DAVENPORT METHODIST CHURCH NOTICE SHEET
Worship for Sunday 22nd December
Our Worship will be led by Rev’d Paul Brewerton. The Steward on duty will be Robin Squelch.
All We Can Extraordinary Gifts.
We will be having a retiring collection during Advent so that we can buy some Extraordinary Gifts again this year. Please take an envelope from the porch if you would like to contribute to this.
Used postage stamps
A reminder from Lynda to please bring your used postage stamps to church. There is a round box in the porch for you to put them in or you can give them straight to Lynda.
Leaving Service for Rev’d Cathy Bird.
This will take place on Thursday 19th December at Hazel Grove Methodist Church. 6pm Refreshments 7pm service. The preacher will be Rev’d Ian Rutherford from Methodist Central Hall in Manchester.
Saturday 21st Carols around the Christmas Tree at the end of Kennerley Road, joining with St. Georges.
Christingle Service. Tuesday 24th December at 3pm.led by Raj.
Also on Tuesday 24th there will be a Midnight Christmas Communion Service at Dialstone Lane Church, the service starts as 11.30pm.
Christmas Day Service at 9.30am led by Rev’d Raj Patta. Traditionally we have a collection on Christmas Day which is divided between Action for Children and Methodist Homes.
Sunday 29th December 4.00pm. Food and Fellowship Service.
Please note there will not be a morning service on this day. The idea is that we all bring something to eat, if possible something beginning with the first letter of our name. It would be good to know how many people are hoping to come. Please put your name on the list in the porch this Sunday if you are coming. Raj will lead the worship and Eric is the steward on duty.
Vishala Hrudayam,
A Methodist Fellowship of Telugu Christians in Greater Manchester where Raj is also Minister are inviting us to a Watch Night Covenant Service on Tuesday 31st December at 10.30pm at The Village Methodist Church, Northenden Road, Sale Moor Manchester M33 2PP.
It is with much sadness that we have to announce the death of Olive Gosling. Olive had almost reached her 102nd birthday, she was a founder member at Davenport. We give thanks for her life and witness and all that she meant to us. Her Funeral Service will be at Davenport on the 13th January at 12pm followed by a service at Stockport Crematorium at 1pm. Afterwards the family will be coming back to Davenport for refreshments.
The Methodist Church’s Advent and Christmas campaign for 2024, ‘Hush the noise: Join the love song this Christmas' is based on the popular carol It came upon the midnight clear. Since Christmas generally is loud with so many expectations, one of the objectives is to hush the noise and listen to the love song that the angels sang some 2000 years ago. This hymn captures the meaning and relevance of Christmas across the generations, and has drawn me to reflect deeply on its significance.
To being with, is this hymn really a Christmas carol? Why do I ask this question? Well, this hymn finds its place in all the hymnals in Christmas section, and in Singing the Faith, this hymn is under the title ‘The incarnate Christ: Christmas.’ But, I notice that there is neither a mention of God nor the birth of Christ in this hymn. The only reference to the story of Christmas in this hymn is when the angels came to shepherds singing ‘peace on earth and good will to all people’. The theme of the angelic choir is interwoven into the writer’s context, and for that very reason it qualifies to be a Christmas carol. This is a peace song and a love song that the world today is sorely in need of.
When this hymn was translated into my native language Telugu, the translator (a Christian missionary who learnt Telugu) Bernard Lucas changed the first line to ‘the night the saviour was born.’ For Lucas, the hymn looked very secular and it was in order to make it more Christmassy he made this interpretative change – he ‘Christmasised’ the hymn into our local context. Ever since then it has been one of our favourite carols in Telugu.
The hymn was published on 29th December 1849 in response to the Mexico-US war. Edmund Hamilton Sears’ public theology is best understood by seeing the angelic choir’s ‘peace on earth’ against the scrouge of war, which dominated his times and his public sphere. Sears explains his context with multiple phrases: a ‘weary world,’ ‘on sad and lowly plains,’ ‘a space of babel sounds,’ ‘woes of sin and strife,’ ‘the world has suffered long,’ ‘man at war with man,’ and ‘men of strife.’ On the one hand the context was dominated by war and on the other hand there was poverty and slavery and Sears found meaning in the angelic choir’s song of peace relevant to his context. I also reckon that after celebrating Christmas in 1849, Sears wanted to continue message into the rest of the year and into everyday life situations, for Christmas is relevant throughout the year not just on the Christmas day.
Sears shares the story of the angelic choir who bend near the earth to bring good tidings of great joy to all people and that the world is longing for peace. In stillness the suffering world is waiting to hear the angels sing that heavenly peace. The blessed angels’ song brings music in the midst of the cacophony of Babel sounds. Sears also explains that the reason that the world is not able to hear the angelic love song is because of ‘man at war with man’, and so invites us to ‘hush the noise’ to hear the angels sing. The best part for me in this hymn is the words of hope in the final verse, where the new heaven and new earth as foretold shall come owning the Prince of Peace as king, then the world will repeat the song which the angels now sing.
The God of It came upon the midnight clear is a God of peace and justice, sending angels to sing and strive for peace on earth, offering goodwill to all of creation. In our attempt to hush the noise, we are invited to repeat with the angels singing ‘peace on earth and goodwill to all God’s creation’ and strive towards peace in this world filled with wars, conflict, poverty, slavery, exclusion and hatred. And those that work as peace makers are the angels today, those carolling peace in action are the angels in our midst.
The God of It came upon the midnight clear also invites us to acknowledge that Christmas is not the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ, which we as Christians commemorate year after year, but Christmas is an opportunity to recognise that Jesus Christ is being born every day into our contexts offering hope, peace, joy and love. This hymn proclaims that Christmas is not just a thing of the past, but is an event in the present where God in Jesus is taking birth the rubbles and troubles of the world and more specifically in today’s contexts of poverty, exploitation and marginalisation. The story of Christmas is very radical, unsettling the very idea of God who reigns from the realms of transcendence. Instead, God came down to pitch God’s sanctuary among creation, being born as a poor baby, born in a manger as there is no place in the inn, and then having to flee as a child refugee. May we as church also be willing to pitch our tents among communities offering a place of sanctuary by sharing the love of Christ with people around us. This hymn offers a challenge to 21st century Christians of to be bold and creative in singing the faith creatively and relevantly for our times in the public sphere. Sears responded to the story of Christmas by offering a song of peace for the world. What is our new song this Christmas in response to the signs of our times today?
