Thank you to everyone who attended our Christmas services.  It was wonderful to see so many at the Christmas Eve midnight mass which is always a special way to start Christmas Day and celebrate Jesus’ birth.  Thank you also to those who joined the choir to boost our numbers and to all who prepared the church, including our talented flower team for all the decoration and the volunteers who lit the ninety-six candles in the candelabra before Midnight Mass!

This is also a chance to thank Hugh Cobbe, our organist for some thirty-five years, who formed the current choir back in 1988.  Like so many features of our church life it is easy to take music for granted and we are all enormously grateful to Hugh for his fantastic playing and leadership.

This morning Christine led our celebration of the Epiphany, commemorating the visit of the Magi to Jesus, Mary and Joseph  -  slightly earlier than normal because of this year’s calendar, but nevertheless the first Sunday of the new year, encouraging us to look forward to the forthcoming months.  The service finished with Rev Timothy Dudley-Smith’s wonderful hymn, Lord for the Years, thanking God for the past year and seeking His continuing guidance.