DECEMBER CHURCH SERVICES
December 2nd9.00 am Communion (BCP) St Andrew’s Kingham
10.45 am Morning Prayer (Activities for children aged 0-13) All Saints’ Churchill
6.00 pm Advent Carol Service St Andrew’s Kingham
December 9th
9.00 am Communion (BCP) All Saints’ Churchill
10.45 am All Age Communion St Andrew’s Kingham
December 16th
9.00 am Communion (BCP) St Andrew’s Kingham
10.45 am Communion (Activities for children aged 0-13) All Saints’ Churchill
December 23rd
9.00 am Communion (BCP) All Saints’ Churchill
10.45 am All Age Worship St Andrew’s Kingham
4.00 pm Alternative Youth Service All Saints’ Churchill
December 24th – Christmas Eve
5.00 pm Carols by Candlelight St Andrew’s Kingham
10.45 pm Christmas Eve Communion All Saints’ Churchill
December 25th – Christmas Day
9.00 am Communion (BCP) St Andrew’s Kingham
10.45 am All Age Christmas Day Communion All Saints’ Churchill
December 30th
9.00 am Communion (BCP) St Andrew’s Kingham
10.45 am Morning Prayer All Saints’ Churchill
DECEMBER PRAYER MEETINGS
Tuesday mornings at 7 am in St Andrew’s church, Kingham.Thursday afternoons at 2.15 pm in all Saints’ church, Churchill.
All are welcome to join David Salter in praying for the church and community.
JANUARY CHURCH NEWS. Please send your contributions to
Belinda Armstrong at by the 16th December.
CHURCH NEWS
The Parish Churches of Kingham and Daylesford, and Churchill with Sarsden
DECEMBER 2012
Good News for Everyone
In December we prepare for Christmas, Jesus’ birthday. Nativity plays will present the familiar story again and we look forward to singing carols around the tree on the village green and in church.
It’s great to make a fuss about Christmas. I hope we all have some wonderful times with family and friends. But sometimes it feels almost as if the Queen is coming to visit and everything has to be perfect. In one sense, that’s right. After all, Jesus is King of the whole earth. However, if you think about how he arrived on that first Christmas, it wasn’t grand at all. There was no safety approved car-seat to transport him home from hospital, no freshly-painted nursery, not even a flame-proof mattress to lie on, just a feeding trough with some hay in it. So let’s remember that Jesus doesn’t ask us to put on a show for him. He spent his first days living amongst animals, so we don’t even need to hoover for him to feel comfortable! His first home was very simple, visited by simple shepherds and by lordly wise men. All were made welcome as they came to worship the newborn boy.
Do you remember the summer? It was fantastic for sports fans: Tour de France, Olympics, Paralympics and - when you thought it couldn’t go on any longer - Andy Murray won his first major title and the Ryder Cup golfers achieved a wonderful victory. There was such a good feeling around – we even looked forward to the headlines because there seemed to be so much good news. I’m still sporting sideburns in celebration of Bradley Wiggins’s victories but other signs of good news seem to have vanished.
You may remember that the angel told the shepherds, ‘good news of great joy that will be for all the people’. I strongly believe that Jesus is still good news for all people: young and old, rich and poor, men, women and children of every race, background and family. This good news is the sort that lasts, because Jesus has the power to change our lives for the better, whoever we are. It would be great to share that good news with you this Christmas.
On Christmas Eve we have Carols by Candlelight at 5pm in Kingham, which is a very special service for all ages. ‘Midnight Communion’ begins at 10.45pm in Churchill, a wonderful, atmospheric service to welcome Christmas Day. On Christmas morning there’s traditional communion at 9am in Kingham and an All-Age Communion at 10.45 in Churchill. Please come and join with us and the angels in worshipping the newborn King. Everyone welcome, including shepherds and wise men, whether you’re a regular at church or you used to go, or even if you’ve never been before, come and see this thing that has happened.
HELP PREPARE THE CHURCH FOR CHRISTMAS
All Saints’ Churchill - All welcome on Friday 21st December at 10.30 am onwards to do the flowers and decorate the church for Christmas.
