Dear Friends<\/p>\n
Advent has arrived!\u00a0 Christmas trees are already appearing in windows and thoughts are turning to who\u2019s coming and what there will be to eat and how everyone will be entertained over the festive period \u2013 so many things to think about and prepare for!\u00a0 How will we ever manage it all?<\/p>\n
But how do we as Christians prepare for the greatest gift of all \u2013 Jesus Christ?<\/p>\n
Once again our thoughts turn to Sunday School parties, Christmas Lunch, preparation for the various Services \u2013 how will we manage it all on top of the preparations for Christmas at home?<\/span><\/p>\n Maybe we should try slowing down so we can think about what\u2019s really important at this time of year.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not easy but our hearts and spirits need to be reminded of the One who came among us as a baby, a baby born into poverty but also into love.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 parents loved Him with every ounce of their being but they also knew He had come with a purpose which was to serve us all and die on a Cross so we might know what true forgiveness is, so we might really believe the promises made for our future.<\/span><\/p>\n Last week we came to the end of the E100 series through the readings from the Book of Revelation and the final picture we are left with is the New Jerusalem, a place waiting for God\u2019s final Word through which all that is now will be changed forever into a new heaven and a new earth, where we will worship Him forever, live perfectly and know what the love of our Lord God Almighty truly feels like.<\/p>\n So as we unwrap our gifts this Christmas, share our homes, come to the Services, let us remember that through a baby there is new hope for our future, a gift beyond worth waiting for us in the New Jerusalem and let us enter the New Year with the expectation of great things for our future together in Clincarthill.<\/span><\/p>\n Graham and I wish you every blessing in this Advent and Christmas Season and thank you for your support and encouragement over these last few months, and may God encourage us all to hear and see His presence in all that lies ahead.<\/p>\n Blessings and love\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Joan & Graham<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Friends Advent has arrived!\u00a0 Christmas trees are already appearing in windows and thoughts are turning to who\u2019s coming and what there will be to eat and how everyone will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8z2vw-8F","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":703,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/message-from-our-locum-joan-kilpatrick-nov-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":0},"title":"Message from our Locum \u2013 Joan Kilpatrick \u2013 Nov 2015","author":"admin","date":"1 November 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Friends Some bright spark reminded me recently that we\u2019re heading rapidly towards Christmas!!\u00a0 The truth is Christmas cards have been in the shops for a couple of months at least, gifts are appearing, schools are working towards their Nativity Plays and we\u2019re beginning to plan for the Church Services,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3826,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/reflections-for-lent\/","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":1},"title":"Reflections for Lent","author":"admin","date":"26 February 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2018Lent\u2019 is the six week period leading up to Easter (similar to \u2018advent\u2019 being the build up to Christmas). While advent is a celebration and a time of great anticipation, Lent is more often seen as a time of serious preparation for the celebration of the death and resurrection of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Lenten-Reflections-graphic-1.jpg?fit=783%2C783&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Lenten-Reflections-graphic-1.jpg?fit=783%2C783&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Lenten-Reflections-graphic-1.jpg?fit=783%2C783&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Lenten-Reflections-graphic-1.jpg?fit=783%2C783&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1536,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/ministers-letter-dec-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":2},"title":"Minister’s Letter – Dec 2017","author":"admin","date":"5 December 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cIn your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":728,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/letter-from-our-session-clerk-dec-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":3},"title":"Letter from our Session Clerk \u2013 Dec 2015","author":"admin","date":"7 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Friends in Clincarthill, We are now in the season of Advent and preparing to remember and celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 It is such a special time of year and we need to take time in the busyness to remember the meaning of Christmas. Our church\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1568,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/lessons-and-carols-11am-christmas-eve\/","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":4},"title":"Lessons & Carols-11am Christmas Eve","author":"admin","date":"21 December 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We have three events on Christmas Eve ... the first of these is our 'Lessons and Carols' service at 11am when we will be singing new and traditional Christmas Carols; and hearing readings telling of the birth of Jesus.","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Morning-Worship-Service-17-12-24.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Morning-Worship-Service-17-12-24.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Morning-Worship-Service-17-12-24.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Morning-Worship-Service-17-12-24.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":756,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/message-from-our-locum-joan-kilpatrick-jan-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":537,"position":5},"title":"Message from our Locum \u2013 Joan Kilpatrick \u2013 Jan 2016","author":"admin","date":"1 January 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Friends Here we are again at the beginning of another year \u2013 how does it feel?\u00a0 I\u2019m quite sure we all have mixed feelings about 2015 depending on what has gone on in our lives and what we\u2019ve seen happening across the world, but hopefully the good is able\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":544,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions\/544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}