General Chat

God bless indeed.... :-)

Hope everyone will enjoy the Yule holiday.

George :-) :-)

Lovely afternoon service. We decided at end to light fifth candle as we have no service on Tuesday.

And my bit? Completely by chance, someone thrust a Bible at me and asked me to do a reading. Reading about wise men. And I introduced it by saying a bit about them. These magic magi. One lady said afterwards "how did you know all that about the wise men?". I nearly said "from my friends on Genes chat...." :-D :-D

:-D Just going off to the Carol Service.......... later ~~~~~~

Wow! What else can I say?

Darkened church - candles - glittering Christmas trees and people, SO many people........packed to the rafters .....well over 300 ....all ages.....from babes in arms to Dolly who is over 90. Readings and carols and ending with that wonderful Christmas lesson "In the beginning was the Word......."



Am now shattered...........but happy. :-D :-D

Taken my breath away too, Cynthia. :-D 300 people!!! Wow!!

Awesome text from John Chapter 1. And picked up again in 1 John Chapter 1.

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled....."

As Charles Wesley wrote: "God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man" :-D

I also managed to go along and join in my village church Carols by Candle light with large tree all tiny white lights twinkling in the corner.... so pretty and magical. Our village brass band was there to play for the carols which is so special, I really felt uplifted and the black night sky was filled with twinkly stars....... awesome!

So glad you made it there kandj - it's a very special time of year isn't it?



ooops...forgot to say hello to George who popped in earlier. Thank you for your greetings George :-D


We can't make it to the midnight service anymore because of my OH's health probs but, hopefully, we will be there at 10am tomorrow - even if it means we have to get up at 5.45am. Maybe we will bump into Father Christmas :-D

Wishing everyone a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas.


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Christmas Day nearly over already. Hope everyone enjoyed it and got some nice surprises. Daughter and son-in-law popped in on their way back from Germany and Paris and off to Australia after New Year to spend a fortnight on the "whitest beach in the world". Someone will know where that is - Queensland, I think. Great that they are doing so much with their young lives, but rest of us just left realising how the other half lives.:-D ;-)

I was delighted with the Queen's Speech. What she said at the end really showed what a deep personal faith she has. She has always taken her responsibilty of Defender of the Faith so seriously over all her 60 years of monarchy. :-D

Could have done with just a little bit of heat in our church this morning. Otherwise an uplifting Mass.

Hope you were well wrapped up Dermot....... :-D


John, I quite agree about the Queen's speech. I only caught it this evening because we've been to our son's. She came over really well and her spirituality shone through. :-D


Considering we had 2 ordinary services on Sunday plus the the crowded Carol Service, I didn't really think we would get that many to the midnight mass and then this morning. However, I was told there were over 160 at the midnight - a lot of new faces too - and around 50 this morning. Really delighted with that.


On Christmas morning, our vicar asks the children to come to the front to show him what Father Christmas has brought them. They queued up this morning and he sat on the chancel steps in an effort to get down to the children's height.


One little girl, who has recently had surgery for a brain tumour presented him with a Furby - the latest model apparently. He was fascinated as she chattered non-stop about what this toy could do. When she told him that it 'talked' endlessly, he nodded sagely and said...."Ah....it's a female then"! When he asked how to stop it 'talking', she replied wisely "You have to put it into a dark room and leave it alone". He mused for a moment and then said "hmm......I wonder if that would work with Mrs Vicar". The place fell apart with laughter.


All in all, a very blessed Christmas indeed....... :-D

I hope Mrs Vicar gave him a small piece of Christmas pudding ;-)

Cold churches (or cold houses) are something I hate. I will never forget my best friend getting married in Wrexham RC Cathedral. Must have been 40 years ago and it was freezing cold outside.

Inside, it seemed even colder. And the marriage service took about one and a half hours and most of it was in Latin. I was not a Christian in those days, and became an even more committed atheist after that chilling experience.

So glad the services today were so well attended and so enjoyable. Next week (usually first Sunday in January) we have our Covenant Service, which is a sort of New Year resolution for Christians. We re-commit ourselves to God. It was an Anglican tradition started in 17th century by Rev Alleyn but has been adopted as "best practice" by a few non-conformist churches. :-) :-)

Wonder if it takes place in any C of E or RC churches also :-S

Not that I'm aware John. I guess it's a non-conformist practice nowadays.


I know there is a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - usually towards the end of January - where the local Anglican, R.C. and Methodists come together for a special service. They take it in turns to host the event.


Oh my word - it's been a long day :-D

On ITV at 5.15, there is a programme of Joanna Lumley searching for Noah's Ark - which was said to have come aground near Mount Ararat in south east Turkey.

Have seen it. Not too sure what to make of it myself. But interesting programme, and Noah is not only a Christian and Jewish character apparently.

God Knows...

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.
So heart be still:

- Minnie Louise Haskins


A very Healthy, Happy and Peaceful New Year to all those who have contributed to this thread.



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Lovely thoughts Cynthia.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and fulfilling 2013.

Blwyddyn newydd dda - happy New Year :-D <3

I think John was inferring that Noah is acknowledged in Christian writing Jiminy. It's just the way he phrased it.


A very happy New Year to you and yours.

JC All Jewish characters became Christian characters as well because of the way the Christian church developed from Judaism. I think the Roman soldier at Capernaum (hopeless with names) was the first Gentile to be converted - before that the new Christian church was 100% Jewish.

So Noah was a character in Judaism and then also Christianity eventually.

And Islam has similar roots. And quite staggering how many other religions believed that there was a flood and that Noah was saved with his family and animals. And Ms Lumley found examples of religions a long way from Jerusalem who had a similar view of the flood.

Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year to everyone.