Wishing you a Happy New Year.

As the end of the year approaches and the season of Epiphany, we wish you a happy new year of kindness, sharing with each other and living the way that God wants for us. The 12th day of Christmas (January 6th) celebrates the Epiphany - the revelation of God in human form to the Three Wise Men who visited Bethlehem and saw the baby Jesus as the promised One.

As our daily news keep telling us, things are not going to be good in 2009. So make your New Year resolution to do something good each day for someone else. God is still in charge and we are all here to help one another.

Join us for some opportunities to be together:

Thursday, 1st Jan.

10.00am - Holy Communion at St Mary's.

11.00am - Meet outside St Mary's Hall for transport, for a walk in Ruddington Park.

12.00noon - New Year's Day Service at Stanford Church, followed by a Bring and Share Lunch.

Saturday, 10th Jan. 6.30pm - The Cluster Party and Pantomime, at Costock Village Hall with a Bring and share supper.

Sunday, 11th Jan. 2.45pm - Christingle Service for young children at St Mary's.

Merry Christmas everyone!

We wish everyone, everywhere a Very Happy Christmas from the members of St Mary's Parish Church, East Leake, and the Benefice churches of Costock, Rempstone, Stanford on Soar and West Leake. We send these wishes especially to those who have been members of our congregations in the past and have moved away. We are always pleased to have you visit us again.

We also send these wishes to those who don't know yet what Christianity is all about. We would like to meet you and come to know one another. Maybe we'll see you at one of the Christmas Services!

Remember, God loves us SO MUCH, He wants us to love Him back, and each other. In order for us to come and know Him, He came to earth in the form of a baby to show us the way we should live and how to love and care for one another. We need Him now in these troublesome times more than ever.

If you are in any kind of trouble, lonely, friendless, just talk to Jesus. He's always listening and will always respond. But be prepared! You never know who He might send to help you. He is God's wonderful promise to us, so let's celebrate His birth!

Danger for baby Jesus.

Danger threatens but God is in charge...

Mary and Joseph must have been surprised to have so many visitors, and very concerned at the Wise Men's story and warning. The men had visited Herod, the country's king during their search, with news of a new king due to be born. This made Herod worried that he was to be replaced, and asked them for more information on their return.

The Wise Men were suspicious of his motive to know where Jesus was found, and returned home another way, without seeing him again.

Meanwhile, Joseph had an angel's warning in a dream. They were to leave Bethlehem quickly for Egypt, as Herod had ordered the baby Jesus to be killed. This they did and the baby was safe. When Herod died they moved to Nazareth, instead of going back to Bethlehem to avoid further danger from being ruled by Herod's son. This is where Jesus grew up.

Tomorrow, Friday 19th Dec. Harry Carlton Comprehensive School will have their Carol Service at St Mary's.

The church is being decorated for Christmas on Saturday, and the tree will be decorated by the children on Monday, 22nd Dec. at 11.00am. Bring the children and join in the fun.

'The Promise'.

Wow! If you couldn't attend Saturday night's production of 'The Promise' musical, try and get to Gotham next Saturday and see the performance there. Sat 20th Dec 7.30pm at St Lawrence's Church.

Revd. Steve Osman had rehearsed and conducted the Borderlands Choir perfectly, along with the musicians from the Cluster.

Those who took the acting parts in the drama were excellent and the production took on a professional appearance thanks to the expert sound and lighting. See more photos on the website.

As for our Nativity story....

While Jesus had been born and the shepherds had been to visit Him, others had been searching for Him too. At least three wise men, not necessarily kings, who had studied the stars were following an unusually bright one. It led them to Bethlehem and even to the stable where they found Jesus. They knew He was to be a very important person and worshipped Him and brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Strange gifts for a new born baby, but ones which would be important to Him later.

And the story continues...

The story of the Nativity does not end with the birth of Jesus. There were shepherds watching their sheep on the hills outside Bethlehem. These shepherds saw an angel in a bright light in the sky and were very frightened. Then the angel said to them, 'Stop being afraid! Listen! I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. Today your Saviour, the Lord Messiah, was born in the city of David.' They were told how to find Him and then the sky was filled with a whole army of angels praising God. What a sight that must have been! Carol Singing There were about 100 adults and children outside the Three Horseshoes Pub on Thursday night, singing carols and praising God. Revd Glynis gave a short address (it was VERY cold) and a blessing, and the music was provided by the Music Group and the Handbell Ringers from inside the 'smoker's shelter'. The night was certainly clear and frosty as the temperature dipped to minus 3 degrees! It was good to go inside the pub afterwards to warm up, eat and socialise. Thank you to all those who came along. Same time next year?

