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Christingle
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Sunday
12 December
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Telling the story of the
Christingle - the Bishop starts with a lonely, little orange. (Is this the first CofE woman bishop?)
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Other children came to help make God's
Orange bigger and better - because there's "always room in God's orange
for more." |
The red ribbon was added to
the Christingle, to remember the blood shed by Christ to save us all.
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Then the sticks of fruit and sweets, to
remind us of the four seasons and the fruits that God gives us from
creation.
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Adding the candle to the
Christingle, to show that Christ came as a light to the world
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Children holding lit
Christingles as we sang a hymn ...
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... and the teenagers like Christingles too
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Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols - Sunday 19 December |
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| The church candlelit before the
service, wth candles on the altar, rood screen ... |
The young choristers
singing the first verse of Once in
Royal David's City to start the Festival of Nine Lessons and
Carols
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The choir processing out by candle
light at the end of the service
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| Crib
Service - Debbie's Christmas Story
The Crib
Service held on 5pm on
Christmas Eve tells the story of the first Christmas and this year was
written by one of our younger church members, who also took the role of
Debbie ...
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| The church filling up at
the beginning of the
service with the mats at the front full of expectant children.
After an introduction by Helen Gheorghiu
Gould, the curate,
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... Debbie was asked to tell the
Christmas story, with her friend Tom, who helped Debbie not get
confused .... |
First Mary and Joseph travelled to
Bethlehem as the congregation sang Little
Donkey. Mary and Joseph found room at an inn
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Tom reminded
Debbie that the first visitors to the stable were shepherds and while
the congregation sang While
Shepherds Watched, shepherds and their sheep appeared on the
hillside and the angels delivering their message.
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The shepherds
travelled to Bethlehem as the congregation sang O Little Town of Bethlehem and
persuaded a very confused inn-keeper to allow them to visit the stable
where a couple had earlier disappeared |
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As Debbie got excited about
the shepherds seeing Jesus, Tom shushed her and told her that Herod was
suspicious and would not want to give up his throne to a new king ...
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During the next carol, We three kings three magi arrived
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to visit Herod ...
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... Herod was not happy that the gifts
of gold, frankincense and myrrh were not for him, but for a different
King. He asked that the three kings come back and told him where
to find the new born king
so he could kill... pay homage too ... but the three kings were
wise men and went back a
different way.
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Tom said that if we had been there on Christmas night, we
would have
seen a scene like the one above, with everyone gathered around the new
born baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, sheep, angels and Wise Men.
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Christmas
2010
