Carols by Candlelight

A nearly full church enjoyed the 2018 carols by candlelight service. Although the format is similar year by year, details change. Many thanks to all who had rehearsed, took part or helped set up the event.

The service took the form of Bible texts relating to the promise of the coming of Christ, or the actual story, Congregational carols, choral carols and prose.

In a brief talk, Gillian Gamble spoke of the gift of Christ and urged everyone to receive this most precious gift.

Christmas Preparations

At this time of year an enormous amount of hard work is undertaken by many members of the church in getting ready for Christmas – and we would like to thank everyone of them. The pictures below are just examples of some of that work.

The pictures feature the magnificent dilapidated stable erected by Derek Bowering and Ant Johnson, the foyer decorated by the 10^th Oadby Brownies, and the tree with decorations by Brookside School pupils.
So thank you to all of them.

 

Carolling at Sainsbury’s

A sizeable group from St Paul’s met in the entrance hall of Oadby Sainsbury’s on Saturday (15^th). We feared that the group might be diminished in size by the horrendous weather (freezing cold, wind and rain) but there are a good group of hardy souls who gathered. For over an hour we sang almost all of the well-known carols. Christmas is a season of giving, and we also handed out sweets to all the passers-by who would like them.

A board indicated who we were, and gave details of our other activities over Christmas.

Home Group Christmas Meal

Many of our home groups undertake social activities together, as well as their primary purpose of Bible study and prayer. Nothing builds up friend ships more than eating together. This Friday a number of home groups met together for a Christmas meal at Brown's in Allandale Road – where good food and conversation was had by all.

Coffee Pot Carols

Members of Coffee Pot, the Thursday morning group met on the 13^th for their Carol service. The service was held sitting around the tables, which were afterwards used for mince pies and tea or coffee. The service was led by Steve and we traced the wonderful history of Christ’s coming to earth, for us, using Bible readings and carols. There was also a PowerPoint presentation in which the story was told using titles from television shows (very clever but there were some horrible puns – such as the Magi came from East Enders!).

Now we are into the full flow of St Pauls Christmas activities. These can be found by following “A Church near You” on the Internet and looking for Oadby St Pauls.

Gifts for Christmas

We have just had our gift service. During the course of the morning service, people brought up gifts and left them at one of two tables. For one table, people wrapped gifts, for which tags with the age and sex of a child in a hostel or refuge (but no names) had been issued in advance. These had been notified to us by the institutions concerned.

On the other table were unwrapped gifts of items that would be special for asylum seekers being cared for by the Welcome Project at St Martin’s house, the diocese of Leicester headquarters. All those organising the gift service were thrilled by the generosity of the congregation.

Giving is an integral part of the Christmas festivities as we remember the greatest gift of all; the gift by God of his only Son, Jesus. It’s a joy to be able to share these gifts with those who might otherwise receive little, this Christmas.

Mess || Christmas Spoken Word

A Christmas card from the Oadby Churches

A Christmas card from all the Oadby Churches has now been delivered to everyone in Oadby. There was a competition for the cover design, which was won by a Supertrooper (Sunday School) member from St Paul’s. Inside are details of the Christmas activities of most of the churches in Oadby.

It’s good to be able to work together like this. Do take the opportunity to join in any of those services.

The Nativity (as it wasn’t!)

The Christmas season at St Paul’s started with a community film night showing “Nativity”– the hilarious story of a school Nativity play, where everything goes wrong, but everything finishes up happily. It seemed to be enjoyed by all.

The next community film night is at 630 p.m. on 12 January, when we will be seeing “Paddington 2.” Do come along and join us.

Seasons Greetings from PAG

At St Paul's we support the work of TearFund through their Connected Church project. Follow this link to watch a short video from them bringing Seasons Greetings and to find their latest prayer requests.