Christmas at St Faith's 2009

For St. Faith's, Christmas was both familiar and new, a time to contribute and to share, a time to enjoy and celebrate.

From the first Sunday in December when the morning service was a combined Christingle and Toy Service (with prayers written by the Sunday School children) to the last Sunday before Christmas with an afternoon service of Nine Lessons and Carols (with special and new items by the choir, and mulled wine and mince pies to follow the service), St. Faith’s Church was busy with many events leading up to the familiar celebration services of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

On Sunday 20th we saw the children acting out the Nativity Story, told from the perspective of the angels, with a real new born baby playing the role of baby Jesus!

The children had also created pictures of angels which were hung on the walls in church.

All had a different and more boisterous time the day before when they helped to decorate the magnificent Christmas Tree - an annual event with food and fun for the participants.

The snowy weather prevented the procession of the crib from Mary Exton School to St. Faith’s on Christmas Eve afternoon, but it did not seem to deter the families who came direct to church and partook of hot chocolate before the service, and then the traveling crib was processed around the church by all the children at the start of the service. The choir enjoyed all the extra singing at this time of the year with descants for many of the carols, and the music group played for both the Toy Service and the Crib service.

One of our treasures at St. Faith’s is the lovely crib figures which are placed in front of the altar and the children help to bring these to the altar as part of our service on Christmas Eve. The two cribs form the basis of Charmaine’s talk to the children where she explains the Christmas story and it is wonderful to see how she manages to capture the attention of so many highly excited children (Father Christmas is on his way!) and to bring the real meaning of Christmas to them. Once again talented ladies produced magnificent flower displays to adorn our church and all combined to make a very welcoming atmosphere, particularly for those folk who were visitors or who do not come on a regular basis.

Carol singing at Peter Sell House on the 2^nd Sunday of December gave those not able to get out to church a little taste of Christmas and the children from Highover School were able to hold their carol service at St. Faith’s one Wednesday morning before the end of term. Christmas cards were also sent out by the After Eights Group to elderly folk living near our church. The big Christmas card at the back of church featuring designs drawn by the Sunday School was a great success raising nearly £300 for the church.

I’m sure I am not alone in wanting to say thank you to all at St. Faith’s for making my Christmas worship both memorable and meaningful.

Elizabeth Hill