On Thursday evening  during Lent at 7:30pm why not join our ‘Lent Group’ we will meet using Zoom. 

Opportunities for All Saints’ Families to join together for worship  via Facebook Live.

Monday – Night Prayer at 9:30

Tuesday – Night Prayer at 9:30.

Wednesday: Morning Prayer and Litany at 10:00am and Night Prayer at 9:30pm.

Thursday  – Night Prayer at 9:30pm

Friday – Morning Prayer and Litany at 10:00am

6:30pm Friday Praise .

Saturday – Night Prayer at 9:30pm.

Sunday – 10:45am  Short Children’s service.

11:00am Prayers and Litany.  Night Prayer 9:30pm.

We hope that this will provide one way for us to join together virtually whilst we can’t join together

physically.

United Benefice of Altham and Clayton-le-Moors

The Revd Toby Webber, The Vicarage, Church Street, Clayton-le-Moors, BB5 5HT

(01254)384321    tobywebber@btinternet.com

December 2020

Dear friends

First of all, congratulations on reaching Christmas and the very end of 2020.  I know that hard as it has been for all of us in some ways, it has been especially hard for those living on their own and those caring for loved ones.  Surviving hasn’t just meant dodging the virus (or if caught seeing it off), its meant surviving all the dislocation and isolation and for some financial worries too.

Christmas is very different this year.  But we perhaps need its message more than for a long time.  And though our feasting and celebrating is necessarily pared right back, we can perhaps see more clearly the light that comes from Jesus.  I could do a lot worse than share this thought tweeted by Pope Francis a couple of days ago:

“The Christmas tree and the Nativity scene are signs of hope, especially in this difficult time. Let us be sure we do not stop at the sign, but get to the meaning, that is, to Jesus, to the love of God that He revealed to us, the infinite goodness that he made shine on the world.”

We are holding some Christmas services in church and all are welcome.

If you would like to attend midnight mass at 11:30pm on Thursday you need to reserve a space – use the eventbrite link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/midnight-communion-tickets-132984605535 (you can also find the link from the church website or FB page) or if its easier simply ring the vicarage.

There will also be a 10am service on Christmas morning, short and suitable for families., for which there will be no need to book and Communion at 11am on Sunday 27^th.  There will be no service on Wednesday 30^th, though.

If you haven’t yet seen it, our 2020 carol service is available on Facebook and is well worth a watch.  Our crib service will go live at 4pm on Christmas Eve, again on Facebook.  It is a short service featuring children from All Saints’ School.  Its followed by a second video with the carols to sing along to if you wish!

Please remember, you DO NOT need a facebook account to watch our videos – just go to www.facebook.com/allsaintsclayton.

You may like to give a Christmas donation to church – always appreciated, but especially so in a year when income has obviously declined significantly.  If you’d like to do so then you can use the following link and give on-line https://givealittle.co/campaigns/cb3efd44-e76a-4fdd-918e-c5b4f43d19ab.  Don’t forget that 10% of what you give helps support other very worthy charities – this year we’ve donated over £6,000, including £1,500 to Clayton Baptist Church for the food bank, £2,000 to our school, £500 to Christians against poverty and £550 to the Nguringo project in rural Uganda.

We are all praying that 2021 will be a better year.  There will be an online service of prayer on New Year’s Eve to help us commit this new year and our part of it to God.  The first part will continue to be challenging, but the vaccines are a source of real hope.  We know that whatever is in store, the God who came to us in Jesus of Nazareth over 2000 years ago is with us now, will strengthen and uphold us through the storms, and will bring us through.  And that calls us, his people, who are called by his name, to live by faith, to share his love, and to rejoice in his hope ‘til he returns or calls us home.’

The churchwardens and Rebecca and the family join me in wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas and a healthy new year.

Toby

Carol Service

Spirit of Christmas

Join us for our traditional carol service. This pre-recorded Carol Service streams on Facebook .

Enjoy singing the traditional carols from your own home.

                                                                            Midnight Service

This year Midnight Mass will take place in church beginning at 11:30pm.

To ensure social distancing numbers will need to be limited, so booking is Booking is essential. Tickets are now available on eventbrite here.  Book one ticket per family/Christmas bubble.

Spirit of Christmas

The Meaning of Advent

The word “Advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming.” Advent in the 4th and 5th century was a time of preparation for the baptism of new Christians. Christians would spend 40 days in prayer and fasting to prepare for the celebration that accompanied the baptism of new believers.

Over time, advent was connected to the coming of Christ. Originally Christians used this term to reference Christ’s second coming, but by the Middle Ages, Advent was connected to Christ’s first coming that we celebrate at Christmas.

Today, we celebrate Advent over the four weeks leading up to Christmas each year. This year we begin advent on November 29th and end this season of prayerful anticipation on December 24th.

Advent season is an invitation to set your mind off of the stresses of the year. We can take our focus off of the crazy hustle that can be associated with the Christmas season that often threatens to produce more hassle than delight. Advent is a chance to focus our thoughts on the gift God has given us in his son Jesus who stepped down from Heaven and took the form of a man so that we might believe.

The tradition for the first Sunday of Advent includes lighting the candle of hope.

This candle of hope symbolizes promises delivered through the prophets from God as well as the hope we have in Christ. God crafted a great rescue plan that he lays out in Scripture. This plan foretells years in advance the arrival of Christ. The Bible also gives us a glimpse of the future, and promises that God will come down to create a new heaven and Earth.

This first Sunday of Advent we read, pray, and reflect on the hope God’s plan gives us (foretold by the prophets and fulfilled by the life and death of Christ), and we meditate on the promise of Christ’s coming glory-filled return.

A Prayer for the First week of Advent

Father, let your hope arise in our hearts! Lift our eyes up to see that you alone are where our hope comes from. Help us to shake off the anxiety, discouragements, and distractions that have filled this year.

May we pause to remember that we have hope in you.

You know the end of our stories, and we give thanks because you have promised that it will be a victorious ending. Give us the grace we need to wrap up this year joyfully.

We invite your Spirit into this beautiful Advent season. Renew our sense of holy anticipation! Let us be those who are waiting eagerly for Jesus to come again.

More than anything, we ask that you be glorified in this season of expectation. Amen.

Source.