For Sunday 18th December 2022, 4th Sunday of Advent
Friends,
This is our last newsletter in 2022, so a little round up of seasonal related things.
Many thanks to those who prepared the sanctuary so beautifully for the Carols by Candlelight on Sunday evening, as well as all who contributed by reading, singing, mulling the wine and mincing the pies. Later the same evening the new season of the Night Shelter got underway, with additional guests being brought in due to the very low temperatures. Thank you to all who will volunteer to offer welcome and hospitality on behalf of St Columba’s throughout the winter. On the same day, William was leading worship at St Andrew’s, Newcastle and was able to join some with some sixty members and visitors for a full Christmas lunch after service. Our friends in the North certainly know how to put on a spread.
From other recent visitors to St Columba’s - the young people of the GKexperience - we had this message: “Thank you so much for all your hospitality and hard work to make the weekend happen, it really was a once in a lifetime experience for so many of the young people and young leaders, with a few coming back saying that it was the best weekend of their life! We are so grateful that the congregation let us come and share the wonderful space that you all have. We just hosted our big Christmas party for all the young people that GK works with last night, bringing 80 young people together for a full Christmas dinner, it was something else! Thanks very much, Calum Johnston, (Youth Worker.)
And in full festive mode, there is a much-anticipated church families’ outing to the Panto at Wimbledon Theatre on Saturday to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Fairest Panto in the Land. In preparation, I went back to “A Wee Book o Fairy Tales in Scots” which was a gift received as a new parent. I suspect SW19’s version will not offer:
“Mirror, mirror, on the waw,
Wha’s the bonniest o them aw?”
Or
“Mirror, mirror, you’re my pal,
Tell me wha’s the brawest gal.”
Or
“Mirror, gonnae tell us wance again”
“Queen, you’re a stoater. Ten oot o ten!”
Yes, probably not, but Wimbledon will surely serve up a lot of fun, just as the children’s Nativity last Sunday morning brought joy and vitality to our worship. To all who were involved in orchestrating that – old and young – a big thank you.
The detail of all our services over the Christmas period are carried below. And if that is not enough, tune into Classic FM on Christmas Eve at 6pm, to hear Carols from St Columba’s, recorded at the Supporting Wounded Veterans Carol Concert at Pont Street on Tuesday 6th December. Whether you are able to be with us in person or via the live-stream, we hope you will find moments to connect and share with others, the faith, hope and love of Christmas.
Angus
CHRISTMAS SERVICES AT ST COLUMBA’S
18th December
❄ 11am Morning Service
24th December
❄ 3pm ** Family Christmas Service, Crown Court
❄ 11.15pm Watchnight Service with Communion
25th December
❄ 11am Morning Service for Christmas Day & Short Holy Communion (London Scottish Chapel)
1st January
❄ 11.00am Morning Service
8th January
❄ 11.00am Morning Service & Baptisms
❄ 5.00pm Evening Service for Epiphany (London Scottish Chapel)
** For those interested, all are welcome to attend the Crown Court Christmas Eve Family Service at 3pm on the 24th December 2022
Live Streaming of Worship
Services can be watched via the church website,
https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/live-stream.
To access the live stream from the homepage (front page) click the Menu button in the top right-hand side of the page and scroll down and click on “Live Stream”. This will bring up the live stream to the church. The act of worship of approximately 60 minutes, includes include prayers, a sermon and music. The words for the hymns will be on the website.
For those without internet, the Dial-In facility continues. Many people comment that they do have a sense of worshipping together, even if invisible to each other.
Reminder: If you do not wish to appear on the live-stream please choose a seat in the rear half of the sanctuary.
Please note that the Evening Services on the 1st of the month will not be live streamed as they will take place in the London Scottish Chapel.
Dial into Sunday Service
If you are aware of church members or friends who do not have access to internet please inform them that they can now phone in to join the Sunday service. No visuals clearly, but at least they can hear the service. Those interested should follow:
Step 1: At 10.40am call phone number 0203 051 2874.
Step 2: You will be prompted to enter a meeting ID. Please type (using your telephone keypad) 266 883 5072#
Step 3: You will then be asked for a participant number - simply press the #.
Step 4: Enjoy the service! You will hear the organ music from 10.50am.
