Happy new year! Today is the first Sunday of the church’s year – the start of Advent – the season of expectation and preparation as we prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ – both born into the world in human form and looking ahead to his final advent as judge at the end of time. At the darkest time of the year, the importance of the light that Christ comes to bring to the world is powerfully evident and we celebrate by lighting symbolic candles throughout the season. The building may be closed temporarily this year due to the pandemic – but nothing stops the worship of the church – please do join us if you are able!
The national Church of England Service will be broadcast online at 9am – and this week will come from the church of St Martin in the Fields in Trafalgar Square in London observing the start of advent with music, reflection and prayer. You can find out more about where to watch this and download the words for the service from the Church of England website here.
At 9.30am on Sunday morning, Rachel will be leading a time of Family Worship on our Facebook page here. Start off your Sundays with a bit of fun whilst connecting with God! This short, interactive and creative all age worship isn’t just for children and families – the ideas can speak to anyone and all are welcome. There is a sheet of activity ideas supporting the session, which you can download here.
Then, if you’d like to meet up online with other church members for a chat over a coffee or tea, Helen Scott will be hosting an online social time on Zoom from 10.15am.
This evening, we will be worshipping together with a special service of Evening Worship for Advent Sunday at 6.30pm over on our YouTube channel. We will be continuing to look at the message of the prophet Isaiah for the ancient Israelite exiles as they prepared to return home to Jerusalem and what that says for us today. Click here to watch the service on our YouTube channel. (The link will activate when the service is live). You can download the liturgy order of service for this here if you find it helpful to follow along.
The building may be closed for now but the church isn’t – prayer, worship and church family life continues as always – please join us!
