Silent night?

"... her waters break. Crisis! "No vacancy" signs in every B&B window. Decision. Mary has a "home birth" in a livestock shed. She wraps strips of cloth around the baby and uses an animal feeding trough as a cot...

Noisy night, chaotic night.
All is alarm, all is fright.
Rounded virgin now mother to child.
Wholly infant so Other, so wild.
Awake at an unearthly hour. (x2)"

From' The Liberator' by the late (and great!) Rob Lacey

May God bless you loads this Christmas! Jonny

News and messages

We thank and give praise to Father God for John C's speedy recovery from heart surgery.

Please pray for Sue as she travels to New Zealand at the end of the month to visit family - We send with her all our love and good wishes. Pray also for John, Meg and Ruth back here in the UK

Linda would like contributions for the Jan/Feb edition of 'YAK'. Please email her.

Finally Jonny would like any photos of PCC events old and recent emailed to him. Thanks!

Messages from lovely Linda!

Just to say...

the video projector can be made available at short notice i.e. the day before, whenever you need to use it, please just let me know as I am going to look after it so that it is easily accessible.

Thanks, Linda

and also...

Just a quick reminder that I am organising the Twelfth Night Meal on 6th Jan and would be grateful if you would confirm whether or not you are able to join us for catering purposes by the 31st Dec.

Many thanks, Linda

Another update

Wow I'm learning all the time! I have now added some links on the right hand side above the calendar. I will use these to link to documents and sites.

I have also updated the Calendar with details about The Big Church Day Out on May 24th. You'll have to do some clicking to find out more!

Finally you can stay up to date with all of the changes to this blog by clicking the 'follow this Blog link' at the bottom of the right hand column, enter some details and you won't miss a thing!

Update!

The calendar on the right is now updated with PCC Sunday meetings for the Spring, Source dates and wider team meetings. I could do with dates for when the new home church groups plan to meet so if anyone knows them please forward the details to me.

Any other dates of interest to PCC's would be gratefully received.

Finally a PCC Blog top tip! Below the Calendar, the upcoming events are listed. You can click on the title of an event 'PCC meet' for example, and a new window will open with details of that event. Also you can flick through the months by click on the tiny arrows to the left and right of the month and year.

Happy clicking!

This Sacred Season

After Bob shared this on Sunday and at our Wider team meeting I thought it would be a great qoute to put on the Blog for you all to enjoy. Feel free to send me any more.

Once a year the Christmas season strikes both the sacred and secular spheres of life with sledgehammer force: suddenly Jesus Christ is everywhere.

For approximately one month his presence is inescapable. You may accept him or reject him, affirm him or deny him, but you cannot ignore him. Of course he is proclaimed in speech, song, and symbol in all the Christian churches. But he rides every red-nosed reindeer, lurks behind every Cabbage Patch doll, resonates in the most desacralized "seasons greetings." Remotely or proximately, he is toasted in every cup of Christmas cheer. Each sprig of holly is a hint of his holiness, each cluster of mistletoe a sign he is here.

For those who claim his name, Christmas heralds this luminous truth: The God of Jesus Christ is our absolute future. Such is the deeply hopeful character of this sacred season. By God's free doing in Bethlehem, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Light, life, and love are on our side.

Brennan Manning, Reflections for Ragamuffins, pg. 336:

Info re our family meeting on Sunday 14th Dec

We are meeting in the Community Room at the Herbert Shiner School this coming Sunday morning at 10:30am . Bob is overseeing the morning with Jonny is leading worship and some friends from life centre coming to share some thoughts with us.

If you want to learn more about life centre then click here

team chit-chat

If you'd like to have a look at my notes from our team meeting including dates and plans for our gatherings then click here

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! The purpose of this little piece of cyberspace is to share news, views, dates and details from the life of Petworth Community Church.

As you can see the calendar on the left is pretty sparce at the moment but I hope to have it filled up soon. If you have dates please send them to me. Similarly if you have thoughts, links or news items then send them my way.

Check back soon for updates!