Below is the Sunday service, first, here are the notices:
This church relies on donations to provide care and support to everyone in this community. Now more than ever, please consider giving generously to support our mission and ministry by clicking the button above. Thank you for your support.
People often ask me why we have a Christingle service now; most people celebrate Christingle as part of the Christmas season. But to me this is the perfect time of year to celebrate.
Christmas is always such a busy time and I worry that the symbolism can be lost in the busyness and the Christingle be reduced to it’s raw elements of orange, ribbon and sweets. But the Christingle means so much more than that. At the end of January/start of February we can take time to be more reflective and ponder the symbolism further – so Candlemas will always be to me the right time to celebrate the Christingle.
And this year at St George’s on January 30, we considered the Christingle in the light of the pandemic.
We considered how lockdowns had an amazing effect on the environment; how the world (represented by the orange) seemed to be given a chance to take a deep breath and restore itself a little. We considered what parts of the natural world we would want to protect from harm and what we could do to help God’s wonderfully creative world.
We thought about how, during lockdown, God’s love (represented by the red ribbon) and the companionship of friends and relations was cherished and appreciate more than ever. We considered those that might need our love and companionship; those that we may have lost contact with over the past couple of years; those that needed God’s loving touch.
We thought about how, during lockdown, a nature of generosity and sharing of our God given gifts (represented by the fruits and sweets) was embraced. We considered how sharing banks and food banks being supported more than ever to help people through the dark days. And we considered what gifts we have that we can use to do God’s work on earth.
We considered how, during lockdown, the dark days so many have suffered, could be lightened by the light of Christ (represented by the candle) and how we are called to share that light in the world (and the tin foil of course represents us reflecting the light of Christ).
We were encouraged not to eat our Christingle before the service had ended, but to take it home, relight the candle and say a prayer.
Lord Jesus,
Light and hope of the World,
as we think about the meaning of Christingle and about your great love for us
help us to take your light out into the world
and to share your love and hope with others,
especially those who need it most.
Amen.
Kris Lawrence
Next Sunday, February 13, is Love Your Church Sunday.
It’s a day to celebrate all the great things about our churches and the people who make church what it is.
Please come along and hear from lots of people about the things that they do at church and why they love their church. The times of the services are:
9:30am St John’s, Hale.
10:00am St George’s, Badshot Lea.
11:00am St Mark’s, Upper Hale.
And here on the website and on Facebook.
Small photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Pexels.com. Large photo by Nicola Fioravanti on Unsplash.
St Mark’s is one of the venues in the inaugural Farnham Literary Festival which takes place between March 5 and 13, and there is lots to enjoy here.
We kick off on Saturday, March 5, at 3-5pm with a Build a World Workshop, run by fantasy writer Paul Eggleton which offers the chance to create your own fantasy world and populate it with characters in a creative writing workshop focusing on the fantasy genre. This will be available virtually by Zoom link as well. There will be a charge of £5 to include afternoon tea. Please email p.eggleton@nhm.ac.uk for details.
On the morning of Tuesday, March 8, we will be running a Writing Memories workshop in conjunction with Right at Home home care agency. This will be by invitation only but to find out more, email Stella Wiseman.
We have two events at the church on Thursday, March 10. From 2-4pm there will be an Introduction to crime novel writing workshop with crime writer Joy Kluver, author of the Detective Bernadette Noel books, the latest of which Left for Dead has just come out. Joy will teach us how to create the heroes and villains of crime fiction. The cost is just £5 and will include afternoon tea. Please contact Stella Wiseman for further details and to book.
Then at 7.30pm on March 10, Farnham Theatre Association will be at St Mark’s with A Tale of Two Theatres, a rehearsed reading by professional actors Abigail McKern, Chris Reeks, David Wylde and guests based on a book compiled by Anne Cooper of memories by those who knew Farnham’s Castle and Redgrave Theatres. The cost will be £5 and are available here or on the door. Refreshments will be served.
On Saturday, March 12, at 5.30pm we have the awards ceremony for our poetry competition A Poem for Farnham. Poet Ellora Sutton (pictured left), judge of the adult competition, will be there to give a reading and present prizes. If you haven’t sent your poem in yet, it’s not too late to do so as we have just extended the closing date to Monday, February 28. It’s free to enter and you could win £25. For further details click here.
On Sunday, March 13, at 2.30pm, there will be the awards ceremony for the Farnham Fiction Award.
There is lots going on across Farnham in the Literary Festival and to find out more visit the festival website.
You’ve now got until February 28 to write A Poem for Farnham and enter it into our poetry competition which is forming part of the inaugural Farnham Literary Festival.
Take part in the competition and you could win £25 and be invited to our poetry evening on Saturday, March 12 at St Mark’s Church.
There is a children’s competition, open to under-16s, and an adult one, and all you have to do is write a poem about Farnham – what it means to you, what you like or dislike, what the town feels like to you, its history, its people… anything you want to write which means Farnham to you. The winner in each category will be awarded £25 and two runners-up in each category will be awarded £10 each.
Then send it in to us to reach us by 5pm on Monday, February 28. Send your entries by email to poetry@badshotleaandhale.org or by post to Poetry Competition, St Mark’s Church and Community Centre, Alma Lane, Farnham, GU9 0LT.
There is no word limit, but entries should be typed, double-spaced.
The children’s poetry competition is being judged by poet Coral Rumble and the adult one by poet Ellora Sutton.
Coral Rumble is an award-winning poet specialising in writing and performing for children. She has had four poetry collections published, with Things that Should be in a Poem out soon. Her verse novel Little Light was published last year and she has also written picture books and for children’s TV. You can find her at www.coralrumble.co.uk and she tweets @RumbleCoral.
Ellora Sutton, she/her, is a queer poet, museum professional, and critic. Her work has been published in the Poetry Review, Interpreter’s House, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, fourteen poems and Poetry News, amongst others. She reviews poetry for Mslexia. She tweets @ellora_sutton, or you can find her at ellorasutton.com.
To find out more about the Farnham Literary Festival at St Mark’s click here, and to find out more about events at other places, click here.
Below is the Sunday service, first, here are the notices:
This church relies on donations to provide care and support to everyone in this community. Now more than ever, please consider giving generously to support our mission and ministry by clicking the button above. Thank you for your support.
The latest parish magazine is out now and inside you will find news, events, ideas, reflections, advertisements, pictures, contacts and more, to give you a snapshot of what is going on across our parish.
There’s lots of good news at the moment and lots to look forward to this year. Read on and find out more… And don’t forget to enter our poetry competition – write a Poem for Farnham and you could win £25!
You can download the magazine here:
Enjoy this service, especially for toddlers.
Come to our craft market on Saturday, February 19, 10am-2pm at St Mark’s, Alma Lane, GU9 0LT, and buy lovely gifts and treats while supporting local businesses and individual crafters. There will be glass, sweets, hand and face creams, knitting, soaps, cards, pottery, candles and many other gifts, made by skilled local craftspeople. Along side this there will be live music and refreshments, plus a chance to see the Kitty Milroy murals.
And if you are a crafter, why not have a stall? Contact craft@badshotleaandhale.org or 07842761919.
Below is the Sunday service, first, here are the notices:
This church relies on donations to provide care and support to everyone in this community. Now more than ever, please consider giving generously to support our mission and ministry by clicking the button above. Thank you for your support.
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 