Hymns, Music & Readings,
4th Sunday of Advent, 18th December 2022
Hymn 51 God of hosts, you chose a vine (St Bees)
Hymn 300 The Virgin Mary had a baby boy (The Virgin Mary)
Hymn 314 Child in the manger (Bunessan)
Hymn 315 Once in royal David’s city (Irby)
Anthem: Gabriel’s message, arr Willcocks
Musical Interlude: Rejoice in the Lord alway, Anon.
Organ Postlude: In Dulci Jubilo BWV 608 (J.S. Bach)
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 7: 10 – 16
New Testament Reading: Romans 1: 1 – 7
Gospel Reading: Matthew 1: 18 - 25
Congregational Offerings
Details on the many ways you can support St Columba’s can be found here https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/giving/supporting-st-columbas
Would anyone wishing to contribute to St Andrew's, Newcastle please contact the Session Clerk on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for bank details or other means of donating.
THIS FRIDAY: Christmas Carols in Trafalgar Square for Christian Aid
Please join congregation members from Crown Court Church and Bloomsbury Baptist Church to sing carols for Christian Aid in Trafalgar Square on Friday 16th December at 6pm to 7pm.
THIS SUNDAY: Poetry & Silent Prayer for Advent
For the four Sundays of Advent (4th, 11th & 18th December) there is the opportunity to join with others for a time of quiet collective prayer. Led by the minister, the time (10.00 – 10.15am) offers an intentional moment to contemplate scripture and poetry, appropriate to the Advent season. All are very welcome in the London Scottish Regimental Chapel.
THIS SUNDAY: Advent Appeals
Glass Door – www.glassdoor.org.uk
We will be collecting the following items for the Glass Door charity to help top-up their shelves for their homeless clients. The items are: boxer shorts, thermal hats, ladies' pants and sanitary products, thermal tights, thermal socks (for both men and women), thermal gloves (or very thick ones), small travel size toiletries . Some of the donated items will be wrapped as Christmas gifts for Glass Door's homeless guests who will be sleeping at church on Christmas night. The remaining items will be passed to Glass Door in January. Thank you in advance for your help with the Advent Appeal. Mission Committee.
Borderline – www.borderline-uk.org
As an alternative option for those wishing to contribute to the Advent Appeal but who are unable to come to church, you may like to consider a financial donation to Borderline. The details are:
Donate Online
https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/700#!/DonationDetails#%2FDonationDetails
Alternatively, you can donate by post by making a cheque payable to NEW BORDERLINE and send it to: Borderline, FREEPOST License RSLK-KBRR-AGCK, Ground Floor, 22 City Road, London EC1Y 2AJ
Potatoes & Peas - The Night Shelter
The 2022/23 Night Shelter at St. Columba’s starts in December, and it is time to think about potatoes and peas! We sleep and feed 25 homeless guests inside St Columba’s from December to March & the budget for food from GLASSDOOR is small and anything we can do as a congregation to help with the cost is greatly appreciated. If you would like to “sponsor” the purchase of potatoes or peas, or both, please pass your contribution to the church office. (Cheques payable to St. Columba’s Hospitality Committee.) Any surplus money contributes towards a “festive” meal on Christmas Day, Hogmanay, and of course a Burns Supper in January 2023 which is much appreciated. Thank you. Ben Gourlay, Convener of Hospitality Committee
Church Magazine
The December issue of the Church Magazine is now out and available at the bookstall.
Congregational Sunday Lunches, Future Dates
There will be a fine Sunday lunch served in the Lower Hall after the service this Sunday. Future lunch dates are 1st January, 15th January & 29th January 2023 in the Lower Hall. Coffee will continue to be served every Sunday as usual in the Upper Hall. These Hospitality Services are much valued in supporting Fellowship.
Parking Restrictions in December
During all Sundays in December there is NO PARKING in residents’ parking bays. On Sundays parking is permitted on single yellow lines and in Pay & Display bays (free).
ADVENT AT ST COLUMBA’S
Advent, Christmas and Epiphany Prayer Books
Following Sunday service please pick up a copy of Advent, Christmas & Epiphany: Readings, meditations & Prayers 27 November - 8 January 2023. This collection has been prepared by the Revd Andrew Anderson and offers a profound spiritual guide to the season. Copies are free and if you wish to take two, in order to pass on to a friend or family member, please do so.
