And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ (Philippians 1:9-10)
We’re continuing our theme of being ready in Advent - how can we be ready, not just for Christmas, but also for Jesus’s return. St Paul, writing to the Philippians wants them to grow in love and in knowledge and in insight. As they do so, they will be able to know what is not just good, but best. He wants them to be pure and blameless when Jesus returns. Is that what we want for ourselves?
You would be very welcome to join us at our 10:30am service of Holy Communion in St Andrew, Cuffley, or at 8:30am for a service of Holy Communion in St Thomas, Northaw, this Sunday, as we look together at how we might be pure and blameless when Jesus returns.
The 10:30am Sunday morning service will be taking place simultaneously online and in-person at St Andrew. Streaming for the 10:30am service will start at 10:25am, and can be accessed directly via Facebook or YouTube, found on our website, and is advertised on our Facebook page and YouTube channel.
If you encounter problems with viewing the service via Facebook (or YouTube) please follow the link for YouTube (or Facebook) instead.
Coronavirus arrangements
Cases of COVID-19 are increasing in our area. While there are no formal restrictions in place, please do maintain caution. Can I encourage you to consider wearing face coverings as you move around the buildings and when singing.
Morning prayer
You would be very welcome to join us for a short service of Morning Prayer in St Andrew at 10:00am on Wednesday morning.
Christmas Coffee Morning
Huge thanks to everyone involved in organising and running the two, very successful, Christmas Coffee Mornings. There are three hampers still available, please see Gill Hall.
Advent Readings
During Advent, we’ll be providing a links to short daily readings from the prophet Micah. These will be in the weekly update emails, and in the weekly prayer emails.
| Day | Reading |
|---|---|
| Friday 3 December 2021 | Micah 2:1-5 |
| Saturday 4 December 2021 | Micah 2:6-7 |
| Sunday 5 December 2021 | Micah 2:8-11 |
| Monday 6 December 2021 | Micah 2:12-12 |
| Tuesday 7 December 2021 | Micah 3:1-4 |
| Wednesday 8 December 2021 | Micah 3:5-8 |
| Thursday 9 December 2021 | Micah 3:9-12 |
| Friday 10 December 2021 | Micah 4:1-5 |
| Saturday 11 December 2021 | Micah 4:6-8 |
Foodbank
In preparation for the January collection (5th January), you might consider a ‘Reverse Advent Calendar’: every day in Advent, put one item aside for the foodbank. By the time we get to January, there will be around 25 items ready to take to the foodbank.
Christmas Services
Publicity for our Christmas services will be made available in the coming days. Subject to any enforced changes, we are planning the following additional services:
| Day | Service |
|---|---|
| Sunday 19th December | 6pm Carols by Candlelight at St Thomas |
| Wednesday 22nd December | 10:30am Coffee and Carols at St Andrew |
| Friday 24th December | 4pm Crib Service at St Thomas |
| 11:30pm Christmas Night Communion at St Thomas | |
| Saturday 25th December | 10am All Age Christmas Celebration at St Andrew |
| followed by Holy Communion | |
| Sunday 26th December | 10am Morning Prayer at St Thomas |
Christmas Nativity Trail
We’d love to have our church family add some Nativity cheer all around Northaw and Cuffley by decorating their windows with the story of the first Christmas. We’d then invite local families to see how many they could spot as they walked around the two villages, and use it as a way of connecting with our community. If you’d be interested in doing this, or to find out more, please get in touch with Anna (anna@kilgour.org.uk).
Memorial Tree
As part of our season decorations, one of the trees in St Andrew's is being set up as a memorial tree. We are going to make some blank paper stars available for anyone, if they would like, to write the name of someone they will be missing this Christmas. These will be collected together and put on the tree.
Praying during the week
Please can I encourage you, when possible, to stop at noon and spend a few minutes praying; we’ll email out possible areas for prayer each week. If you would like to make any suggestions, please email prayers@norcuff.com.
How to join us live
The website has the information on how to join our live services and virtual coffee. Do feel free to share the links to our services with friends and relatives; everyone is very welcome to join us, no matter where they are in the world.