Date: Friday 31st Jan
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Our annual Christingle Service will be taking place this Friday, 31st January 2020 at St Mary’s Church, Chilton Foliat at 2.00pm. It will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the gift of Jesus to us as the light of the world and importantly to come together to pray for those who are less fortunate that we are.
Whilst the roots of this celebration go back to 1747, when a Germany priest from Moravia introduced the practice to children using a candle and a red ribbon to encourage them to think about Jesus, it has evolved since then. The service became more popular in the UK, when in 1968, John Pensom of The Children’s Society, adapted Christingle and introduced it to the Church of England. This involved children decorating an orange with a red ribbon, dried fruits, sweets and a candle to create a new visual representation of Christ, the light of the world, celebrated by the lighting of the Christinglecandles. Children would bring a small donation and receive the Christingle candle in return.
Whilst taking the children down to church for this year’s Christingle involves a little more organising, the significance of the service and the magical, spiritual and atmospheric impact of seeing all the candles lit in church will be worth the effort. All are welcome to attend the service and if any parents are able to volunteer with escorting the children to church we would be very grateful. Children can be collected from the church after the service or alternatively brought back to school when normal home-time arrangements will take place.