Introducing Advent

Tamil Children's Choir

St John's has held several events and services this weekend introducing Advent for our wider community.

On Friday evening for our 'Lights of Advent' event we set up three gazebos in the Church garden and hung Christmas lights from them before serving mulled wine, mince pies and roasted chestnuts to passers-by. Our aim was to bring some Christmas cheer to our area at the beginning of Advent and to invite people to our Advent and Christmas services and events. We were restricted somewhat by the weather but despite the rain we went ahead and in the dry periods a number of people joined us for refreshments while others took our Christmas leaflets as they hurried home.

The 29th annual Tamil Carol Service was held at St John's on Saturday. Organised by church members, Winston and Shalini Solomon, this service is a nine lessons and carols in Tamil and English interspersed with musical items and followed by a shared meal. People travelled from across London and the South East to fill the church and enjoy contributions from a children's choir and The Crusader's singing group.

Our Advent Sunday service included the lighting of Advent candles and the introduction of our Advent song. This service was followed by an Advent austerity lunch, organised by our Peace & Justice group, with time for prayer, reflection and discussion on the theme of consequences. In this time we thought about the consequences of what we say, do and buy and of what we don't say, do or buy; how small changes to our lifestyles can have knock-on effects for our planet. Finally, in the evening, we shared with other churches locally in the annual Seven Kings Fellowship of Churches Advent Service which this year was held at St Teresa's Newbury Park.

Advent is a special time of preparation for Christians and at St John's we are seeking to do that by reflecting on the consequences of what we do and say and by taking Christmas cheer into all communities within our parish. We want to come to celebrate Christmas by remembering the true meaning of the festive season. All our Advent events and services are designed to get us thinking about the reason Jesus was born; that we should become part of the change that Jesus began and which our world needs to see. As a result, we ended our Advent lunch with the following promise of re-commitment:

We have begun a journey together. We have begun to ask ourselves questions about the way we live. We have begun to ask whether we are truly following Christ's example and to make difficult decisions in the light of our answers to these questions. Now we ask for courage to continue our journey. Lord Jesus, teach us the joy of having less and being more. Lord, grant us the courage to transform our lives and to follow your example. Lord Jesus, show us how to pray and to praise. Lord, grant us the courage to transform our lives and to follow your example. Lord Jesus, may we learn from you how to live more simply and more generously. Lord, grant us the courage to transform our lives and to follow your example.

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Judy Mowatt - Joseph.