Help to feed our neighbours ……. Windsor Foodshare update -
There will be hamper placed at church for you to drop your festive goodies into – Thank you! The hamper will be there for Sunday 13th. If you are unable to drop items at church but would still like to contribute then please phone: Peter & Sue to arrange an alternative. We will, also, arrange delivery of all collected items to Baptist Church Smith’s Lane in plenty of time for Christmas.
They would love to include some treats in the food parcels they give out this Christmas and make this festive time special for local families. Festive goods list:
• Selection boxes
• Christmas cake
• Biscuits
• Christmas crackers
• Plum pudding
• Or to give some much-needed financial support please follow the link:
donations@windsorfoodshare.org.uk
Toy Service cancelled but …..
We are not too late to help with the Salvation Army at Staines Toy Appeal 2020, they have a Just Giving page and they would love to receive donations via that means. They will then be able to purchase toys of gift vouchers for the children. If the donors could mention “Christmas Present Appeal” in the text, then it can be directed the right way. The link is: http://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stainessalvationarmy
Christmas Angels: update from Rev’d Vicci In my message for Sunday 15 November, I invited all ‘knitters/crocheters” to create angels to give away. If you missed it, the knitted angel project encourages churches to knit/crochet angels, attach a small label saying “A gift from Windsor Methodist Church” and including our website, and bring them to church to be blessed on the 20th of December. Following the blessing, the knitters will then distribute them by putting them through neighbours doors and leaving them on walls and trees to be picked up by delighted strangers passing by, thereby helping to spread the message of hope and kindness across Windsor this Christmas, sharing once more the Good News that angels first sang to the world! For those who haven’t started yet, the pattern can be found here: http://www.christmasangel.net/wpcontent/uploads/2014/09/Christmas-Angel.pdf
A message from Vicci:
This year we put our Christmas decorations up on the 1st of December. I don’t really approve of this – as children, we were not allowed to put the decorations up before Christmas Eve - but my children have pushed the boundaries and when they became adults, I had to give in. It means that in my house the perennial “now and not yet” of Advent is worked out in a very visual way. The decorations are up, the presents are bought and wrapped, the cards are written, even the pudding is made. Yet at my desk, I wrestle with sermons on John, ancient prophecies, and an angel’s visit to Mary. My sitting room glows with stars and angels, babies and Father Christmas while in my office, God speaks to the Children of Israel through the prophets. Christmas is coming, but it’s not here yet. The baby has been born, but his birthday is not today. The now and not yet is mirrored in contemporary, covid-storied life with the news of a vaccine to be rolled out any day now. We are nearly there. We have nearly come through this difficult time, but it is not yet. and if we behave as if we have already got there, we run risks that may put our most vulnerable in danger.
Just as it is dangerous to behave as if we have already come to the end of covid-led restrictions, so it is dangerous to have Christmas without Advent and Easter without Lent and Harvest without sowing seed because we forget that there is work to be done. Preparing for Christmas is about opening our hearts and minds to the reality of God who gave up on sending us prophets and came himself. The enormity of such a statement is lost to us if we don’t prepare ourselves for it because it is so extraordinary.
We went into lockdown during Lent. My friend sent me a card that said: This is the Lentiest Lent I have ever Lented! In a way, we are still in Lent. Easter came, but it was hard to celebrate the Good News of a risen Saviour when we ourselves were entombed in our houses and not a little in our fear. And now it is Advent and Christmas too will be strange and unlike Christmases we have known. Nevertheless, Jesus rose, the Holy Spirit came and here at the beginning of the church year, a baby will be born and his name will be called “Wonderful, Counsellor, Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” May you know God this Christmastide in real and wonderful ways. May you receive the counsel you need, the strength and the care, and may peace surround your home this Christmas and always.
Happy Christmas!
Vicci.