VOLUNTEERING AND GIVING OPPORTUNITIES
Glass Door Night Shelter - Volunteers needed at St Columba’s on Sunday evenings (December 2022 – March 2023)
Can you help provide a warm, friendly welcome and hot meal to homeless guests coming to stay at St Columbus on Sunday nights when we will be hosting the Glass Door night shelter?
- Shelter volunteers are needed to help set up, serve food, chat to guests, and clear up on Sunday evenings
- Cooks and kitchen volunteers are needed to prepare meals for the guests
- An admin volunteer is needed to help manage the rota and organisation of Sunday volunteers
Training and support for roles will be given.
If you would are interested, please get in touch with Heather Farwell (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Margaret Goslett (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) as soon as possible.
2023 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Happy Hour
The next Happy Hour session will take place on Wednesday 4 January 2023 at The Carpenters Arms, 12 Seymour Place, London W1H 7NE (top floor room) with the usual mix of themed discussion followed by a time of social fellowship. Newcomers welcome, just turn up on the night.
Burns Supper 2023
The 2023 Burns Supper will be held on the 21st January 2023, 7pm. Tickets will be available after Sunday Worship in the entrance vestibule. If you have any queries please contact the Church Office.
We also need people to help serving food on the evening. If you would like to volunteer please contact the Church Office.
St Columba’s Book Group
Our next meeting will be on Monday 9th January at the usual time of 6.30pm. Our next book choice is “The Fortnight in September” by RC Sheriff, who is probably more famous for writing Journey’s End about World War I. This book is set in the early 1930's and concerns a family of 5 from Dulwich as they embark on their annual summer holiday to Bognor. This is a trip they have been making for years and the reader experiences with them the preparation, the journey and the holiday itself. If you know Dulwich or Bognor or even Clapham Junction you might find this novel of particular interest, but such knowledge is not a requirement!
The St Columba’s Book Group meet by Zoom, just contact the Church Office for the joining details. Newcomers are welcome.
Office Hours
The church office is open from 9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
Contact details; Tel: 020 7584 2321
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.stcolumbas.org.uk
Facebook: @stcolumbaschurchpontstreet. Twitter: @LondonKirk
Pastoral Emergency Number (out of office hours): 07591926271
To sign up and receive the weekly newsletter detailing future events, contact the church office or go to www.stcolumbas.org.uk (News Section.) Paper copies of this week’s newsletter are available at the bookstall.
If you require this information in a different format please contact the Church Office.
POETRY & SILENT PRAYER
ST COLUMBA’S, PONT STREET
18th December 2022, ADVENT IV
Endure. Love. Give.
“Advent is the hush in the theatre,
between the house lights going down
and the curtain going up.”
“To create times of silent prayer and reflection each day
calls for a sense of its importance and for a discipline.”
BEFORE WE PRAY
This Advent we use a mixture of scripture & poetry to lead us into our silent prayer. The scriptures chosen, reflect those selected by the Revised Common Lectionary which we use at Morning Service. Once the silence begins let yourself be drawn towards/ to savour a particular verse, or even just a single word. Our normal prayer time lasts for fifteen minutes.
OPENING PRAYER
Gathering from our busy city,
we thank you -
for faith and quiet,
place and prayer.
In stillness,
let us abide,
scripture, verse and silence
strengthen, restore and inspire.
So, encompass our Advent wanderings,
to You,
our true North.
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 1:18 – 23
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
POEM: I am Joseph, U A Fanthorpe
I am Joseph, carpenter,
Of David’s kingly line,
I wanted an heir, discovered
My wife’s son wasn’t mine.
I am an obstinate lover,
Loved Mary for better or worse.
Wouldn’t stop loving when I found
Someone Else came first.
Mine was the likeness I hoped for
When the first-born man-child came
But nothing of him was me, I couldn’t
Even choose his name.
I am Joseph who wanted
To teach my own boy how to live.
My lesson for my foster son:
Endure. Love. Give.
TIME OF QUIET
COLLECT FOR FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
(said together) Heavenly Father, you chose the Virgin Mary, full of grace, to be the mother of our Lord and Saviour. Fill us with your grace, that in all things we may embrace your will, and with her rejoice in your salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
AFTER PRAYER: Matthew 1:24 -25
All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.