Carol Singing at the Three Horseshoes!

Come and join us tonight, at 6.30pm over at the Three Horseshoes Pub, opposite the church, for some carol singing, just like you used to hear around the village. We'll bring the music and the words, you just bring yourself.

See the Christmas lights on the church tree, the Hall and of course at the pub, and join in the Christmas spirit.

The Christ Child is born!

The miracle happened as it had been promised! Mary, a virgin, gave birth to Jesus, the Saviour of the world, not in a house or an inn, but in a lowly stable. In those days, it was quite common for people to be living close to the animals. His cot was the crib - a place where the animal's hay would have been kept, and for blankets, Mary wrapped him in pieces of cloth, called swaddling clothes. God who made us all, came to earth in the form of baby Jesus, to become a man to share our lives. God wants us to know, worship and love Him, but not as we are. God is so perfect and holy, we need to be free of sin before we can live our lives as He wants us. He has made that possible by sending Jesus to take away our sin if we only trust in Him. This is the gift God sent us as His promise that He's there for us and loves each and every one of us.

No room at the Inn!

Arriving in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph found it crammed with crowds of people who had also travelled to register for the census. Exhausted, they tried to find somewhere to stay, but found that everywhere was full. Finally, they tried an Inn, also full up, but the landlord seeing how close Mary was to having her baby, suggested that they could use the stable. Our young people had some fun yesterday when the All Stars children had their Christmas party, followed by the Sunday Sanctuary young people's Christmas party.

Visitors!

We had two visitors to our home last night. They were brought to stay with us just for the night, and today, we took them on their journey to another home for the night.

The visitors were Mary and Joseph, our Nativity figurines, who are travelling around the area as part of our Posada (the re-enactment of the journey Mary and Joseph made on their way to Bethlehem for the census).

It was a lovely opportunity to welcome them into our homes and meet other families at the same time and pray for a brief time.

Tomorrow we light the second candle of the Advent wreath at our 9.30am service. Come along and share this exciting time of Advent with us.

Ninety miles on the back of a donkey!

Advent - 2. Having got over the shock of being pregnant and accepted the role God has for her - that is to give birth to the Son of God, Mary marries Joseph.

Things are going fine until Joseph is notified that they must travel to Bethlehem, where he came from (about 90 miles away) to register for the census for tax purposes. Yes, they even had tax issues back then. At this point, Mary is very pregnant and I'm sure, very concerned at having to travel on the back of a donkey for so far and over the hills of Galilee.

Sat 13th 7.30pm ‘The Promise’, a musical based on the Christmas story at St Mary's Church. Do you have your tickets yet?

Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th Christmas Tree Festival at Rempstone

Christmas - what is it? Day 1 of Advent

This is a very brief, simplified blog of my own understanding and interpretation of Christmas. If you have never heard the story of the Nativity, you can also read all about it in the New Testament in the accounts by Matthew and Luke - or come along to any of our services. Christmas literally means the Mass (celebration) of Christ. "Christ" is a Greek word and title, meaning "anointed" or one set apart by God for a special purpose. Advent - Dec 1st. At Advent we celebrate all the events which happened up to the day Jesus was born and just after. A young, devout Jewish woman Mary, saw an angel and was told not to be afraid, and that she would be having a baby, even though she was a virgin and was unmarried. The Holy Spirit of God would make this happen. Her cousin, Elizabeth who hadn't been able to have children was also miraculously pregnant and her son would become John, the Baptist. Mary was engaged to Joseph, a descendant of King David. Joseph had a dream which told him to marry Mary and name the baby, Jesus. Prophets had told this would happen centuries before and now it was coming true. Jesus is also called Immanuel - 'God with us' and many other wonderful names. This is because Christians believe that God became a man on earth, so that we would come to love and know Him, and trust in God's love and guidance for us.

Sun 7th 2.15-3.45pm All Stars Christmas Party in Church - this will be followed by Sunday Sanctuary's Christmas Party for young people.

If you like singing carols, come along to The Three Horseshoes, East Leake at 6.30 pm on Thursday 11th December. We'll provide the words and music.