Hope is Born was the theme of my Christmas services this year.
Christmas services began on December 8th at Mudamuckla with Kid's Club followed by Mudamuckla Church Christmas Carol's Service after a shared tea.
The children made pregnant Mary biscuits - thanks to Messy Church magazine and then presented the Nativity in our Church service. It was a hectic but great night.
Then the next Saturday night the 14th it was off to Wirrulla Kid's Club Nativity. The children and parents presented a Nativity with carols outside the hotel at Wirrulla; the first presentation ever for the children of the town and the first ever homily delivered outside the pub! Music was hopeless, but the children were endearing and presented the story so well. "The children will know this story now," one parent commented.
Father Christmas Tree followed and then the Hotel smorgasbord - it was about value-adding to the regular secular Wirrulla Christmas.
At the same time, the Penong Christmas Carols were being held at Pt Sinclair - a combined congregation event - but as I was in Wirrulla, I couldn't be there too, so the Anglican Archdeacon did that one with my spouse.
Finally Christmas Eve - an early service at the dominant congregation of Ceduna with 18 people at 7pm. Lots of lay participation with the planning and execution of the service, then into the car with a voluntary musician, to Smoky Bay, which normally has 5 people max at church any Sunday and who were sure that at 9pm, the service would be far too late for anyone to come, especially children. How wrong can you be? 37 people, including 10 children rocked up - there were not enough programs and barely enough seats, with people sitting in the very front row. I left my service folder behind and had to wing the whole service!
Back home and into bed at 11pm for an early start on Christmas day to Streaky Bay an hours drive away, where any Sunday has 10 faithful people - but this day we had 26 people attending - including 8 children!
That makes 80 people at Christmas and 300Km of travel.
Interestingly, the dominant Church who wants out of the model of resourcing ministry, hadn't the poorest attendance of any of the faith communities at Christmas .... and the smallest offering!
What might we learn about Hope from that?
Merry Christmas everyone
Christmas services began on December 8th at Mudamuckla with Kid's Club followed by Mudamuckla Church Christmas Carol's Service after a shared tea.
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| Children presenting Nativity |
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| Our church service |
The children made pregnant Mary biscuits - thanks to Messy Church magazine and then presented the Nativity in our Church service. It was a hectic but great night.
Then the next Saturday night the 14th it was off to Wirrulla Kid's Club Nativity. The children and parents presented a Nativity with carols outside the hotel at Wirrulla; the first presentation ever for the children of the town and the first ever homily delivered outside the pub! Music was hopeless, but the children were endearing and presented the story so well. "The children will know this story now," one parent commented.
Father Christmas Tree followed and then the Hotel smorgasbord - it was about value-adding to the regular secular Wirrulla Christmas.
At the same time, the Penong Christmas Carols were being held at Pt Sinclair - a combined congregation event - but as I was in Wirrulla, I couldn't be there too, so the Anglican Archdeacon did that one with my spouse.
Finally Christmas Eve - an early service at the dominant congregation of Ceduna with 18 people at 7pm. Lots of lay participation with the planning and execution of the service, then into the car with a voluntary musician, to Smoky Bay, which normally has 5 people max at church any Sunday and who were sure that at 9pm, the service would be far too late for anyone to come, especially children. How wrong can you be? 37 people, including 10 children rocked up - there were not enough programs and barely enough seats, with people sitting in the very front row. I left my service folder behind and had to wing the whole service!
Back home and into bed at 11pm for an early start on Christmas day to Streaky Bay an hours drive away, where any Sunday has 10 faithful people - but this day we had 26 people attending - including 8 children!
That makes 80 people at Christmas and 300Km of travel.
Interestingly, the dominant Church who wants out of the model of resourcing ministry, hadn't the poorest attendance of any of the faith communities at Christmas .... and the smallest offering!
What might we learn about Hope from that?
Merry Christmas everyone
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