St Mary’s : Church Diary Mon - Sat (except Bank Holidays): 8.30 am Morning Prayer th Mon 10 Dec 7.00 pm Farlington Senior School Carol Service Tues 11th Dec 7.00 pm Millais School Carol Service Wed 12th Dec 10.00 am Holy Communion (In St Peter’s Chapel, Church Centre) Thurs 13th Dec 10.00 am Holy Communion in St Peter’s Chapel, Church Centre (followed by coffee with Christmas Carols entertainment from QE11 School) 2.00 pm Arunside Primary School Carol Service 5.00 pm Handcross Park School Carol Service 7.00 pm St Mary’s School Christingle Service Fri 14th Dec 10.00 am Little Footprints Christmas Toddler Praise 11.00 am Holy Communion (at Horsham Hospital) 1.15 pm St Mary’s Pre-School Carol Service 6.30 pm SANDS Christmas Memorial Service Sat 15th Dec 16.30pm Tapiola Piano School Christmas Carol Concert SUNDAY 16th Dec 8.00 am Holy Communion 3rd Sunday of 9.30 am Parish Communion (with the Lighthouse Advent Children’s Club) 6.30 pm Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols St Mary’s : For our Prayers Sunday Intercessions & Prayer Focus for each day this week In 2018 St Mary's is supporting in the wider world: World Vision & Teach Beyond In the UK & Sussex we are supporting: HCT Projects & Anchor Ministries In Horsham we are supporting the Horsham Churches Together Projects; Anchor Counselling & Therapy. For more information on these organisations please see the Serving and Transforming the Community noticeboard at the back of church. At St. Mary’s – Our Buildings, Finance & Administration The Wider World: We pray for all who have accepted responsibilities as volunteers in the night shelter this winter. Please help them to carry out their duties willingly and with good humour, and to show God’s love to their guests. Special Daily Prayer Topics Monday Our Church Office Team Tuesday Our Church Leadership Team (PCC, Church Council, Mission Action teams etc.) Wednesday Care of our Buildings (Churchwardens, Verger, Friends, Maintenance work) Thursday Our sister churches in the Parish, Horsham Churches Together, Deanery/Diocese Friday Our Treasurer, stewardship and fundraising teams. Saturday Our Bellringers, Flower arrangers, Church cleaners etc. 9th Dec 2018 2nd SUNDAY OF ADVENT Welcome to St. Mary’s! Especially if this is your first visit – we hope you will enjoy the service. If you are new to us please pick up information about all that St. Mary’s offers from the Welcome Table near the Church door. Members of the welcome team will of course be delighted to answer any questions you may have. We hope you will be able to stay after the 9.30 service, and join us for a cup of coffee. Please do introduce yourself to one of the clergy or a member of the welcome team, who would love the chance to get to know you better. To find out MUCH MORE about life at St. Mary’s please visit www.stmaryshorsham.org.uk (or contact the Church Office on 01403 253762) Today at St Mary’s 8.00 am Holy Communion (Reading Philippians 1.3-11 & Luke 3.1-6) 9.30 am Parish Communion (with the Lighthouse Children’s Club) 11.30 am Kairos (informal service for children and their families) 5.00 pm Horsham District Council Carol Service – all welcome This Christmas at St Mary’s Key services and events are: Sunday 16th December - 6.30 pm Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols and then Sun 23rd December: 2.30pm – 3.30pm Family Nativity Craft Party in the Church Centre and 4.00 pm Candlelight Service and Blessing of the Crib; Mon 24th December - Christmas Eve - 4.00 pm Candlelight Service and Blessing of the Crib and 11.15 pm The Midnight Mass; Tues 25th December - Christmas Day: 8.00 am Holy Communion (Traditional Service with Carols) and 9.30 am Christmas Celebration Communion for all the family. 5pm Sun 6th Jan 2019: Epiphany Carol Service. St Mary’s Church Family News This Week Ongoing Prayer 2019 Please continue to pray for the future of all at St Mary’s as we seek God’s calling and guidance through the coming year – we have produced a prayer card that you may wish to use to support your daily prayers which are handed out in services today and available at the back of the church and from the church office… TODAY St Mary’s Christmas Card Delivery – please would you take a bundle or two and deliver our church Christmas cards to all the homes in the streets in our part of the parish? They are laid out at the back of church, along with map showing where the roads are. Thankyou so much for your help in this outreach to our town. TONIGHT Sunday 9th Dec 5pm: Horsham District Council Carol