Dear friends, Today is the shortest day of the year and a star shining in the darkness seemed a good way to mark the hope of Advent. On this last Sunday before Christmas I would like to take the opportunity to wish you a good time and remember that Christmas has value only when followed by Good Friday and Easter. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20241222.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241222.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 9:25am on Sunday December 21st, 2025

Dear friends, It’s the third Sunday of Advent already. I decided to give you a picture of one of the rooms in the hotel/museum we stayed in when we were in Paris last month. The building is Banksy themed and this particular room was all about boat migrants. It made quite an impression through it’s simple but significant details. Let us follow Jesus’ teaching of welcoming the stranger who knocks on our door, looking for shelter. Also we hope with them that when the time comes they can move on and be reunited with their loved ones back home as may now be the case for so many Syrians who fled the terror of the Assad regime and its war against his own people. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20241215.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241215.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 1:54pm on Sunday December 14th, 2025

Dear friends, This year is the first I have used an Advent calendar (see picture). It has come as a bit of a surprise to me how it focusses the mind on the anticipation of the real Christmas. It serves as a meditation aid, a way to contemplate the imminent coming of Christ, the light of the world, in our darkness. I hope that we all experience some of that in our busy lives of shopping and prepping for the family get-together, travelling and frivolous, enjoyable pre-Christmas activities. Let us not forget all, far and near, who feel the darkness more than we do and may we be generous with our time and and money. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20241208.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241208.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 7:42am on Sunday December 7th, 2025

Dear friends, The season of Advent starts today: the dark days before the Light of the World is revealed. We count the days (with of without advent calendar) and wait. Last weekend we were in Paris and the picture today is of the only vineyard in Paris, located on the slopes of Montmartre, a stone’s throw from the Sacré Coeur. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20241201.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241201.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 2:32pm on Sunday November 30th, 2025

Dear Friends, Apologies for not being able to send out last week’s notices. A two day broadband band outage played havoc with our weekend. This week is different in another way. I’m writing this on my iPad from a hotel room in Paris. We have arrived this Thursday afternoon and it’s snowing heavily. Apparently a rare event for Paris. Anyway, the remainder of our weekend looks drier and we hope to make the most of it with some visits to favourite haunts and a couple of museums. We hope to see you all again next week when it’s the first Sunday in Advent. We will enter a time of reflection and hope and, come Christmas Day, utter joy at our saviour’s birth. Today’s picture is of Notre Dame here in Paris. Not one that we’ve taken but from some time ago during the restoration. It is soon to reopen again with all its glory restored. God bless, Dik & Dineke notes-20230820-24th-Nov-2024-copy.pdf weekly notes Readings-20241124.pdf weekly readings Post expires at 8:04pm on Friday November 21st, 2025

Dear friends, Last Friday I had the privilege of attending the Arts Alive Festival finale in Pippbrook House in Dorking. It was a lovely event, organised by a team chaired by our very own Mary Huggins. It was great to see that the delightful decorations seem fairly unharmed by the building having been unused for such a long time.I’m looking forward to seeing how it will be used again in the not too distant future. God bless, Dineke notes-20241110.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241110.pdf Weekly Readings   Post expires at 9:52am on Sunday November 9th, 2025

Dear friends, This week I give you a picture of the advent calendars I am offering for sale this year. They are a great opportunity to talk to relatives about the Christmas message. The blue Divine calendar has Fair Trade chocolate in each window so apart from the conversation about Christ come to earth you can talk about unfairness in the world and how our small actions can help give growers a fairer price for their labour. It means parents can afford to send their children to school rather than employ them from a very early age. The triangular tea calendars are more for older children and adults. They have a different organic tea in each window and remind us that we must honour Gods creation and stop polluting land, sky and sea. Last but not least: everything I sell is competitively priced and all proceeds go to the church funds. I have a few left! This week I also want to draw your attention to the USA presidential elections. I don’t think it needs an explanation why I ask you to pray for the situation in that country. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20241103.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241103.pdf Weekly… Read More

Dear friends, The photo is from last week and this European hornet is probably a male about to die as the females are most likely in hibernation by now. I looked up hornets and this is what I found: ‘The fearsome-looking hornet may not be a well-loved insect, but it is actually much less aggressive than the common wasp. It is also an important pollinator and a predator of species that feed on plants and crops, so can be a gardener’s friend.’ Not to be confused with the Asian hornet, which is smaller and much darker. Any sightings of these need to be reported as they are invasive and a threat to native bees and honey bees. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20241027.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241027.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 11:35am on Sunday October 26th, 2025

Dear friends, These notes come to you a bit later that usual as I have been to see family for a couple of days. When people ask me what I miss about the Netherlands the first thing that comes to mind is ‘water’. It’s difficult to explain how the rivers, canals and lakes shape the landscape and wildlife populations. My sister’s flat overlooks a very large pond and every year a couple of terns raise their young on what they catch there. Vann Lake in Ockley hosts terns in summer but their comings and goings are much more hidden from view. The cormorant in the picture is one on a multitude of waterbirds I spotted last Friday near Gorinchem. Today after the parish service in Capel I will be running my LOAF stall again with new stock. Please come and browse. God bless, Dineke notes-20241020.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241020.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 8:10am on Monday October 20th, 2025

Dear friends, At last this week I witnessed Aurora Borealis. The picture shows more than could be seen with the naked eye, probably due to exposure time. I am so very pleased that I have seen this most beautiful phenomenon now after having been on family visits north of the arctic circle to no avail. What a wonderful world we live in! This Sunday I will be running my LOAF stall around cafe church and also during teas in St John in the afternoon. Please come and see what is on offer (no obligations) for Christmas baking and day-to-day goodies. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20241013.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241013.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 8:02am on Sunday October 12th, 2025

Dear friends, St Francis Day was last Friday: 4 October. In many countries this day is know as World Animal Day. Those who know their saints will understand why this day was chosen to celebrate the relationship between humans and animals. In this light we had the pet service in Ockley last week and we can continue to show our concern for animal welfare by being critical consumers when we buy meat, dairy and fish. Consuming less, but of higher quality standards (free range, organic etc) will not harm us and improve living standards of farm animals no end. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20241006.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20241006.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 8:22am on Sunday October 5th, 2025

Dear friends, This week I picked up this clock from a service. It hadn’t run for decades and I’m pleased it is well again after some tlc and repairs. Apparently clocks need a service every 60 years so someone else will have to worry about the next one. Does that sound a bit like church life? We must not worry too much about how things will be many years from now but in the meantime we must do what we can to shine a light in our community. On this note I invite you all to come to church whenever you can (even when the parish service is on the other side of the A24) and do all you can to strengthen our part of the body of Christ, knowing that none of us is more important than the others and the baton will be passed to coming generations. God bless, Dineke van den Bogerd notes-20240929.pdf Weekly Notes Readings-20240929.pdf Weekly Readings Post expires at 9:42am on Sunday September 28th, 2025