This year at St Michael’s we will be taking a new approach to a centuries-old tradition with the help of the Bishop Paul on Ash Wednesday (February 18th) this year. Traditionally on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent when we prepare for Easter with a period of repentance and reflection, Christians have received a cross of ashes on the forehead as a reminder of our failings and an invitation to receive God’s forgiveness.
We are joining the new international movement Ashes to Go that sees clergy and lay people visiting bus stops, street corners, coffee shops and train stations to mark the foreheads of interested passers-by with ashes and invite them to repent of past wrongdoing and seek forgiveness and renewal.
Bishop Paul will join the church members on The Broadway, Houghton-le-Spring, between 7.15am and 9.15am.
Ashes to Go provides the opportunity to participate in that tradition for people who have lost their connection to a church, or have never participated before, according to the Reverend Canon Sue Pinnington, Rector of Houghton-le-Spring.
The Rector taking part in Ashes to Go in Washington DC in 2014
She said:
“Ashes to Go is about bringing the important traditions of our faith out from behind church doors and into the places we need them every day.
As people get busier and busier, we need the church to be working in new and non-traditional ways. We especially need reminders of forgiveness in the tough places of our working lives. The people who accept ashes on the street are often people longing to make a connection between their faith and the pressures of daily life. Ashes to Go helps them feel that connection.
The party season may have ended for most people but St Michael’s went a little further with our Church Family Party on Saturday 31stJanuary. The party was open to all young and old with some of the activities being centred around our younger members (most people fitting into this bracket). The 900 team had already prepared our supper – “Hot Pot or Cheese, Onion and Potatoes” the smell drifting into the hall whetting our taste buds. As the 70+ guests came in a quiz awaited them just to keep the grey matter working before supper at 8pm. After supper and apple strudel the activities proceeded with Raffle, Corners, Bingo and Pass the Parcel, these were run by two young girls who offered to help with the evening. Some of the Bingo calling kept us entertained and amused eg 1 and 10 ….. 10 or 99 oops 66 (90 being top of the shop).
All in all a good time was had by all with proceeds going to our Church to the value of £336.
A big thank you to the Next 900 team for organising yet another fantastic event.
Open Auditions for parts in the Houghton Passion Play will take place on Saturday 14 February 10-11.30am in St Michael and All Angels Church Houghton-le-Spring. There are speaking and non-speaking parts and we welcome all levels of acting experience. The Passion Play will take place on Good Friday 3rd April 2015 at 12 noon in Houghton Hillside Cemetery. For further details contact The Reverend Canon Sue Pinnington.
If you’ve got a spare hour, we’re on hand to show you how getting online could save you time, hassle and even money. Whether you want to get healthy, get connected, get a job or get a bargain, you could be doing it all – and more – by doing it online. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never even touched a computer before or if you already know a bit – this is your chance to give computers and the internet a go.
It’s fun, it’s free, and it could change how you do your favourite things – and your everyday chores – forever!
One person who’s already got online with a bit of help from Space4 is Jo who said after setting up her email and learning how to use her tablet that it felt like she had ‘wings’!Now she can skype her family abroad and receive photos of her grandchildren by email.
Pop in to Space4 (ground floor of Houghton Library on Newbottle Street) during our opening hours (closed Wednesdays) from 23rd – 27th February and you can go online on our computers or we can help you with your own device if you bring it in.
If you are already a keen internet user, search the #beonline15 hashtag on social media.Be Online!
Pilgrim is a major new teaching and discipleship resource from the Church of England. It aims to help every local church create a place where people can explore the Christian faith together and see how it can be lived out each day.
Pilgrim takes a different approach to other Christian programmes. It approaches the great issues of faith not through persuasion, but participation in a pattern of contemplation and discussion with a group of fellow travellers.
Pilgrim is comprised of two stages: the Follow stage for those very new to faith or wanting a refresher course, and the Grow stage for those who want to go further in exploring faith. Each stage contains four short six-session courses, which focus on a major theme of Christian life.
Pilgrim’s Approach
It starts at the very beginning. Pilgrim assumes very little understanding or knowledge of the Christian faith.
It focuses on Jesus Christ. Pilgrim aims to equip people to follow Jesus Christ as disciples in the whole of their lives.
