St. Michael and All Angels Sandhurst
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December 2020 Services

For general information about the services at St Michaels please see the Services Overview page.

See also the Christmas Services page especially where "TICKETS NEEDED" is specified.

The 9.30am Parish Communion service is held in the church building, and is open to all to attend (subject to seating restrictions), and will also be live-streamed as shown below.

The 8.00am Communion Service is held in the church building.

​The 11.15am Family Service is held in the church building as advertised.
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Instructions for practical arrangements for services inside the church building are below. See also the video here. 
parish_communion_arrangements_from_5th_july.pdf
File Size: 229 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Live Streamed services may be accessed live or after the event via our Facebook Page        
  http://www.facebook.com/StMichaelsSandhurst
You do not need to have a Facebook account to watch this service.
​

Sunday 6 December
8.00am Holy Communion In church
​9.30am Parish Communion (Traditional) In church and live-streamed
"A Message Of Hope"
Isaiah 40:1-11
​Mark 1:1-8
mark_i_1_to_8_pt_2.pdf
File Size: 86 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Sunday 6 December 11.15am Family Service In Church
"Advent"
Sunday 6 December 6.30pm Contemplative Evening Prayer  
​In church and live-streamed
"Waiting In Hope"
  

Sunday 13 December
8.00am Holy Communion In church
​9.30am Parish Communion (Informal) In church and live-streamed
"A Message of Liberation"
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
​Luke 1:46-55
Sunday 13 December 4.15pm Christingle
​​In church (TICKETS NEEDED) and live-streamed

Sunday 20 December
8.00am Holy Communion In church
​9.30am Parish Communion (Reflective) In church and live-streamed
 "The Servant Of The Lord"
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
​Luke 1:26-38   You can read Rev John Castle's sermon below:
the_servant_of_the_lord__mary_.pdf
File Size: 289 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Sunday 20 December 7.00pm Carol Service
​In Church  (TICKETS NEEDED)

Thursday 24 December Christmas Eve
3.00pm Nativity Service
​
​​In church (TICKETS NEEDED) and live-streamed



​

Thursday 24 December Christmas Eve
7.00pm Carol Service
​
​​In church (TICKETS NEEDED) and live-streamed
Thursday 24 December Christmas Eve
11.30pm Midnight Mass
​
​​In church and live-streamed
"The Down To Earth God"
Isaiah 52:7-11
​John 1:1-14

Friday 25 December Christmas Day
8.00am Holy Communion In church
​9.30am Family Communion In church and live-streamed
"Finding The Saviour"
Titus 3:4-7 (8.00 only)
​Luke 2:1-20

Sunday 27 December
Due to a combination of circumstances including the new Tier 4, there will be some changes to the content of services this Sunday.
8.00am
Holy Communion with Reserved Sacrament, according to the Book of Common Prayer In church
​9.30am
Service of Ante-Communion, that is, the service will run pretty much as usual but without communion In church and live-streamed
"The Naming Of Jesus"
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:15-21
naming_of_jesus_st_michaels_27_12_20.pdf
File Size: 48 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


Hymns of the Month


This month, the link is Mary the mother of Jesus.

Tell Out My Soul
https://youtu.be/3E7QWLyDWe8

This hymn was written by Timothy Dudley-Smith OBE, and it paraphrases the Magnificat. The words are from Luke 1:46-55 which Mary says when she visits her cousin Elizabeth. The Magnificat is part of the Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer which is the service of Evensong and it is sung in several different settings by our choir, or by our choir and  congregation. Timothy Dudley-Smith’s father influenced his love of poetry.

Timothy Dudley-Smith says:
“I did not think of myself… as having in any way the gifts of a hymn-writer when in May 1961 I jotted down a set of verses, beginning ‘Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord.’ I was reading a review copy of the New English Bible New Testament, in which that line appears exactly as I have put it above; I saw in it the first line of a poem, and speedily wrote the rest.”

In the Bleak Midwinter
https://youtu.be/1OpTDiolMJI

In the Bleak Midwinter was written by Christina Georgiana Rossetti (1830-1894). Christina also wrote other religious poetry and devotional books. From age 16 she suffered from ill-health and she found solace in writing which helped her faith.

In the Bleak Midwinter was first published as a poem ‘A Christmas Carol’ in Scribner’s Monthly in January 1872 and appeared as a hymn in 1906 to the tune set by Gustav Holst (1874-1934). The hymn is full of imagery and reflection. Christina was not the only person to associate snow with Christ’s birth. John Milton (1608-1674), used this in his poem ‘On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity’ where the snow represents a pure layer hiding the sin of the world.

Two of Christina’s brothers (Dante Gabriel and William Michael) gave birth to the nineteenth century movement known as the Pre-Raphaelites, and Christina often served as a model especially for portraits of the Madonna (another name for Mary, the mother of Jesus). Christina also wrote ‘Love Came Down at Christmas’.