December 2009 Archives

The end of a wonderful (overused word this time of year, but justified in this case) few days - starting with the Christingle Service on Sunday morning and finishing this morning with our Christmas Day Celebration.

We finished with a bang - party poppers seemed to fit the occasion of celebration, even though the combination of paper streamers and suspended lit candles was perhaps a little on the risky side...

Here's the moment we shouted Merry Christmas!!

 

 

Numbers over the five Christmas services were very encouraging - especially the number of visitors (many who know us through Little Souls in particular). I remember Andrew Watson (then Vicar of St Stephen's, now Bishop of Aston) once saying something like "Bums on seats isn't everything, but every one of those bums is loved by Jesus!"...

In a day when people speak of the death of the church, the fact that attendance topped 750, with perhaps 500 different people (adults and children) seems something to cheer about today... :-)

Hope you enjoyed your present-giving and receiving today... I'll be back on the blog in ernest (finally) in the New Year - have a great few days!

Almost as much a part of Christmas as the race to be "Number 1" in the pop charts (though somewhat less bad tempered) is the annual dual between ASD and myself to be the first to blog Helene's latest brilliant Christmas card design (here's last year's!).

This year I'm afraid my scanner may well have scuppered the lovely colours, but the captions say it all... you'll have to imagine the rest!

It's been a long, long time since I've been here - same for you I suspect - but with a New Year on the horizon, restarting blogs is a bit like restarting at the gym... only this one I'll aim to actually keep!

Provoked into action by finding my friend - and part of the All Souls team now - Luke Taylor, Pastor to the Ivybridge Community Church - on film. He's in a segment from a Diocese of London video showcasing mission and outreach work in London. You'll find the few minutes with Luke and the Ivybridge team, church and teens (including one or two other faces you'll recognise from All Souls) around three minutes in to the piece:

London Mission from London Diocese on Vimeo.