Tag: christingle

Songs for advent and Christmas

advent, all age, children's ministry, christingle, christmas, church resources, hymns, worship

Here are all the songs I’ve written for:
– The Lighting of the Advent Wreath
– Christingle (whenever it’s held)
– Advent generally
– Christmas

We’ll kindle a flame (Tune: Colours of Day) – for Christingles held in Advent

Jesus, you’re coming, bringing the love
That draws the earth near to heaven above,
We’ll wait as the darkness covers the earth,
And long for the joy of remembering your birth.

We’ll kindle a flame to shine through the night,
Living our lives to shine with your light,
And sharing your love in all that we do,
your wonderful story is our story too.

Fruit of the seasons, blessings to share,
This wondrous creation placed in our care,
The city and forest, ocean and land,
The whole world is treasured in God’s gentle hand.

We’ll kindle a flame to shine through the night,
Living our lives to shine with your light,
And sharing your love in all that we do,
your wonderful story is our story too. 

Love like a circle, love never ends,
The love of a God who calls us your friends,
A love without price, a free gift of grace,
That holds all the world in a heavenly embrace.

We’ll kindle a flame to shine through the night,
Living our lives to shine with your light,
And sharing your love in all that we do,
Your wonderful story is our story too. 

An extra verse to ‘This little light of mine’ for use with the sparkly Christingle talk:

When I am feeling dull and grey,
and sunshine seems so far away,
when I don’t know quite where to start,
I remember the stardust in my heart:
all it needs is a tiny spark
to get me shining in the dark,
So Jesus, give me your fire divine
to let my little light shine!

Advent Wreath Song (to the tune ‘Father we place into your hands’)

Mothers and fathers of the faith, who lived in times of old,
Leaders and judges, kings and queens were faithful, true and bold,
Travelers, heroes, shepherds, all with stories to be told:
Still they show us how to follow you.

Prophets and seers who spoke the truth in answer to your call,
finding new ways to bring your word to people great and small,
living their lives to show your love was meant for one and all,
still they show us how to follow you.

John, in the desert calling out, ‘The Kingdom has come near.’
‘Come and repent, and be baptised, there’s nothing then to fear.’
‘Jesus is coming now, the One you’re waiting for is here.’
Still he shows us how to follow you.

Mother of Jesus, angels called her favoured, full of grace,
Holding the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, in her embrace,
She is the one whose ‘yes’ helped God to save the human race,
still she shows us how to follow you.

And this last verse, for Christmas day, is by my friend and colleague Gill Robertson:

Jesus our Saviour, born a king, we welcome you today,
Lord of all time, Immanuel, with joyful hearts we say:
You are the Christ who came to earth for us; and now we pray,
Help us all to daily follow you.

Advent Sunday song (Tune: Sing hosanna)

There’s a story to tell of creation,
And the patriarchs’ faith of old,
There are stories of prophets and sages,
We’ll repeat them ‘til the world’s been told:

Sing together! sing together!
Sing to welcome in the King of Kings.
Sing together! Sing together!
Sing to welcome in the King.

There are stories of sin and forgiveness,
Of a Kingdom of truth and love.
Of a girl who gave birth to a baby,
To fulfil God’s promise from above:

As God’s people prepare for his coming,
And remember those days long gone,
Our own stories are yet to be written,
As we live to make God’s kingdom come:

We will patiently wait for the morning,
Through the night we will watch and pray,
As we look for the light that is dawning,
We’ll be ready at the break of day:

Advent Hymn (Tune: Picardy)

Longing for a hope-filled morning,
Kingdom of the Son, draw near!
Waiting for the day soon dawning,
Light of love that casts out fear.
Dayspring, come from heav’n, in lowly birth,
Come to warm this cold, dark earth.

Sorrow through the world is sweeping,
Bitter conflict rages still,
Heaven hears its children weeping:
cost of humankind’s freewill.
Come, O Price* of Peace, in lowly birth,
Come to mend this broken earth.

Pattern of the world’s salvation,
God and human side by side.
Colour, language, creed or nation,
No more should the world divide:
Come, Emmanuel, in lowly birth,
Show how heav’n embraces earth.

*This word started off as a typo, but I quite like it, as it echoes the ‘cost’ of the previous line…  If you use the hymn, you can choose whether to use Price or Prince

Little baby (Tune: The Sugar Plum Fairy)

Little baby, sweetly slumbering,
Cradled and cuddled in Mary’s loving arms.
In the sky are angels gathering,
but for now, here below, all is still and calm.

Little baby, our Emmanuel,
God with us, one of us, born to be our king.
Little baby, while you slumber,
Far above you angels sing.

