Christingle service, Saturday 15th December

Christingle service, Great Gidding

Christingle service

Our annual Christingle Service takes place in St Michael’s Church on Saturday 15th December, starting at 4pm.

The Christingle story

Whilst the Christingle has its origin in the Moravian church, the idea of the three poor children who took their decorated orange to church as a Christmas gift for Jesus has been adopted by churches worldwide.

The three children, who were very poor, wanted to give a gift to Jesus, like the other families at church were doing. The only nice thing they had was an orange, so they decided to give him that. The top was going slightly green, so the eldest cut it out, and put a candle in the hole. They thought it still looked dull, so the youngest girl took her best red ribbon from her hair and attached it round the middle with toothpicks. The middle child had the idea to put a few pieces of dried fruit on the ends of the sticks. They took it to their church on Christmas Day, and whereas the other children sneered at their meagre gift, the priest took their gift and showed it as an example of the true understanding of the meaning of Christmas.

Make your own Christingle

Children (and mums and dads) are invited to come to the church at 3.30pm to help make the Christingles. Don’t worry if you cannot come before the service, there will be Christingles available at the service.

Advent Carol Service – Sunday 9th December

Advent Carol Service, St Michael’s Church

Tapestry chamber choir, CambridgeshireTapestry chamber choir, Cambridgeshire
We are delighted to welcome the return of the choir “Tapestry” for our Advent carol service, which provides a prelude to the coming festival of Christmas. Besides carols sung by the choir, there will be an opportunity to sing the great Advent hymns.

At the start of the service, another candle will be lit on the Advent Wreath. The Advent wreath is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of the season of Advent. The wreath is a horizontal evergreen wreath with four candles (three purple and one pink) and a fifth, white candle in the centre. Beginning with the First Sunday of Advent, a candle is lit. An additional candle is lit during each subsequent week until, by the last Sunday before Christmas, all four candles are lit. The fifth white candle in the centre will be lit at the Midnight Communion on Christmas Eve in St Michael’s Church.

Our Advent Carol Service takes place on Sunday 9th December starting at 6pm.

Review of Christingle service 2011

Our Christingle service in December was a great success – lots of children came along to the Christingle-making session at the school beforehand, and then Mary welcomed us at the gate through to the churchyard and we all went up to the service.

Led by Mary, the service was fun (complete with captivating Canadian wolf story and plenty of howling…!) and thought-provoking at the same time, and when the children stood at the front of the church with their lit Christingles it really did look magical.

It was lovely to see so many people there, and great to see some new faces. Thank you all for coming, and hope to see you next year!

Christingle service, Saturday 10th December 2011

Christingle service, 10th December 2011

Amanda Williams – Jan 2012