It flows from the Scriptures. The primary focus of each session is a group of people engaging with the Bible together.
It draws deeply from the Christian tradition. In the Early Church, the Christian faith was taught by the transmission of key texts which summed up the heart of the Christian message. Pilgrim restores this approach for the twenty first century.
It honours the Anglican way and its many streams. Pilgrim has been developed as a specifically Anglican resource which aims to cater for every tradition in the Church of England.
Pilgrim at St Michael’s
We say the creed (our statement of faith) every week on Sunday but have you ever stopped to think about what it means?
We are running the next Pilgrim course looking at the Creeds starting on Thursday 4th February 2016 at 2.15pm at Space4. Limited numbers will be able to attend so please sign the list at the back of church to indicate your interest.
For 2015 we are running our fun activity session Messy Michaels at Gillas Lane Primary School. This is a chance for us to take church into the community, singing songs, doing crafts and teaching the children bible stories.
At our first one this week we looked at the story of creation from Genesis chapter 1 and made some church windows depicting the 7 days of creation – I think my favourite is the children’s imagining of what God did when he rested! (If you look closely you’ll see that it includes playing football, riding a bike and playing on a computer!)
Yesterday evening we held a Twelfth Night Thank You party for all the wonderful, committed volunteers who give so freely of their time and energy in so many different ways to Space4. We are looking forward to another year of serving the community in this way – thank you to all who help to keep Space4 a place of hope and healing in Houghton-le-Spring. Please get in touch with us if you would like to find out about volunteering.
Keep up with what we are doing on our Facebook page.
Sometimes circumstances mean that you can’t attend church on Christmas Eve so this year we are putting up the readings and carols from our Carol Service so that you can enjoy them from the comfort of your home!
Scroll down and press play on the videos to sing along with the carols and you will find the text of the readings here as well.
The Rector and the staff wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year. May the love of the Christ child bring joy, hope and peace to you and your families.
Here is the order of service:
Opening Carol: O come all ye faithful
Choir: “A sound of angels” Christopher Tye (1500-72)
Lesson 1:
Isaiah 11: 1-9
The Peaceful Kingdom
A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Carol: It came upon the midnight clear
Lesson 2:
Luke 1: 26-38
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.
Choir: “Unto us is born a Son” arranged by David Willcocks
Lesson 3: Christmas in the trenches
Sergeant Spence Sanders wrote to Miss Noel Sanders on 28 December 1914:
“Christmas Day in the trenches! And of all extraordinary days, it took the biscuit. An order passed along the line not to shoot. A few minutes after, I saw the Germans getting up out of their trenches. I was with the Capt. & the Colonel. We rushed along to see that the men didn’t shoot – found our men getting out of the trench as well. I’m dashed if they didn’t walk out, meet the Germans & start shaking hands and chatting to them like old friends!
Lots of the Germans could talk English – I went out, of course. In a few minutes we were ordered back to the trenches, but shortly after a proper truce was arranged to bury the dead. There were lots of dead between the trenches – English who had fallen in a charge a week or so before & Germans who had been there for ages. They were not a pretty sight.
We all went out & chatted to the Germans – they were nice fellows & quite decent clean looking men – not the dirty ruffians I had expected. When the dead were buried, the Padre, who, by a stroke of luck had come down with the Colonel that morning for a look round, read a short service, the Germans standing at one side & we at the other. The truce was to continue till 5.30 in the evening but we found the Germans did not want to do any firing & agreed that we would not if they didn’t & so there had been no firing when we came away last night. The padre was a Church of Scotland minister, J. Esslemont Adams. Unattributed press cuttings refer to an impromptu game of football between the opposing armies, using a hare as a ball. Other articles include an account by Lance-Corporal George Dyce, who said of the Germans, ‘They don’t want to fight any more than we do; they are as fed up of this game as we are fit to be. They told us that they would not shoot if we did not, so we have had a holiday for the last two days we were in the trenches… I thought peace was proclaimed, but no such luck.”
(Liddle Collection, GS0527).
Carol: O little town of Bethlehem
Lesson 4:
Luke 2: 1-7
The Birth of Jesus
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Choir: “Good people all” Irish traditional melody arr. John Barnard
Lesson 5:
Luke 2: 8-16
The Shepherds and the Angels
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.
