Highbridge’s St John’s Church is to hold its Christingle service, carol service and Christmas midnight communion online this year in order to keep residents safe during the pandemic.
Reverend Dan Crouch says: “Each year St John’s Church holds a Christingle service as part of its Christmas festivities and in order to raise much needed funds to support the work of the Children’s Society.”
“The work of the Children’s Society nationally and locally is so important and, like so many charities, their fundraising has been considerably impacted by COVID-19.”
“Since we have supported their work for many years we did not want them to miss out on valuable support.”
“Throughout the pandemic it has been our wish as a church to support the community while ensuring that we are not placing anyone at increased risk of contracting Coronavirus.”
He adds: “Christmas is certainly not cancelled, but in order to keep people safe and risks low it has been necessary to be creative.”
“Our Christingle service will therefore be online this year. Our carol service and our midnight communion will also be online this year.”
The Christingle service will be available at 5pm on Sunday 13th December on the church’s Facebook page and also on the St John’s Church YouTube channel.
He adds: “The magic of the Christingle service is the Orange, candle, ribbon and cocktail sticks with fruit/sweets that children receive with each component telling a part of the Christian story.”
“While it is not possible to gather in large numbers – last year our Christingle service saw 83 people of all ages attend, nearly three times our COVID risk-reduced capacity of 30 – you simply cannot celebrate without the Christingle itself, so 50 packs to make a Christingle at home will be available from St John’s Church between 1pm and 4pm on Saturday 12 December.”
“These will be distributed on a first come, first served basis and we will construct our Christingle in the safety of our homes during the online service.”
“When the Christingle is lit we are reminded that the light overcomes the darkness, a message that feels deeply profound in what has been a very challenging year.”
A link to donate to the work of the Children’s Society will be included as part of the virtual service on Sunday 13th December, but if anyone would like to donate they can do so here.
