Christmas Cheer… Thank you to everyone who delivered the beautiful Christmas card from the churches to every home and business in the villages. Thank you to our flower arrangers and decorators and church cleaners. Thank you too to everyone who will help our churches welcome all our community, to our wardens, musicians and all behind the scenes who give so much. Much appreciated.
Christmas Hospitality Cleeve Lodge would like to welcome residents, families, friends and the local community to their Christmas activities. Further details can be found here. Cleeve Lodge are also opening on Christmas Day to anyone that may be on their own or unable to cook a Christmas meal for themselves. Please contact them at management@cleevelodge.co.uk to book. Also Dee Singleton is organising a welcome cup of tea and perhaps a piece of cake, in the Community Centre, Station Road to anyone who would like a leg stretch and to pop in on 24th or 25th December in the afternoon.
This week we are asked to pray:
Prayers for the week Thank you to Judith for this week’s prayers. Heavenly Father, as we prepare to remember and celebrate the birth of your son, Jesus, our Redeemer, we look forward in this season of Advent to his coming again in glory. Help us to be prepared for that day, watching and praying for our fallen world, and working to bring your Kingdom in. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Loving God, we pray for all the war-torn areas in the world today. We thank you for the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and pray that it will become permanent. We pray for an end to the violence between Russia and Ukraine, between the warring factions in the Sudan and in Myanmar, and everywhere where there is conflict. Please change the hearts of those who seek only power at any cost and bless and protect all those who are working towards peace. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Merciful Lord, we pray for our church, the Church of England, and ask you to bless Dame Sarah Mullally in her new role as Archbishop of Canterbury. Please bless all Christian denominations and help us to draw closer together, recognising that we are united in our love for Jesus as our Saviour. Thank you for the ecumenical Advent groups which have been meeting this month. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Loving Father, we pray for the churches in our Benefice. Please bless all those who help to make our services run smoothly: our churchwardens, our organists and choirs, the flower arrangers, the welcomers and those who provide refreshments. Oversee our plans for the Christmas season and inspire our Ministry Team, especially those who are preaching, so that all who come to our services will hear God’s message of new life in Christ Jesus and respond in their hearts. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Gracious Lord, please bless and protect our mission partners, Steve and Lindsay and their baby daughter Elizabeth, as they continue their work in Honduras. Thank you for the success they have had with some of the young people they have nurtured and help them to overcome any difficulties they are facing at the present time. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Father, help us to recognise the people in our villages who are lonely and show us how we can reach out to them. We thank you for those who run the Drop-in, the Lunch Club and Pick-a-Flick. Make us aware of those who will be alone at Christmas time and help us to include them in our celebrations. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Merciful Father, please bless and heal all those we know who are sick at this time. Show us how we can support them and grant that they will feel your presence with them. We pray also for those who have recently lost loved ones and ask you to comfort them. Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.