The Parish Church of St Mary’s

Hilton with Marston-on-Dove

December 2018

NOTICES AND

SERVICES

Services in December

Sunday 2nd December – Advent Sunday

11.00am Holy Communion (BCP)

With ‘Good News Crew’

Tuesday 4th December

11.00am Holy Communion at Percy Wood Close

Sunday 9th December – Advent 2

9.30am Holy Communion

11.00am Family Service/Nativity

Sunday 16th December – Advent 3

11.00am Morning Prayer with Carols

Sunday 23rd December – Advent 4

11.00am Family Communion

Monday 24th December – Christmas Eve

6.30pm Carols by Candlelight

11.30pm Holy Communion

Tuesday 25th December – Christmas Day

No service at St Mary’s

10.30am Service at Hilton Methodist all Welcome

Sunday 30th December

11.00am Holy Communion

Please note new contact details

Vicar: Currently in interregnum – please contact the main number or

speak to the churchwardens Telephone: 01283 808408

Email: admin@stmaryshilton.org

Website: www.stmaryshilton.org

Funerals:

27th November John Cross

CHURCH NOTICES:

Flowers in Church You would be very welcome to put flowers in Church or give a donation for flowers to remember a special occasion or anniversary. If you would like to do this please speak to Sue Hibbert.

Thank you.

Raise free funds for the Church via the

easyfundraising.org.uk website/app and

search for St Mary’s Hilton with Marston-on-Dove

Stamp collection There is a collecting box for used postage stamps in the Church porch for ‘Oxfam’.

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL

Next Meeting: Tuesday 4th December 2018 at 7.30pm, in the Schoolroom

PCC Members: Mrs. S. Aiton; Mrs. E. Barber (Churchwarden); Mrs. H. Brown (Hon. Treasurer); Mr. A. Hibbert (Churchwarden); Mr. S. Johnson; Mr. B. Keane;

Mrs W. Morris; Mr. J. Murphie (Hon. Secretary); Miss C. Owen; Mrs. L. Rees-Jones; Mrs. P. Roberts; Mrs. H. Stone; Mr. P. Walton-Knight; Mr N Brown

Giant Christmas Card Tree

Supporting

Kidz Aid Tanzania Once again there will be an opportunity to send Christmas greetings to all church members on our Giant Christmas Card Tree at the back of church. All proceeds from the collecting tin will be donated to Kidz Aid Tanzania.

Colour in the tree!

The Christmas Table

Christmas cakes, puddings, gifts,

stocking fillers and much more,

At the back of Church

All proceeds to church funds

Nativity 2018!

Sunday 9th December at 11.00am

You are warmly invited to this year’s Nativity

‘Just a little Christmas’ to be performed

by the

Good News Crew.

Turkey Cobs and Carols

Sunday 16th December at 11.00am

Morning Prayer with Carols. Followed by Turkey Rolls and Trifle in the

Schoolroom.

Please sign up on the list at the back of Church.

Carols by Candlelight

Monday 24th December at 6.30pm

Come join us for some singing, of well-known carols and songs.

Good News Crew The Good News Crew is an opportunity for children to encounter the bible in a fun and relevant way through activities, stories, craft and prayer. They meet on the

first Sunday of each month and start with the normal service at 11am. The children then go across to the school room for fun and educational activities before rejoining the congregation towards the end of the service to show what they have been learning. The Good News Crew will next meet on the 2nd December for Christmas Crafts and rehearsal for the Nativity. The Nativity will be performed by the Good News Crew on Sunday the 9th December. Then meeting in the New Year on Sunday the 6th January 2019. Please see a member of the Crew for more details. Lisa, Jackie, Sue and Helen All children are welcome. (If under 3 please bring an adult with you)

Ladies Christmas Meal

Wednesday 5th December

The Blenheim House Hotel, Etwall

Please see Liz Trimmings if you would

like to come along.