We know you came to save us all…
But how can God become so small…?
For God so loved all he had made
He sent his Son the world to save……

Little baby…

Here we are giving (Tune: Bunessan) – Christingle song for Christmas/Epiphany

Here we are giving
Out of our plenty,
Fruit of thanksgiving,
Tribute of love.
Hearts overflowing
Cannot stand empty
Constantly growing
With grace from above.

Gathered as one, and
Thankfully bringing
All that we are and
All that we do.
Serving and caring,
Praying and singing,
Building and sharing,
Offered to you.

Love beyond measure,
Total compassion,
We are your treasure,
Wonderfully giv’n.
Made in your likeness,
Imaged and fashioned,
Life that is priceless,
Valued by heaven.

Star of wonder (Tune: Sing Hosanna) – Christingle song for Epiphany

We give gold for a king, keep us serving,
We give gold for a king today,
As we give, it is Christ we are serving,
We’ll keep serving Jesus every day.

Star of wonder! Lead us onwards,
Show the way to find the world’s true light.
Star of wonder! Lead us onwards,
Shine around us through the night.

We bring incense today, keep us praying,
We bring incense to him today.
For the needs of the world, keep us praying.
Keep us praying to him every day.

Star of wonder…

We bring myrrh to remember his passion,
As he shared in his people’s pain,
In our lives we will show his compassion,
As we live for Jesus every day.

Star of wonder…

Hope for God’s world (Tune: Favourite Things) – Christingle song for Candlemas

Earth is so small
in the whole of creation,
Continents, oceans
And each unique nation,
Cultures and languages,
All so diverse,
All on one planet
In one universe!

Thanks be to God
For a million reasons,
Food on our plates
From the fruit of the seasons,
All that we have
Is a gift from above,
Plenty for all
if we share it with love.

Light of the world
For a people in sorrow,
Faith that can give us
Real hope for tomorrow,
Since on the cross
Jesus bore the world’s pain,
Bringing new life
At his rising again:

When the world seems
Full of trouble,
God will hear our prayer:
Our mission is living as lights in the world
for everyone everywhere!

Unlikely combinations…

christingle, christmas, church resources, random thoughts

Many of you will have read my ‘Sparkly Christingle Talk‘ suggestion – and by the sounds of it, many of you have tried it and enjoyed it in your own parishes. How do we know you actually tried it rather than just liked the idea?  Because it turns out that now, when you order iron powder from Amazon.co.uk, you are automatically prompted also to purchase a 2014-15 lectionary,a book on women bishops, a Lent book, Emma Percy’s book on ministry and motherhood, and half a dozen creative worship books!

So now I have a new challenge: find another very ordinary but also somewhat ‘niche’ product and use it in a way to share the gospel so that it become forever associated on Amazon with church supplies and Christian books.  Watch this space…

A sparkly christingle talk!

children's ministry, church resources, Other cool stuff

How about this for a sparkly way of looking at the Light and the World:

You will need:
Christingles for everyone, and the means to light them
A small vial of iron powder – you can buy this online.  Use powder rather then iron filings. 

Start with your vial of iron powder – show it, sprinkle some between your fingers, back into the container. Explain what it is – it looks just like dust. In fact, it’s what the earth’s core is made of. It’s the most common element in our planet. It’s earth-dust, nothing more; we might remember that the Bible tells of God making the first human being from dust.  You can’t get anything more earthy than this. It’s grey and dull, really. It doesn’t look like anything special. It doesn’t look like it’s going to do anything cool.  Not on its own, anyway.

But look what happens when we introduce the dust of the earth to the light of the world. (Light your own Christingle at this point, dim the lights, and carefully sprinkle some of the iron powder into the flame – it’s worth practicing before the service so you get the right amount – the iron should turn to bright orange sparks, clearly visible in a dark church.  You may need to get someone to hold your christingle for you so you have your hands free to do the sprinkling).

The dust of the earth comes alive when it touches the light of Christ – Jesus came into the world to bring it to life, to bring energy and joy to places that were grey and lifeless.  When Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world’ he meant that he was bringing the light of heaven right into the midst of earth’s darkness.  When he said ‘you are the light of the world’ he meant that he could transform our dull dustiness into bright shining sparks of God’s love in the world!

At this service, we turn from dust to sparkles! The light of Jesus is with us, and is bringing us to life, so that we can bring his light and life to the dark places of this world – that’s our life’s work, and we do it in the transforming love and power of Jesus.  So shine as lights in the world to the glory of God the Father!

As an added bonus, here’s an extra verse you can add to This Little Light of Mine, that reflects the message of the iron powder talk:

When I am feeling dull and grey,
and sunshine seems so far away,
when I don’t know quite where to start,
I remember the stardust in my heart:
all it needs is a tiny spark
to get me shining in the dark,
So Jesus, give me your fire divine
to let my little light shine!