What a great start to the week!
On the third Sunday of Advent Annie and Ben lit 3 candles in church, and then the children went over to Sunday School to sing Christmas Carols and do some peaceful Nativity colouring.
And then in the evening we had the traditional parish service of Nine Lessons and Carols. This was made even more wonderful this year as we were able to include some of the children in the service, as well as a lovely choral item. Ben sang the solo first verse of "Once in Royal David's City" beautifully, and Sam and Jack played "While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night" really well on their cornets. This was the first time they had played together, with only one rehearsal beforehand, and we think this could be the beginning of a far greater musical involvement of young people in our worship.
To view videos of these lovely musical items please follow the links below.
On Monday evening we met at church at 6 pm to go Carol Singing around Leesfield in the cold and fog. Sam brought his cornet out again, and was a great help to Paul. Anna and Ben did a brilliant job of singing as well as charming all of the people who came out to listen to us, and the adults were pretty good also. We saw lots of old friends, and made new ones, as well as taking the Christmas message out to people nearby, and collected over £53 for the Booth Centre.
You can watch a video of one of the carols by clicking on the link below.
This coming Saturday, 23rd December, we are continuing with our Carol Singing at 12 noon in Lees Co-op. In recent years we have always asked permission to sing in the Co-op on the Monday before Christmas in case it's too wet to go round the village, but it hasn't been necessary to do so. This year the Co-op have offered us the brilliant opportunity to sing there on what's probably the busiest time of the year. Our collection there will again be for the Booth Centre in Manchester, which provides hope, encouragement and support for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Please come along and join in as we share our Christmas with everyone around us. All ages are welcome, and if you can't sing that doesn't matter, you can rattle a collecting box or there may even be maracas.
