Dear All

Thank you so much for your kindness during December when my mother died suddenly after a fall.  At 92 years she was a relatively very fit lady, and was rather annoyed with herself for falling and breaking her hip!  Sadly complications set in post-operatively which led to her death.  We are all very grateful for your condolences and prayers.

As you can imagine it was difficult to focus on Christmas 100% after this shock but the joy of Christmas did shine through the sadness.  MASK gave a great concert – it was lovely to see so many come and enjoy listening to and singing carols.  Excellent refreshments and a raffle completed the fun of the evening.

The following Saturday we had a most successful Children’s Craft and Decorating morning.  I hope you saw how beautifully the children decorated the tree, produced a banner at the back of the church and made beautiful T-light holders for each side of the East window.  They also produced 120 Christingles for the Christingle Service. A BIG thank you to Elizabeth Vaughan for organising and running this event.

The decorating made sure the scene was set for the Bath Male Voice Choir and Bath Chorus on that same day in the evening.  The choirs were wonderful, as were the refreshments headed up by Barbara Barnard and her team.  Thank you to Stephen Starr and The Friends for organising the event and particularly to Deirdre Lias who hosted tea for the choirs and did much of the clearing up afterwards.

As I write we are about a week away from Christmas and I hope that by the time you read this you will have enjoyed the Christmas events at Christ Church.  Please do let Reverend Ann or the churchwardens know what you have enjoyed and what you would like to see happening in Christ Church.  Your feedback is essential!

As 2014 now approaches we will be turning our attention towards furthering the Bells Project.  At the end of January there will be a tower inspection to work out the weight of bells that the tower can tolerate.  A ring of bells will then be proposed that is within the tolerances set by the inspector.  There has been a lot of interest shown at both the Gift Day and the Christmas Fayre so I hope we will see this being developed in 2014.

Please get in touch with Reverend Ann or the churchwarden Stephen Starr if you would like to be involved in any way with the Bells Project or would just like to know more.

I would like to leave you with this thought for January 2014 from Ruth Burgess (IONA Community)

Walk wisely in this world.
Listen before you speak.
Look deeply before you leap.
Share love with those who walk beside you.
And, on long winter nights
when the moon is hiding
and frost cuts the soil,
do not be afraid to try out something different,
something wild,
something joyful,
just for the hell of it
and hope that it leads you to heaven.

and this prayer from Lynda Wright from the same community:

May your eyes be opened to the wonder of the daily miracles around you and your sense of mystery be deepened.
May you be aware of the light that shines in the darkness, and that the darkness can never put it out.
May you be blessed with companions on the journey, friends who will listen to you and encourage you with their presence.
May you learn to live with what is unsolved in your heart, daring to face the questions and holding them until, one day, they find their answers.
May you find the still, quiet place inside yourself where you can know and experience the peace that passes understanding.
May love flow in you and through you to those who need your care.
May you continue to dream dreams and to reach out into the future with a deeper understanding of God’s way for you. Amen.

I pray that you all receive a blessed and peaceful 2014.
Reverend Ann