DIY Bible Study In our DIY Bible Study this month, we look at Advent week one. The thoughts and questions are adapted from the book ‘100 Stand-Alone Bible Studies’ by Penelope Wilcock.

Advent Week One - Stars

Genesis 15:5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Job 38: 4, 6-7 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone – while morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

Psalm 8: 3-4, KJV When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psalm 147:4 He determines the number of stars and calls them each by name.

Psalm 148:3 Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.

Thinking about it… Stars have a beautiful place in the Scriptures. The book of Job speaks of the singing of the stars on the day of creation, and the book of Psalms offers a picture of intimate relationship between the stars and their creator, who ordains the movements of their dance and knows them all by name. In the book of Genesis comes that magical moment when God takes Abram outside into the desert and bids him look up at the stars. What he saw was not quite the same as we see in our light-polluted cities. If you can get away from the streetlights, car headlights, and house security lights, the night sky is ablaze with myriad stars beyond counting. “So shall you offspring be,” God said. As the years went by, the time for came for Jesus to be born – one of those stars of Abram’s descent. In the Bible he is sometimes called the Morning Star (i.e. the sun), and John the Baptist’s father Zechariah prophesies, regarding the birth of Jesus, of “the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1: 78-79)

A few questions…

• Can you remember times when you have been out in the country, where you could see the stars with less light pollution? What was it like?

• Can you think of a friend who has been to you like a star in a dark night?

• They call celebrities “stars”. Who are the “stars” of your life, the ones you look up to?

A prayer We thank you, O God, for frosty nights and starry heavens. Thank you for the beauty and majesty of the wide sky above us, lifting our hearts, moving our souls, speaking to us of wonder and glory. Thank you for the clear shining of the Evening Star as night comes down, and the Morning Star, the sun that rises in such splendor, reminding us of Jesus. The stars are too many for us to count, dear Lord, but you know every one of them by name. How great is our God, how great is our God! In all times of our darkness, whenever our life passes through a night-time, remind us, God of our journeys, to look up at the stars. For we ask it in Jesus’ name; Amen.

Christmas Word Search

B Q R D G X P S X Y O N P W A N I L G K K Q

T X J O X Z M F D B S W G Z Z J F A K Q A B

V X X M T W A L F A U M M B K H I U P V V K

B E T H L E H E M B Q F G R Q I V M B V K S

Q L Q B R O D T G Y D B A P P M P O X F N T

N C A E S H S I R H R L L Q N W J V F B C V

D V G G N I K F S C V R N T I I Z V A U X J

U N C Y R P C U A H V T H B U T V I Q L F W

B H Q H E X U G D T G C G J L N E H W X G S

Z T C O R R T W E J O Z K X F M W C I I A R

V M R O X I I H Q R Y J T Q Z K I D F S S D

U O U O A X S A E N E P P U Y M N J Q V Y E

X N S R Y U U T N U E G I M I Y O L S W Y X

G V M H S B W B I C S L N U P U F K X K S J

R J E E E S N E C N I K N A R F Z G X B A F

C S J X J P G Q I W G A K N M S J Z P W J W

N J D R T T H N W I Z L E G N A Q A X Y U V

X Y A R X M Z E M A R Y E H L X A H D J H U

X J K G J T G M R B H A P M C M C N N U N P

Q Y E N F T N E V D A E E J O P P E G L O H

G R H D R A T S B L S K R V M G N W L E K M

Y A A H C H F I W O W F Q O R K T Q A Q T Z

F U J B O G Q W J G L W A R D T A P X L C F

R G K G C S A R D U M F V B V G B U O H F R

ADVENT GOLD MANGER

ANGEL HEROD MARY

BABY INNKEEPER MYRRH

BETHLEHEM JESUS NAZARETH

CHRISTINGLE JOSEPH SHEPHERDS

CHRISTMAS JOURNEY STAR

FRANKINCENSE KING WISEMEN