Our Christingle Service

Hello!

This morning we had a Little Rocks Family Christingle Service as today is Candlemas, and officially the last day of Christmas in the Church calendar.

Christingle is a custom that originated in the Monrovian church in 1747 and the word Christingle means Christ Light.

After our first hymn, Reverend Gregg asked a member of the congregation to light the large Paschal Candle - this reminded everyone of their baptism as this candle is always lit on these occasions.

This year we were able to make our own Christingles, and we were helped by our parents, Ann and Helen. We collected an orange, a candle and some red tape from one table, and then moved to another table where there were cocktail sticks, raisins and sweets so we could complete our Christingles. Here are some of our members making their Christingles:

Reverend Gregg had asked some of the grown ups who didn't want to make Christingles if they would help to pack away the Nativity Scenes so the Church was very busy! Organist John played some lovely music to help everyone get through their jobs!

When everyone had returned to their pews, Reverend Gregg gave a short talk about the meaning of Christingles. He did ask some of the grown ups what each part of our Christingles represented!

The orange represents the world and the candle is for Jesus who is the light of the world. The cocktail sticks represent the four seasons, which bear the fruits of the earth (the raisins and sweets). The red tape around each orange represents the blood of Christ who shares in the suffering of the world.

Before our prayers, Reverend Gregg and Ellie lit the Christingle candles for the people in the front of the church. They then lit the candles of the people next to the and behind them and, slowly but surely, Christingles all around the church were shining brightly!

During our prayers, we remembered the work of The Children's Society and asked Jesus to help them continue their work with every child they meet, particularly those living in families who are struggling to make ends meet, and our collection today is being sent to help The Children's Society continue this good work.

For our final hymn the lights in the church were turned off and our Christingles were shining with Jesus' light.

For the blessing, Reverend Gregg asked us all to take our Christingles home and leave them lit on a windowsill, taking the light of Jesus into the world as a sign of a new beginning, a new hope, and a new commitment to improve the life of suffering children.

See you next time!

The Little Rocks Leaders