Service - All are welcome to join us for a joyful service of traditional carols and musical items - children from St Mary's Primary School, Members of the Sussex Youth Orchestra, St Mary's Choir and we have internationally known musician, Andrew Bernardi taking part in the service. The Bishop of Horsham will be delivering the address. As well as celebrating the message of Christmas, this will be the inaugural event of Horsham District Council's Year of Culture 2019. TONIGHT Café Connect: Sunday 9th Dec 18:15-19:45 in the Leslie Room – our monthly parish youth café for 11-18 year olds. Each month we hear and discuss an engaging biblical message from a guest speaker while enjoying great food (normally pizza!) and hanging out with friends from around the parish. Very relaxed - if you’ve never been before just pitch up! Wed 12th Dec 10am Holy Communion Service will take place in St Peter’s Chapel in the Church Centre (because of the rehearsals for Christmas Carol services happening in the church building). Thursday 13th Dec 10.30 am: QE11 School are coming to sing for us at the Informal coffee morning in the church centre – please do join us – the more the merrier! These coffee mornings follow on from a simple Eucharist (in St Peter’s Chapel in the church centre) at 10.00am to which all are welcome and are held on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays in the month. Next date is 10th Jan 2019. SANDS( Stillbirth and Neonatal death charity) will hold their Christmas remembrance service for all affected by the death of a baby on the 14th December from 6pm, service starts at 6.30pm in St Mary’s Church. If you would like your child’s name to be read out during the service, we will invite you to write their name when you enter the church before you take your seat. Contact [email protected] for general queries or if you would like to reach out to us for support please email [email protected] Sat 15th Dec Horsham Churches Together Nativity Trail and Carols. Children’s Musical nativity with Little Notes, Nativity Trail, Christmas Concert and Carols Service. Please contact Rosemary Couchman, HCT Development Co-ordinator, on 07566 202741 or [email protected] if you can help. YMCA Community Christmas Fayre – Saturday, 15th December 11am-4pm, Y Centre, Albion Way, Horsham - Craft Stalls, Hot Food & Refreshments, Home-made Produce, Kids Craft Corner, Tombola, Face Painting and More. Stalls available at £10 per table. Contact [email protected] or call 01403 213 413 for details. Coming soon Sunday 30th Dec at 11.00am here at St Mary’s: NEW YEAR'S EVE UNITED SERVICE. Come and join together with members of all our Churches in Horsham Team Parish, in one joint service for all ages - as we share Communion and covenant to serve God together during 2019, our "Year of Vocation". (NB No other services at St Mary’s that Sunday) H.O.P.E. Parish Prayer Evening 7.30-9pm Jan 7th at St John’s, Broadbridge Heath (Horsham Open Prayer Evening) We are encouraged to join with members of our 3 sister churches in Horsham Parish, in making this monthly prayer meeting a priority in our diaries. St Mary’s Book Club are reading two books this month: “Phoebe” by Paula Gooder, an imaginative narrative about Phoebe mentioned in Romans 16: 1-2 who delivers Paul’s letter to the Romans, and “Have a little Faith” by Mitch Albon. Next meeting Thursday 10th January, St Peter’s Chapel. All welcome. Just let the Church Office know. FOR YOUR INFORMATION During the current interregnum at St Mary's, Bishop Martin has asked Revd Bernard Sinton to act as Interim Rector during the vacancy . Bernard has worked in the Parish since 1990 and was our first SSM (Self Supporting Minister). He is based at Holy Trinity Church. Since retiring from a full time secular job, he has acted as Interim Minister during vacancies in Warnham, West Grinstead and Partridge Green and has just finished at Sullington and Thakeham with Warminghurst. Bernard's wife is the vicar of Shipley. Bernard can be contacted by post to the St Mary’s church office or by direct phone on 01403 741238 or by email [email protected] St Mary's Choir cake sale - A big thank you to all who helped and supported our cake sale last Sunday, we made £200 which is a great result and will go towards our Choir funds. Horsham FoodBank : Thankyou to everyone who donated Christmas items for the foodbank. These are now being distributed. Please continue to support the food bank with donations of long life and tinned items (there is a box at the back of church for donations).