Unto us a child is born

John 1. 1-4

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

Childrens' Christmas Parites

Pictures courtesy of Barbara Ballantyne

A Message From Our Wardens Eddie and Brian

Dear Friends,

At last week's meeting of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) we spent some time reviewing the Parish Profile that it has been necessary to produce in order that we can start the process of advertising for a new priest at St John's.

Whilst a lot of work had to go into it from a number of people it made us reflect on how fortunate we are to have a thriving and growing worshipping community. It is a blessing to be able to accommodate such a variety of worship styles and to be able to meet the needs of such a wide range of people of all ages and types in one place. One of the things people say to us is that St John's has a lovely family feel. At the heart of families is love and tolerance; we think it is this that helps us to maintain such a wide appeal to many people and we are thankful for it.

The Parish Profile also includes a description and a few photographs of the church building, we sometimes take for granted that we worship in a church that is iconic in our area and is a beautiful grade 2 listed building. It is hard work and expensive to maintain but with the continued generosity of people we will continue God's work in our area and continue to make our church a focal point for our community.

There are copies of the parish profile at the back of church for you to read and we will publish a copy of it online in due course. 

Among the things we discussed during the recent meeting was our responsibility as a church for people sleeping rough, as you know we support the Cold Nights charity but we also discussed whether there may be rough sleepers in our own parish and what our Christian response to them should be. We will keep you updated with any news on practical work we agree to undertake on your behalf. We should also say thank you to the people who quietly and regularly bring food and warm clothing for us to pass on to rough sleepers through Cold Nights.  

Please spare a thought for those who won't have a home to go to this Christmas.

The church fair was a great success and thanks are due to many people for making it so. If you didn't get chance to come and would like to make a donation please see either of us or include it with your regular giving.

A great many of us also enjoyed the Seniors' Christmas meal which is provided each year for the older people in our church, again we owe a great many thanks for the work of all those that volunteered to make it a lovely afternoon.

We should soon be able to make it possible for people to donate on-line, this should help the many people that do not yet feel ready to commit to a standing order but equally don't always carry cash but want to contribute to our work.

Again, it is worth reminding everyone that we share this message to let you know what the PCC is discussing on your behalf. If you have particular views on something that you would like us to take into account in our discussions please let either or us, Brian or Eddie, know, or mention it to any member of the PCC.

Our special services for Christmas start this Sunday with our Carol Service at 4pm, followed by our lovely Christingle and Nativity at 6pm on Christmas Eve, then Midnight Mass starting at 11.30pm Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day at 9.30am.

Please join us in worship during this Christmas period as we remember and celebrate the birth of our Lord.

May we take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas.

Eddie and Brian.  

Advent 4

She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’  All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall name him Emmanuel’,

Seniors Christmas Meal

Christmas Fair

Advent

#joytotheword

Starting from 1 Dec

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Newsletter

The latest edition of Grasshopper is available to view here

Baptism

Ana was Baptised today

Message from Our Church Wardens for November

Brian Saxon
Church Warden

Eddie Baines
Church Warden

Dear Friends, 

Winter seems to have well and truly arrived and at the recent PCC meeting we discussed
a wide range of seasonal matters, not least preparation for Christmas (it won't have escaped your attention that it will soon be here!). 

Many of you will be doubtless want to help where you can and there are some specific occasions where your help and/or donations will be welcome: 

Christmas fair is on Sunday 4th December:

• We would be grateful for help to set up things in the hall from 5pm on Saturday 3rd December - if you don't normally help with this sort of thing come with a friend and just turn up at the hall and join in, there will be plenty to do.

• Donations of bacon welcome for the cafe , bring a packet with you on the morning


During Winter many older and vulnerable people are reluctant to go outdoors and also are prone to becoming ill so it is timely that our Parish Listeners are now vetted, and are soon to be equipped with identification badges. They are able to start visiting or supporting people so if you are aware of someone from our church family who is ill or needs our support let Jason Robinson know. 

We had a good sweep up of leaves around the church grounds recently and will plan a further clear up when the remainder of the leaves have dropped, so if you fancy some brisk outdoor work followed by a free bacon butty and a brew, watch this space. 
At each PCC we receive reports about our children's and youth groups. I'm sure if you are a parent or grandparent you won't need telling how much our children enjoy coming to Brownies, Cubs or Sunday School for example. 

We are pleased to be able to say that there will two children's Christmas parties for different age groups on 21st December, more to follow. These are great occasions, the kids had a whale of a time last year.  

We had a talk about whether our regular church parade, for our uniformed organisations, would be better placed in the Thursday evening service when most children attend. There are views for both options; if you have an opinion that you would like taken into account let a member of PCC know and they will raise it at the PCC in the New Year. 

That said, we assume that our work with young people in our uniformed organisations and Sunday School will be able to continue and sadly it is not clear that that is the case. Without new volunteers to help there is a real risk that some will cease to be. So please reflect on how much we value this work and also whether you know someone that may be able to help, please talk to friends and family members about whether you could give time to this. 

 If you would like to know a little more, speak to either myself or Brian and we will put you in touch with the right people. 

We will make sure you are kept updated with all dates for Christmas as we get nearer the time. 

While we think about Winter, we also discussed, at the meeting, how we might make more formal links with the Cold Nights charity that support rough sleepers. We have a few ideas but we will of course still welcome donations of food for the charity to distribute. If you would like to know what items are in most demand ask Steve Croft, or check the Cold Nights Facebook page. 

These were the main things we talked about but as usual a copy of the full minutes of the meeting is in the PCC folder at the back of church and if there is anything you would like further information about please ask either one of us, or a member of the PCC. 

With best wishes,

Eddie and Brian.