Our crib services are online on Christmas Eve. If you have little ones, catch our simple nativity story told and sung by Margaret Emberson at 3pm. You can find it here.
Then at 5.30pm there is a crib service for all ages, performed by all ages – the Christmas story re-enacted by members of our three churches. You’ll see your friends as you’ve never seen them before! Catch it here.
May you find joy and peace this Christmas.
Christmas is not always easy. That will be the case for many people this year. The Christmas we are sold in the twinkling lights, the merry music, the adverts of happy families smiling at each other – even if it has to be via Zoom – is not the reality for everyone. It can be a time of intense loneliness, sad memories, the pain of broken relationships.
If that sounds familiar or you are feeling anxious or just really jaded, listen to our Longest Night service here, a quiet time of music, prayer and reflection.
Food poverty is on the rise in the UK. The UN estimates that millions of people struggle to get enough to eat, and Unicef is giving £700k to help support hungry British families. Foodbank use is on the rise both locally and nationally.
In response to this, our very good friends in the area, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK, have launched a ‘Cheap & Easy Cooking’ campaign. As part of this, they have produced a downloadable booklet to help us cook five Pakistani/Indian curries cheaply, easily, and healthily, with meals starting at only 9p per serving. You can download the booklet here:
The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness among people to save money by cooking budget-friendly dishes at home rather than eating costly meals from outside. The campaign consists of distributing a recipe booklet containing easy-to-follow instructions to make delicious Pakistani/Indian curries along with online videos that show how these can be cooked. These videos can be watched here.
The community is also distributing some Curry Starter Packs to the local Food Bank, which will also include the basic ingredients so that people can easily and quickly get started.
Join us in the car park at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea, tonight at 6pm for a socially distanced carol service by torch and candlelight.
Wrap up warm and sing some old favourites. Badshot Lea Village Infant School will join us to sing Away in a Manger and there will be prayers and Bible readings too, including one by Farnham and Waverley councillor Mark Merryweather.
Join us in the car park at St Mark’s tonight for a socially distanced carol service by torch and candle-light. Wrap up warm, bring a mask and sing some old favourites. There will be prayers and Bible readings too, including one by Cllr Penny Marriott, Mayor of Waverley.
If you would like to download and print this card, you can find it here:
A wonderful evening of carols, readings and prayers in the churchyard at St John’s yesterday. Huge thanks to all who took part, including the Mayor of Farnham, Cllr Pat Evans; Farnham Heath End School; Waverley Singers; Farnham Brass Band; the St John’s Choir; and the Cogger family who provided the PA system.
Come along to St Mark’s, Alma Lane, Hale, tomorrow (Friday) and St George’s, Badshot Lea, on Sunday, both at 6pm, for more of the same.
Join us for some outdoor carol services in the grounds of all three of our churches:
Wednesday, December 16, 6pm: St John’s, Hale.
Friday, December 18, 6pm: St Mark’s, Upper Hale.
Sunday, December 20, 6pm: St George’s, Badshot Lea.
Wrap up warm and join us for socially distanced carol singing and readings for Christmas. There will be favourite carols – Once in Royal David’s City, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, Silent Night and others – and at St John’s we will be joined by members of Farnham Brass Band, Waverley Singers, and a choir from St John’s.
There will also prayers and Bible readings, and we are delighted to welcome some of our local representatives to help with the readings.
Cllr Pat Evans, Mayor of Farnham, will read at St John’s; Cllr Penny Marriot, Mayor of Waverley, will read at St Mark’s; and Cllr Mark Merryweather of both Farnham Town Council and Waverley Borough Council will read at St George’s.
Bring a mask and a torch as well as warm clothes and join us for some Christmas joy!
You can find all the services here.
We would love more people to take part in the services and here are some ways you can do so:
Alan can record any comments you would like to make over the phone. Please call the Rectory (01252 820537) and arrange a time to do this. It will involve calling Alan on his mobile – and a number will be provided to do this.
If you would like to record a video or sound; make something and take a picture of it; write some prose; share something you found on the web – whatever you have found that has fed you spiritually; please send it to Alan to pull it together.
Large files can be sent to Alan via https://www.filemail.com/
Alan looks forward to receiving lots of contributions: revd.alan@badshotleaandhale.org
Last month, the Church of England published Living in Love and Faith. This is a collection of resources – a book, study guide, podcasts, videos, links to online material – designed to help people to discuss and listen to God about matters of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.
There are a lot of resources and we have yet to work out what we will do with them in the parish. Alan and I will be talking about them shortly, when we have digested them properly, but, as members of Inclusive Church, we welcome any discussion of these important issues insofar as they enable us to understand more about each other and accept each other.
Moreover, here in the parish, we remain absolutely committed to the inclusion of all. Whether you are lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual, questioning, asexual, you are welcome. Whether you are transgender, cisgender or nonbinary, you are welcome. Whether you were born with intersex traits or not, you are welcome. God welcomes us and that isn’t going to change.
I’d also like to thank those who have taken part in this process as they have made themselves vulnerable in sharing their stories. Such vulnerability is costly and the cost has already been too high for some of the participants.
So please, whatever we do, let’s go forward with grace and love.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. news@badshotleaandhale.org
Stella Wiseman,
Inclusive Church Ambassador, Surrey
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 