Christingle this year was really something. We were thinking about “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” and about the life of C S Lewis. The magnificent backdrop, complete with a frozen forest in Narnia, the lamppost where Lucy meets Mr Tumnus, and even a plate of the White Witch’s Turkish Delight effectively helped us focus on the theme “Enter Another World.” If you have not seen the Narnia scene —and it is even better in the dark— you will get another chance at our Carols by Candle-light on the evening of the 19th.
We want to say a big thank you to Lesley for coming up with the original idea, and to her creative team for putting the scene together. Those who worked the magic were Cathy, Libby, Denise, Jenny and Barbara. Jill made the stunning flowers and Andy and Chris carried things around!
Thanks too must go to Barbara and to the members of the Craft Club who made 100 Christingles the day before at the Christingle Factory.
In addition, we had support from musicians, dancers, sound and visual people, refreshment providers and backroom boys and girls. It was a great team effort and a thoroughly memorable service. There were lots of visitors yet the right amount of people.
I asked a number of people what brought them to the service. The top three reasons I was given were
- A personal invitation from a church member.
- Looking on the website.
- Publicity received via local schools.
This evening we will be presenting Carols by Candlelight at 6:30pm. It cannot be quite the same as in the past. Covid has inevitably changed things like the size of the choir.
However, we have already demonstrated once this Christmas that when imagination, planning, design and skill combine, they enable us to soar— despite the restrictions. We will do that once again at our Carol Service this evening and look for God to speak to those who attend.