December 2019 Services
For general information about the services at St Michaels please see the Services Overview page.
See also "Hymns of the Month" at the bottom of this page.
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Sunday 1 December
Advent Sunday |
8.00am Holy Communion
9.30am Parish Communion (Traditional) 11.15am Family Service with Holy Communion 6.30pm Advent Celebration |
Topic & Readings (8.00 & 9.30)
"Stay Awake!" Isaiah 2:1-5 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44 Topic & Readings (11.15)
"Advent" Matthew 3:1-12 |
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Sunday 8 December
2nd of Advent |
8.00am Holy Communion
9.30am Parish Communion (Informal) NO Evening service (no ecumenical service) |
Topic & Readings (8.00 & 9.30)
"A Warning and an Invitation" Psalm 72:1-8,12-14,16-17 Matthew 3:1-12 |
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Sunday 15 December
3rd of Advent |
8.00am Holy Communion
9.30am Parish Communion (Reflective) 4.00pm Christingle |
Topic & Readings (8.00 & 9.30)
"A Promise of Restoration" Isaiah 35:1-10 Matthew 11:2-11 |
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Sunday 22 December
4th of Advent |
8.00am Holy Communion
9.30am Parish Communion (Community Feel) (NO Evening Service) |
Topic & Readings (8.00 & 9.30)
"Joseph's Story" Isaiah 7:10-16 Matthew 1:18-25 |
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Tuesday 24 December
Christmas Eve |
3.15pm Nativity Service
7.00pm Carol Service 11.30pm Midnight Mass |
Topic (7.00)
"Follow That Star" Readings (11.30)
Isaiah 60:1-6 Matthew 2:1-12 |
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Wednesday 25 December
Christmas Day |
8.00am Holy Communion
9.30am Family Communion |
Topic & Readings
"The Birth of Jesus" Isaiah 9:2-7 Luke 2:1-20 |
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Sunday 29 December
1st Sunday of Christmas |
8.00am Holy Communion
9.30am Parish Communion (Traditional) (NO Evening Service) |
Topic & Readings (8.00 & 9.30)
"Victims and Refugees" Isaiah 63:7-9 Matthew 2:13-23 |
Hymns of the Month
This month, the link for the two hymns is the composer of the tune: Arthur Sullivan who spent some time at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as a child. There is a plaque to Arthur Sullivan on the wall of the MacDonalds building on the A30 in Camberley.
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
It came upon the midnight clear focuses on Luke 2:14, the song of the Angels. It was written by Edmund Hamilton Sears in the decade leading up to the American Civil war and during a time where the US was at war with Mexico and revolution in Europe. In addition, he had recently suffered from a breakdown. Sears struggled with the world which he saw as dark and “full of sin and strife” especially as he didn’t see people hearing the Christian message. The troubled context found in the song was inspired by the turbulent times in which he lived.
The words are taken from a poem which was written by Sears a dozen years earlier called “Calm of the Listening Ear”. At the request of his friend Rev. William Parsons Lunt, Sears revised his poem into the now familiar carol.
Depending if you are in Britain or America will depend on which tune this carol is sung to. Americans use “Carol” which was written (a year after the Carol was written and first sung), by Richard Storrs Willis a student of Felix Mendelssohn. In Britain, we use the tune "Noel" which was adapted by Arthur Sullivan from an English melody in 1874.
The words are taken from a poem which was written by Sears a dozen years earlier called “Calm of the Listening Ear”. At the request of his friend Rev. William Parsons Lunt, Sears revised his poem into the now familiar carol.
Depending if you are in Britain or America will depend on which tune this carol is sung to. Americans use “Carol” which was written (a year after the Carol was written and first sung), by Richard Storrs Willis a student of Felix Mendelssohn. In Britain, we use the tune "Noel" which was adapted by Arthur Sullivan from an English melody in 1874.
Onward Christian Soldiers
This hymn was written by Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould when he was a curate and had the responsibility of organising the hymns that would be sung by Sunday School children on Whit-Monday where the children would walk around the parish, in Horbury, a village in Yorkshire just outside Wakefield. He wanted something for them to sing and while there were several good tunes available that they would know, he didn’t like the words that accompanied them so he wrote them. The tune that is now used was composed by Arthur Sullivan.