Tomorrow is the last day of the year 2006, it is the last day of the Christian festival of Christmas (officially)but even more than that it is the last day of the incumbency of our parish Priest. Tomorrow sees the end of fourteen years of his work within our parish. It will be a strange thing to worship without him.
The gift I prepared for him is ready, as polished as ever it can be and also with a surprise addition that sort of grew out of the editing process and refused to go away. A bit like Franken Freezer my undead freezer that is now living in my garage and humming contentedly, it just would not be turned off. At one point it was going to be a stanza and later it could have been an addition providing a contrasting theme. Neither of these were to be, it was a poem of it's own right and made sure that I knew it. I have reproduced it below, enjoy.
Before that though I had some news today that friends in Sudan have had a baby boy, yesterday. This is really great news as they have had a very bad year as with many people in Sudan. As I pointed out to them in my congratulation message, God brings great joys in small bundles, that's Christmas.
Lead Me
Lead me in the simple way,
That trails behind your tread.
Hold my hand and guide me,
Through the darkness laid ahead.
On steep narrow rocky paths,
Teach me courage to carry on.
Show me how to balance Lord,
What is right and what is wrong.
Through the noise and smoke of life,
Guide me please along the way.
Through all the uncertainties of night,
To the bright dawning light of day.
When at last we reach the place,
Where spirits shine like chrome.
Hug me like your long lost child
And I'll know that I've come home.
Peace Dave
Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts
Saturday
Wednesday
Newspaper Issue
How do you make people who come church once want to come back. That's a question which I think many church groups work on, agonise over and wish there were easy answers for. The youth work in our church is struggling with chronic low numbers and we would desperately like to see more children in our church. The catch is that kids don't come alone, they have to be brought by parents; parents that probably don't want to get up on a Sunday.
We are hosting a children's club event at our church on the Saturday afternoon before Christmas (click the title for a reminder from an earlier post) and the likelihood is that we will have a full attendance at the club and similarly a full church at the children's Christmas Eve Crib service. Naturally we will bend over backwards to display the love of Christ in our lives and church fellowship to try and make people feel welcomed and wanted. But at the end of both events how can we keep contact with these people and hope to entice them back without making them feel targeted? Obviously some will firmly intend not to come back and we can only pray for them in their absence.
Others may be impressed with what they've seen and heard from their children. They may only want a reason to come. This hope is the basis for a silly little activity that I am planning at the moment. I am creating a fake newspaper - a four page spread to be handed out at the end of both the Children's event and the Crib service. The content will lightheartedly reflect the subject of the club and service, i.e. the nativity story. It will also feature all the contact details for our church and youth group with a list of future activities. I'm calling the paper the Bethlehem Evening Star and headlines may well include: Angels Spotted, Shocked Shepherd Speaks and Health Service Crisis, Baby Born in Cattle Shed. The printing cost of this venture will be tiny (black and white only) and hopefully they will make enough of an impression to stick in the mind before they are recycled. My hope is to cheerfully and gently build a link with the recipient through this paper and firmly invite them back through it. You've got to try.
Peace Dave.
We are hosting a children's club event at our church on the Saturday afternoon before Christmas (click the title for a reminder from an earlier post) and the likelihood is that we will have a full attendance at the club and similarly a full church at the children's Christmas Eve Crib service. Naturally we will bend over backwards to display the love of Christ in our lives and church fellowship to try and make people feel welcomed and wanted. But at the end of both events how can we keep contact with these people and hope to entice them back without making them feel targeted? Obviously some will firmly intend not to come back and we can only pray for them in their absence.
Others may be impressed with what they've seen and heard from their children. They may only want a reason to come. This hope is the basis for a silly little activity that I am planning at the moment. I am creating a fake newspaper - a four page spread to be handed out at the end of both the Children's event and the Crib service. The content will lightheartedly reflect the subject of the club and service, i.e. the nativity story. It will also feature all the contact details for our church and youth group with a list of future activities. I'm calling the paper the Bethlehem Evening Star and headlines may well include: Angels Spotted, Shocked Shepherd Speaks and Health Service Crisis, Baby Born in Cattle Shed. The printing cost of this venture will be tiny (black and white only) and hopefully they will make enough of an impression to stick in the mind before they are recycled. My hope is to cheerfully and gently build a link with the recipient through this paper and firmly invite them back through it. You've got to try.
Peace Dave.
Monday
Lighting Up
Christmas is coming, no doubt about that. The shops are filling up with toys that bleep and flash and images of Winter are everywhere. Advent has not yet begun and already planning has started for the Christmas Eve Crib service. This is a special service that we lay on every year especially for families with young children. The key theme of the service is to tell the story of the nativity. If you're not familiar with this story you can find it in any Bible in the New Testament section in the Book of Luke, chapter 2.
As part of the service we fill a display crib scene with figurines. This display actually changes as Christmas passes to Epiphany and stays in the church until Candlemas is February. It's a sort of visual memory device.
We try to put on a very visual and interactive service that is both fun and different. This year we are hosting a kid's club on the day before just to make life interesting. Our thinking is to replicate elements of the kid's club in the crib service. Our plan is to teach the nativity in a way that will provide for the people who are looking for a traditional Christmas but also in a way that will stick in the mind. For many Christmas will have ended as soon as the presents are opened this is far from true.
So the plan is Census, Caesar decreed a census and so a census will take place both at the kids club and also at the service. We're talking Roman soldiers, innkeepers and everyone having a card to be stamped. At both events a couple will arrive late and struggle to get lodging. They will have come far and be tired, one will be heavily pregnant. They will be pushed to a poor animal shelter where a baby will be born. Angels will come singing and shepherds will come looking, clutching a lamb.
Our other motive is to raise funds for the Children's Society by handing out Christingles. The word Christingle means Christ Light and many Crib services are associated with Christingles as Jesus is symbolically regarded as a light in spiritual darkness. Check out the Children's Society Christngle website. Christmas hasn't started, but the planning has !
Peace Dave.
As part of the service we fill a display crib scene with figurines. This display actually changes as Christmas passes to Epiphany and stays in the church until Candlemas is February. It's a sort of visual memory device.
We try to put on a very visual and interactive service that is both fun and different. This year we are hosting a kid's club on the day before just to make life interesting. Our thinking is to replicate elements of the kid's club in the crib service. Our plan is to teach the nativity in a way that will provide for the people who are looking for a traditional Christmas but also in a way that will stick in the mind. For many Christmas will have ended as soon as the presents are opened this is far from true.
So the plan is Census, Caesar decreed a census and so a census will take place both at the kids club and also at the service. We're talking Roman soldiers, innkeepers and everyone having a card to be stamped. At both events a couple will arrive late and struggle to get lodging. They will have come far and be tired, one will be heavily pregnant. They will be pushed to a poor animal shelter where a baby will be born. Angels will come singing and shepherds will come looking, clutching a lamb.
Our other motive is to raise funds for the Children's Society by handing out Christingles. The word Christingle means Christ Light and many Crib services are associated with Christingles as Jesus is symbolically regarded as a light in spiritual darkness. Check out the Children's Society Christngle website. Christmas hasn't started, but the planning has !
Peace Dave.
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