December 2024
see lower down for services!
Dear Friend
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Christmas advertisements on the television often invite us into the fantasy of the ‘happy family’ - un-wrapping presents or sitting around a groaning table laden with festive food with people being of good cheer on Christmas Day; and often there will be a log fire blazing cheerfully in the background.
Expectations of what Christmas Day should be like, and how members of our family should behave, can be a bit of a challenge.
It can also be a difficult time when we remember those whom we love and see no more who are not sharing Christmas with us. It can feel a particularly lonely time when – so it seems – ‘everyone else’ is having fun and company.
The one thing that Mary and Joseph knew that first Christmas was that Mary was expecting was a baby. I’m pretty sure they didn’t expect Mary to give birth in a stable, or be visited by a host of angels, a crowd of shepherds, and a number of wisemen – with some impractical presents!
The life of Jesus – God Incarnate – was not without its family ups and downs either. Joseph died, leaving Mary with Jesus and his brothers and sisters. When Jesus started his ministry, his family thought he was mad (Mark 3:20) and Jesus seemed to reject them. And yet at some point they seem to ‘get’ Jesus’ mission and joined with him on his journey of life, death and eternal life. Not many ‘happy Christmas’s’ in that family I suspect, but they worked through the trials of life.
I can’t promise anyone a ‘Happy Christmas’ but I hope we might spend this festive time with our loved ones accepting them for who they are – with their faults and foibles and idiosyncrasies. The Victorian poet Walter Alexander Raleigh wrote:
I wish I loved the Human Race;
I wish I loved its silly face;
I wish I liked the way it walks;
I wished I liked the way it talks;
And when I’m introduced to one
I wish I thought What Jolly Fun!
I hope these wishes might be true for us this Christmas.
And if you need to have a break from your family and friends gathered in your house on Christmas Day – come and sing some carols at 10am at Down Ampney or Poulton Churches – or even bring (or send) them along!
May your Christmas be Merry and Bright!
As ever - John
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The Rev'd Canon John Swanton
Rector of the South Cotswolds​
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Services and Events
December 2024 and into the New Year!
​Thursday 12th December
11am WI Carol Service Ampney Crucis
All Welcome!
Friday 13th December
6pm Driffield Christmas Gathering Driffield Church
Sunday 15th December 3rd Sunday of Advent
8am Holy Communion Ampney St Peter
10am Parish Communion Ampney Crucis
with Baptism
10am Word and Worship Harnhill
5pm Carol Service Down Ampney
7pm Carol Concert Ampney Crucis
with the Cantores Choir
Wednesday 18th December
9.30am School Christmas Service Ampney Crucis
Thursday 19th December
5.30pm The Harnhill Nativity Harnhill
for children of all ages!
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Sunday 22nd December 4th Sunday of Advent
8am Holy Communion Harnhill
10am Parish Communion Poulton
5pm Carol Service Poulton
Tuesday 24th December Christmas Eve
3pm Crib Service Down Ampney
5pm Carol Service Driffield
8pm Midnight at Bethlehem Ampney St Peter
an evening service of Holy Communion with Carols
11.15pm Midnight Communion Ampney Crucis
Wednesday 25th December CHRISTMAS DAY
10am Christmas Communion Down Ampney
10am Family Carols Poulton
Sunday 29th December 5th Day of Christmas
10am Parish Communion Harnhill
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Happy New Year!
A prayer for the New Year
For all possibilities ahead in this new year make us thankful, O Lord.
Give us wisdom, courage and discernment in the face of so much chaos, despair and fear.
Help us to see how, in our circumstances, we can contribute towards peace, faith and love.
And give us the will translate our desires into actions. Amen. Brother John Charles Vockler
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Sunday 5th January Epiphany Sunday and 2nd Sunday of Christmas
10am Parish Communion Down Ampney
10am Word and Worship Harnhill
Sunday 12th January The Baptism of Christ
10am Parish Communion Driffield
10am Word and Worship Harnhill
Sunday 19th January The Second Sunday of Epiphany
10am Parish Communion Ampney Crucis
10am Word and Worship Harnhill
Sunday 26th January The Third Sunday of Epiphany
10am Parish Communion Poulton
10am Word and Worship Harnhill
Sunday 2nd February The Presentation of Christ in the Temple
Candlemas
10am Parish Communion Down Ampney
10am Word and Worship Harnhill
Sunday 9th February The Fourth Sunday before Lent
10am Parish Communion Driffield
10am Word and Worship Harnhill
Sunday 16th February The Third Sunday before Lent
10am Parish Communion Ampney Crucis
10am Word and Worship Harnhill
Sunday 23rd February The Fourth Sunday before Lent
10am Parish Communion Poulton
10am Word and Worship Harnhill
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19th – 21st April BibLit – The Bibury Literature Festival
St Mary’s Church, Bibury, GL7 5NR
Hear and meet authors talk about their books –
Andrew Gimson, Caroline Montague, Sally Page,
Robert Hardman and more….
Contact
Please do get in touch with the Rector - John Swanton - for more information.
01285 851309