Carol: Good King Wenceslas
Lesson 6: Field Hospital
Wednesday, January 13th 1915.
Mr Sam Allen of 20 Lord Street, New Silksworth received an interesting letter from Nurse Lily Hodgson, who was stationed at Dunkirk. The writer states: Isle of Wight Field Hospital, Field Post Office, Dunkirk, France. First part of letter describes a raid at 11am on the morning of the 30th and then goes on: I must tell you about Christmas. We had a very happy one. All the beds were full. We filled the men’s socks with all sorts of things – pipes, cigarettes, tobacco, sweets, oranges, mittens, mufflers, bootlaces and a lot of little funny things. They did love it. Then we gave them good English dinner – roast mutton etc and plum pudding after which we sang to them. I then left them to take a lot of things up to the men in the firing line. Will you kindly thank the people for their kind gifts to the French and Belgian soldiers and myself – father and mother at Ryhope, Mrs Ethel Pollard, Miss J Laider of Silksworth, Mrs Mason of Shincliffe.
Choir: “Rejoice and be merry” English traditional carol
Carol: Angels from the realms of glory
Lesson 7:
Matthew 2
The Visit of the Wise Men
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.” ’
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Choir: “Infant holy” Polish traditional melody
Carol: Away in a manger
Lesson 8: Christmas Love
ARTHUR PELHAM-BURN , LIEUTENANT , 6th GORDON HIGHLANDERS Aged 19
Arthur hoped to study for the ministry after the war, he wrote home about taking part in a joint service in No Man’s Land on Christmas Eve 1914:
“The mass burial of the dead was ‘awful, too awful to describe so I won’t attempt it,’ but the joint burial service was ‘most wonderful.
Chaplain Adams arranged the prayers and the twenty-third psalm and an interpreter wrote them out in German.
They were read first by our Padre and then in German, by a boy who was studying for the ministry.
It was an extraordinary and most wonderful sight. The Germans formed up on one side, the English on the other, the officers standing in front, every head bared. Yes, I think it was a sight one will never see again. The power of Christmas love.”
Carol: Silent night
Lesson 9:
John 1:1-12
The Word Became Flesh
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
Carol: Once in Royal David’s City
Christmas message: Rector
Choir: “Born is the light of the world” Sally DeFord
Closing Carol: Hark the herald angels sing
The Rector and the staff wish all of the congregation a very Happy Christmas and New Year. May the love of the Christ child bring joy, hope and peace to you and your families.
We had fun making Christingles at a service yesterday and raised some money for the Children’s Society as well. If you enjoyed this, do come along to our crib service this Christmas Eve at 3.30pm – fun for all the family.
The Christingle is a visual and physical symbol which tells the gospel message of the Christmas story through its combined parts. It consists of:
an orange representing the world;
a red ribbon around it representing the blood of Jesus;
soft sweets or dried fruits skewered on cocktail sticks pushed into the
orange, representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons; and
a lit candle pushed into the centre of the orange, representing Jesus Christ
as the light of the world.
If you have a Christingle at home, why not light it and pray this prayer with your children:
Lord Jesus, I stretch out my hands and receive this gift, and I hold it tight
because it is mine.
My Christingle.
Light, fruit, sweets, colour, but so much more precious than this.
I hold in my hands a picture of your love.
I imagine all the other special things I might hold.
Lord Jesus, help me to remember those with little or nothing to hold,
especially other children who don’t have enough to eat or a safe place to live.
Today, as I hold my Christingle and remember you,
I pray that you would make me someone, like you, who will reach out my
opened hands to give and love like you do.
Amen.
Here are some photographs from the service – click on the pictures to enlarge them:
This year at St Michael’s we will be taking a new approach to a centuries-old tradition with the help of the Bishop Paul on Ash Wednesday (February 18th) this year. Traditionally on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent when we prepare for Easter with a period of repentance and reflection, Christians have received a cross of ashes on the forehead as a reminder of our failings and an invitation to receive God’s forgiveness.
We are joining the new international movement Ashes to Go that sees clergy and lay people visiting bus stops, street corners, coffee shops and train stations to mark the foreheads of interested passers-by with ashes and invite them to repent of past wrongdoing and seek forgiveness and renewal.
