Dear friends,

Advent rushes by. The third candle is lit. Churches are being decorated, and carol services approach. Musicians and singers rehearse, sermons are sharpened. This will be my last note to you of 2022, so I list below all the Christmas and New Year services, for a ready reference. I look forward to seeing many of you at our worship in the coming days. Thank you all for your support and care for your churches in this most difficult of years. The hope that we share burns brightly in the gloom; the winter chill may numb our fingers, but it does not put out the fire of love.

Carol Services Sunday 18th December

4pm Carol Service at St John’s Stoke Row with Revd Angela Linton

6pm Carols by Candelight at St Peter and St Paul, Checkendon, with Canon Kevin Davies.

Do join us for your favourite Christmas Carols and readings, and seasonal refreshments afterwards.

Christmas Eve

4pm Christingle Service at St Peter and St Paul, Checkendon, with the children’s choir, church music group, and a Christingle to take home.

11pm Midnight Communion at St Leonard’s Woodcote.

Christmas Day

11am Christmas Celebration at St Peter and St Paul, Checkendon, with Canon Kevin Davies, and Revd Romey Poston.

Sunday 1st January

9.30am Family Worship at St John’s, Stoke Row with Revd Angela Linton

11am Morning Prayer at St Peter and Paul, Checkendon with Canon Kevin Davies

Other service options for elsewhere in the Team can be found on the Langtree Team Ministry Churches website. Do join us for worship either in person, or online, or both. Don’t forget that you now can support both Checkendon  and  Stoke Row churches via dedicated and secure online card donation pages. Just click on the link. It is very easy! Thank you for your support.

Last Words

The keen young clergyman was anxious about his Christmas sermon. He sought the advice of an older colleague. “Do you think I should preach on the role of the Holy Spirit in the incarnation, or the kenosis of the divine Logos?” he blurted out, enthusiastically. The old cleric looked up, but said nothing. “Or how about the contrasts between the Lukan and Matthean Infancy Narratives?” suggested the young man, somewhat more hesitantly. Again the old clergyman said nothing, though he did put his head to one side, as if listening for a familiar voice. The young clergyman paused in his rush, slowed by the silence, “Or, well, I could,….” he began. The other caught his eye, and with a slight inclination of one eyebrow, said everything he needed to say.  “Or I could just talk about Jesus, couldn’t I?” the young man said. His old friend smiled, as though the sun had finally peeped out from behind the clouds.

with every blessing for Christmas and the coming year.

Your Rector, Kevin Davies.