Dear Friends
As we continue to anticipate the coming of Christ, both as a child at Christmas and as Judge of All at the end of time, let me encourage you to continue to live a life of joyful and watchful prayer. If you have not already begun to attend an extra service each week of Advent, as part of our Advent Challenge, or would like to do so but can't get away from work or home life, you might consider how to pray more meaningfully during the Advent season. One way to pray differently is to participate in the Travelling Nativity. Thank you to those who have already signed up for a slot, however there are a few remaining dates in the week before Christmas. If you’re going to be around and would like to have the Nativity stay in your home, please let me know. It is especially good to pray together as a family, or with others in the community, as you pick up or hand the crib on. The Nativity comes with prayers and a reading to help you do this. As a church family, we give thanks for a very successful Christmas Fair last weekend, sponsored by Riverstone. If the excited screams coming from the Punch & Judy corner were any indication, everyone enjoyed themselves most heartily. With our volunteers looking after the church merch stalls, plants, bric-a-brac and cakes (and thank you for the many contributions towards these), the BBQ, the bar and children’s area, we are so grateful for everyone who supported making the Fair a welcoming and well-organised afternoon. If you registered a guess in the ‘Guess the number of sweets’ contest, you may like to know that the correct number was 110. Of all the events leading up to Christmas, Handel's Messiah (part 1) on Sunday 14th December at 5.30 pm is probably the most rich in telling the story of the nativity. G.F. Handel set to music a series of mostly Old Testament passages showing how the birth of Jesus was the fulfilment of prophetic revelation. As a child, my parents always put on the Messiah while we decorated our Christmas tree. I’m grateful to them because it helped me to commit to memory some of the most beautiful and Christ-centred verses from the Bible. The Messiah at St Mary Abbots probably isn’t suitable for very small children but children ages 6 and up should be able to sit and enjoy the music (even if they have to resort to a book or colouring pages in the pew). Tickets are £15 for adults and include a glass of wine and a mince pie and are available HERE. God of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy, so that we may share his wisdom and become one with him when he comes in glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (from Some Prayers and Collects for Advent) With love, Fr Evan 4th December 2025 |
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The PCC of St Mary Abbots Church
Charity No: 1132235 |
