Tomorrow (Sunday 30th December), the normal 8.00am Holy Communion service will be said in the Lady Chapel.

There will be no 10.30am service at All Saints' as we will follow the custom of previous years and gather instead at Holy Trinity Church.

Holy Trinity is just beyond the north end of the Parade across Christchurch Gardens, about 3/4 mile north of All Saints'. The service will be at 10.30am.

Tomorrow's Epistle reading, Colossians 3.12-17, encourages us to live gracious and Godly lives, and is helpful to get us thinking about our New Year resolutions.

The Gospel reading, Luke 2.41-52, is the story of the visit to the Temple in Jerusalem by the Holy Family when Jesus was twelve years old.

We would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, especially those who attended our Christmas services over the past few days at All Saints'. It was great to see so many people!

Congratulations to Simon Lawford, Simon Tayton and Vidthyan Vasanthan who all composed music for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols yesterday at which their pieces were premiered. They were performed alongside traditional hymns and carols by the choir, directed by Julian Parkin.

Special thanks to Elly Parkin for her beautiful solo Benedictus this morning, as part of Haydn's Little Organ Mass.

My starting-point during tonight's Christmas Midnight Mass sermon will be a poem by W H Auden, 'At the Manger Mary Sings'. You may like to read it through:

O shut your bright eyes that mine must endanger
With their watchfulness; protected by its shade
Escape from my care: what can you discover
From my tender look but how to be afraid?
Love can but confirm the more it would deny.
Close your bright eye.

Sleep. What have you learned from the womb that bore you
But an anxiety your Father cannot feel?
Sleep. What will the flesh that I gave do for you,
Or my mother love, but tempt you from his will?
Why was I chosen to teach his Son to weep?
Little One, sleep.

Dream. In human dreams earth ascends to Heaven
Where no one need pray nor ever feel alone.
In your first few hours of life here, O have you
Chosen already what death must be your own?
How soon will you start on the Sorrowful Way?
Dream while you may.


I'll invite you to think about the implications of Jesus, the Word of God taking human flesh and living in our midst. 
'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth...'

During our Eucharist this morning we gave thanks for the 40th wedding anniversary of Carol and Don Brooksbank who were married at All Saints' Church in 1972. Our cafe manager Emily Stewart-White has created this lovely cake to celebrate their 40 years together.

Tomorrow we hear the news of Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1.39-45). Mary was by then expecting Jesus; Elizabeth was expecting John (the Baptist). It's a story full of excitement and hope as they look forward to the fulfilment of God's promises through their as-yet-unborn children.

For Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah, this was not merely the fulfilment of a prophecy given six months previously - although that was clearly important. It was also the gift of a child for whom they had longed throughout their adult lives and into old age. The yearning for a child had not diminished their faith in God, even though they had waited beyond the point at which childbirth seemed a possibility. And now, surprisingly, fulfilment was near.

For Mary, on the other hand, this was something very new indeed. Thought to have been only a teenager, and in scandalous circumstances, she nevertheless looked forward to the work of God through the son to be born to her. Doubtless she was encouraged and comforted by the words of her cousin: 'Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.'

In this encounter, we see God at work in God's own time - over a lifetime of faithful preparation, and in someone barely more than a child. We see the unfolding of God's promises not as we might expect or hope, but in unexpected ways and in unexpected people. And if we pause to think about it, we realise that the fulfilment of God's promises was taking place not only through the months of these two pregnancies, but over decades as John and Jesus grew to maturity and took up their vocations. 

Indeed, the fulfilment of God's promise to Mary is still being worked out centuries later, as we discover God-with-us in Jesus.

No wonder Mary responded with that great outpouring of praise we call the Magnificat:
'My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.'

More carol singing this morning, on Newbold Comyn.

A quartet of prompt arrivers, conveniently representing all four parts, made a start with 'O come, all ye faithful', sung from memory. It seemed to work, as more faithful singers turned out - and the Parkrun crowd certainly appreciated it.

Then as the rain tipped down, and the runners in their mud-spattered Santa costumes jogged, slithered and sloshed their way past us, smiling and waving, we ran through the customary repertoire. Generous donors added to what had almost literally become a float in our collecting box.

Eventually we brought proceedings to an end with the world premiere of Andy Guthrie's splendid new arrangement of 'We wish you a merry Christmas.' By now, the water was pouring off the pages of Carols for Choirs and we were standing knee-deep in a torrent.

One of those statements is slightly exaggerated. But only slightly.

Fun it was. Sensible it possibly wasn't. But it's good to sing out the news of Christmas joy even when the weather is against us.

We're looking forward to the Christmas Eve Carol Service which will be held at 6.30pm. The orders of service have now been printed and stapled and the newly composed music is being finalised.

This year we have three new compositions: Rorate Coeli by Simon Lawford, assistant organist; Lux Orta est by Vidthyan Vasanthan, choral scholar; and This Dear Emmanuel by Simon Tayton, assistant organist.

Along with the readings and prayers there will be the usual well-loved congregational hymns and carols too. Come and join us!

On Wednesday at the midweek Eucharist, I shall speak on a powerful theme drawn from this week's readings: the vision of what is to come; the hope of transformation; the homecoming of the people of God.

And all this is to be because God loves us and has come among us.

Those who watched the Narnia Chronicles on Sunday will have seen the difference it made when Aslan was no longer a rumour or an unseen presence, but a living reality. Perpetual winter was turned into spring. Petrified creatures had new life breathed into them. Frightened and oppressed citizens became brave warriors. Hope dawned.

The cost was high: the life of Aslan himself. But it was a cost willingly borne out of love in order that even the traitor might go free.

Many of us long for our hearts to be warmed, our lives renewed and strengthened in hope. The presence of Christ among us and his touch on our wounded souls bring about such transformation - if we allow it.

So we pray: Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! 
                                                                                                   Fr Christopher

The third Advent candle was lit at the Choral Eucharist this morning by 4 year-old Ollie.

We wait for thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.  Alleluia.  Only nine days until Christmas Day!

Have a look at our services over Advent and Christmas - it would be great to see you at All Saints'.

Compliments abounded at Tesco in Warwick earlier today, from the hundreds of passing shoppers who stopped to listen to members of All Saints' Choir singing carols.  They performed such classics as "O come all ye faithful" and "Away in a manger" which the children especially seemed to enjoy.

The choir will also be carol singing at Adelaide House Care Home in Leamington, the Falstaff Hotel, and at the Park Run at Newbold Comyn.