knitting, in aid of the New Annex, came to around £700! thanks to all who contributed.

Please do come to our next event, a Teatime Concert in the Church next Sunday at 3 pm. Ian Scott and Joanna Chivers will play a selection of music classical and modern for Violin and Piano, followed by tea and a retiring collection in aid of the New Annex.

A little further ahead, look out for details of our Smugglers and Pirates afternoon on the 22nd April, A treasure hunt, competitions, and a storyteller followed by tea, perfect for families and individuals, details to follow!

Our 10 am Eucharist this mornig was celebrated by Father Stephen. This is the last Sunday before Lent. Ash Wednesday is the 1st of March, when there will be a Eucharist with Imposition of Ashes at 7:30 pm. Do come along and start Lent with this moving service.

The readings today were from St Peter and from the Gospel of St Matthew, the story of the Transfiguration. In his sermon Father Stephen developed the theme of the Transfiguration, when Jesus was visited by Moses and Elijah during a period of private prayer with his disciples. Moses representing the Law, and Elijah the Prophets, underlying the fact that Jesus was the completion of the Law and predicted by the Prophets. As Jesus and his disciples descend from the mountain to the plain and rejoin their followers, we have an illustration of the two aspects of Christianity, its mystical side and its practical side. Father Stephen told us that in a lifetime as a Christian and 30 years in Ministry, he had tried to follow the practical side of the religion, but felt he had not got to the bottom of the mystical side, and so the adventure of the Christian Life goes on!

The Choir sang 'Here O Lord I see you face to face' by Percy Whitlock as the Anthem. There was coffee after the service.

Our next event, the Knit-a thon, will take place next Sunday the 4th of March at Russetts, do come and knit, or sponsor one of those who will be!

As we enter Lent do join us in the Vicarage on Thursday evenings at 7:30 for our Lent Course. We will be studying St Mark's Gospel.

This morning our 10:00 am service was Mattins. The readings, from the King James version of the Bible included the Creation Story from Genesis, and from St Matthew's Gospel Jesus' words to his disciples urging them not to worry about material things! In his sermon Father Stephen continued this theme, telling us that people of our times worry as much, if not more, than those of first century Palestine! We must put our faith in Our Lord and follow his path, and such things will be taken care of.

The Choir sang ' Fairest Lord Jesus' a setting based on a Silesian folk tune arranged by Martin How, as the anthem.
There was coffee after the Service.

Father Stephen reminded us that this year's Lent Course will be held on Thursday evenings in Lent at the Vicarage. We will be studying St Mark's Gospel, do sign the list in the church and come along!

Don't forget the Knit-a-thon on March 5th and the Musical Afternoon on the 12th of March.

We enter Ordinary Time again after the Festal period of Epiphany as we await the beginning of Lent. Our 10am Eucharist was celebrated by Father Stephen. The Gospel from the Sermon on the Mount, referred to the Ten Commandments, the old covenant between God and his People, and how Jesus updated these ideas to include both the spirit and the letter of the law. Father Stephen, in his sermon, told us that the great festivals we have passed through in the last months all celebrate the Light of God coming into the world, and it is this light that we follow through our lives in sure and certain hope of being united with God at the last day.

The Choir sang 'Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes' by Thomas Attwood as the anthem.
There was coffee after the service.

despite the cold weather Spring is arriving in the Church Yard!

A very enjoyable evening in the Church Hall, with some 60 people attending a viewing of the video of the entertainments at the Harvest Supper, this was greatly enjoyed by all. We also saw a video of the Fete, hard to believe on such a cold winter evening that we had even enjoyed the blue skies and sunshine of mid July!.
Marilyn and Frank also provided us with an excellent selection of food and wine! All proceeds to the New Parish Rooms of course!
Many thanks to every one who helped with this splendid evening!