St Edburga Leigh
Over 35 people, aged 2 to 90, joined together at St Edburga Leigh foran informal Christingle and Cake event on the afternoon of Sunday 9 December. People had the opportunity to help make Christingles, in addition totaking part in other festive activities, whilst enjoying much tea and cake! Aspart of the worship, prayer stars were made and used to decorate a largeChristmas tree. Carols were sung at the end of the event, followed by a brieftalk by Revd Anne Potter.
The event was also the perfect opportunity to look around St EdburgaLeighs Christmas Tree Festival, where trees have been made and decorated byvarious village groups, including Brownies, Guides and the new ThanksgivingTots group. Last week, Thanksgiving Tots heard the Nativity story, before sharingplay-time and prayer-time. Thanksgiving Tots meet every first Thursday morningof the month.
Gornal & Sedgley
The Gornal & Sedgley Youth Group met for the first time on theevening of Sunday 9 December, at St Andrews, The Straits. Young peopleaged 9-16 years old enjoyed making gingerbread Nativities, eating pizza andplaying games, including a cracker relay race and deciphering words from Passit on Morse Code. This led into a talk about Jesus being the Light of theWorld. The young people who were present had the opportunity to shape thefuture of the parish Youth Group, by creatively adding their ideas to agraffiti wall.
There was also a carol service at St Andrews, where the carols were ledby childrens choir, Singing Angels.
Halas High Fives
The Halas High Fives group enjoyed a ChristmasParty on Tuesday 11 December, at St Peters Cradley. Each currentgroup member (aged 8-12 years old) invited a friend to join them for a time offestive fun. Christmas games were played, lovely food was shared and theNativity was retold using chocolate! Games included a Nativity treasure hunt;almost all the pieces were discovered, with only the bed for Jesus still hiddensomewhere in the church!
Brickworks Church, Lye
Families in the community around Brickworks Church in Lye are welcominga special guest this Christmas, Posada. Posada is a decorated bag containing aNativity set, a candle, a journal, the Christmas story and links to videos of theChristmas story. It travels to a different home each night in the run-up toChristmas, throughout Advent. Families set up the Nativity set, light thecandle, watch a video, or read a bit of the Christmas story. They then writedown their experiences, or post photos on a special Facebook group.
Tom Fish, Associate Priest Missioner at Brickworks, said, "Theidea came from Amy Stokes, our Calling Young Disciples Mission Enabler. Posadais a Mexican tradition where people dressed up as characters from the Christmasstory, turned up at homes and expected to be given hospitality, which has beenadapted for British use in this way. It's a great chance for families,whether they go to church or not, to think about the events of the firstChristmas in their own homes."