AN EVENING FOR LADIES on 1st DECEMBER
Come and enjoy an Evening for Ladies with advent wreath-making, mulled wine and music on Saturday 1st December 7.30-9.30pm in All Saints’ Church,Churchill. All welcome. Please RSVP to Pauline Steeper on 659198 or Sally Salter on 658852. (Please bring a dinner plate as the base for your wreath).
COME & SING CAROLS ROUND THE TREE
Churchill Village Green – Monday 10th December at 7 pm.Kingham Village Green – Thursday 20th December at 5.00 pm
COLD FISH ‘N CHIPS
The Cold Fish ‘n Chips group for primary children school years 3 – 6 meet on 7th December for our Christmas Celebration. Contact David or Sally with any queries.
YOUNG PEOPLE’S ACTIVITIES
Tapestry the group for girls in years 7-9 meet on Tuesdays 4-5.30pm at Esther’s house 137 Cornish Road, Chipping Norton.
Zion meet on the 1st, 2nd and 4th Sundays check with Esther for Christmas specials.
School drop in at Chipping Norton Secondary School on Wednesday lunchtimes.
B.o.b boys only breakfast for boys 11+ meet on 15th December at Esther’s. Alternative youth service on 23rd December – a Christmas special at All Saints Churchill @ 4.00 pm.
Lots going on over the festive period please check on the website for more details www.esthertheyouthworker.org.uk or give Esther a shout on 01608 645744
HOME GROUPS
The Thursday evening group which meets at 15A West Street, Kingham will meet on Thursday 6th December at 7.30pm and Thursday 13th December at 7pm. Restart date for January to be confirmed.
The Tuesday morning fellowship group meet at 2 Blacksmith Court, Kingham on the 4th and 11th of December.
'Mostly for Mums’ will meet on Wednesday 5th & 12th December at 1 pm. Please contact Sally Salter on 658852 for details.
LUNCH CLUBS
Kingham Lunch Club will be having their Christmas Lunch on Thursday 13th December at 11.45am in the Village Hall, Kingham.
Churchill Lunch Club meets on Tuesday 18th December at 12 noon in Churchill Church. All villagers over 65 are welcome to attend. Book with Joyce Woods on 658738.
The Kingham Lunch Club kindly invited Churchill Lunch Club to join with them in September, members attending numbered 18. We enjoyed a delicious mushroom soup, Chicken Pie with trimmings followed by a decadent trifle. Everyone enjoyed the social gathering of two villages; a few of our members were actually born in Kingham & knew every one! A return match is anticipated.
TUESDAY CIRCLE
The group for ladies of all ages meets on Tuesday 4th December at 2.30 pm in the Methodist Church. Communion will be led by Revd David Salter.
FROM THE REGISTERS - CHURCHILL
Henry Berman welcomed in Baptism on Saturday 24th November.
MEN ONLY BREAKFAST
Please contact David Salter for information regarding the next MOB.
METHODIST CHURCH
Services: Sunday 2nd December will be led by Mrs Christina Cond
Sunday 9th Revd. Soba Sinnathamby, our superintendent minister, will lead a service of Holy Communion.
On the 16th Rev Chris Clewlow will lead worship, and all these services will begin at 11a.m.
Sunday 23rd December sees our Carol service at 2.30 pm when everyone is invited to come and sing carols and listen to the familiar Christmas readings. The service will be led by the Rev. Soba Sinnathamby.
At the time of going to press the arrangements for Christmas Day have not yet been finalised. They will be posted on the Church Notice board nearer the time.
On December 30th we will be joining our friends at Chadlington at 10.30 am for a united service.
Epiphany 6th January 2013 This year we will holding our Annual Covenant Service at 11am led by Rev. Stephen Bywater.
Date for your Diary: The Methodist Circuit Christmas Tree Festival takes place in Chipping Norton Methodist Chapel from Thursday evening 29th November, finishing on Advent Sunday, December 2nd.
Saturday January 26th please come and support our annual New Year Coffee morning from 10.00 to 12noon.