Advent & Christmas @ St John's

Combined choir at Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight

The children at our Christingle Service

The Crusaders singing group at the Tamil Carol Service

For our 'Lights of Advent' event, organised by the Social and Fundraising committee, 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.

Over the first weekend of Advent, the 29th annual Tamil Carol Service was held at St John's. Organised by 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.

The combined choirs of St John's and St Peter's joined forces on two consecutive Sunday nights for services of Nine Lessons and Carols at St John's and then St Peter’s. The congregations enjoyed a varied selection of choral pieces, including John Rutter's Star Carol, and joined in wholeheartedly with a number of familiar carols. The bible readings at our service were themed to show how Jesus' birth fulfilled Old Testament prophecies and I spoke about the way in which Jesus is overlooked at Christmas: "If Christ is not born in us as we hear the Christmas story and sing Christmas carols, then the Christmas season will be pleasant but not life changing. But if Christ is born in us then the whole story will be transformed. It will become our story."

Our morning service had seen more candles, this time in Christingles. Thirty children processed through the Church to the crib scene holding lighted Christingles, that they had previously made at home, before singing Away in a manger. Our children also took part in our Nativity Service on Christmas Eve where they formed a nativity tableau before singing See him lying in a bed of straw. At the Nativity Service, we also began to say a big thank you to Margaret Amann who has led the Children’s work at St John’s for 25 years.

There were more carols by candlelight at our Midnight Communion service on Christmas Eve and then on a balloon on Christmas Day, as we reflected that Jesus had come down to earth at Christmas as God’s gift to enable us to rise to be with God ourselves. In total 560 people attended our Christmas services and we raised over £200.00 for the Haven Children’s Hospice and £67 for The Children’s Society, plus gifts collected for children at Barnados.

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Johnny Cash - Redemption.