Monthly Archives: December 2014

From Rev Iain Baxter, All Saints Chiang Mai

 Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at All Saints

Dear Friends,

We had wonderful services over the Christmas period. The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, and highlights of the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, can be seen on our website’s Audio-Visual Page.  We also had a great service on Christmas morning and again last Sunday. Thirteen of us stayed to share lunch together on Christmas day!

It has been great to celebrate together this Christmas season, and we have one more service.  This Sunday, 4th January, we will mark the Feast of Epiphany, and then it will be time to take down our Christmas decorations for another year.

This week’s readings are from Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:1-12, and Matthew 2:1-12, and we will be singing We Three Kings of Orient Are, The First Nowell, As With Gladness Men of Old, and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!  You can find the readings via this link.

Our sermon will look at the visit of the Wise Men to Jesus!

Video and audio of our major services can be found on the Audio-Visual page of the All Saints website and as always, directions can be found on the Where and When page.  Most people get to hear about us via the internet or by word of mouth, so please feel free to pass on this email to others.

All are welcome to join us as we finish our celebration of the coming of Christ at Christmas!  We hope to see you soon and that you will enjoy worshiping with us,

God bless, and Happy New Year!

Iain

From Rev Iain Baxter, All Saints Chiang Mai

 Christmas Services at All Saints:

Sunday 21st December
11 am Morning Eucharist for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

5 pm Carols by Candlelight – A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

Wednesday 24th December – Christmas Eve 11:30 pm Midnight Mass
Thursday 25th December – Christmas Day  11 am Christmas Family Eucharist

Dear Friends,

Christmas is finally upon us.  This Sunday we have our, much anticipated, Carols by Candlelight, consisting of a traditional Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.  This form of service began at Kings College, Cambridge, in 1918, and has been broadcast by the BBC since 1928.

Our service is this Sunday at 5pm, while the Cambridge version can be heard in Thailand on Christmas Eve at 10pm via this link,  We may not be quite the standard of King’s College – they have had more practice – but you can join us live on Sunday as we celebrate the beginning of the Christmas Season.

The readings will tell the ancient story of Christmas, and we will be singing Once in Royal David’s City, Ding Dong Merrily on High, In the Bleak Midwinter, Away in a Manger, The First Nowell, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing!  The choir will also be singing Adam Lay Y Bounden, The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came, andThe Coventry Carol.  Light refreshments will follow the service.

We will gather again for Midnight Mass at 11:30 pm on Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas Day at 11 am. The Christmas Day service will be followed by a pot-luck and fun activities in the afternoon – nobody needs to be alone this Christmas.  There will be games, music, and a Christmas movie!  Our time together will end around 5pm.

For this Fourth Sunday in Advent, our morning readings are 2 Samuel 7:1-11, Romans 16:25-27, and Luke 1:26-38, and we will be singing the hymns O Come All Ye Faithful, Let all Mortal Flesh keep Silent, O Little Town of Bethlehem, andJoy to the World!  You can find the readings via this link.

Our sermon will be reflecting on Jesus’ incarnation among us!
Video and audio of our major services can be found on the Audio-Visual page of the All Saints website and as always, directions can be found on the Where and When page.  Most people get to hear about us via the internet or by word of mouth, so please feel free to pass on this email to others.
All are welcome to join us as we celebrate the Christ of Christmas!  We hope to see you soon and that you will enjoy worshiping with us,
Merry Christmas,
God bless,

Iain

From Rev Iain Baxter, All Saints Chiang Mai

Dear Friends,

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We are now in “Sweet December”, as many of my Burmese friends call it!  Christmas will soon be upon us.  Last Sunday we celebrated the First Sunday of Advent, with a congregation of twenty-six people, including nine children – our church is growing and changing.   After worship, we decorated the Church and put up our Christmas tree.  Mince pies and other delicious snacks were shared, as we hung swathes of greenery to the accompaniment of Christmas music.

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Please put our Carols by Candlelight service in your diaries: at 5pm on Sunday 21st December we will gather for a traditional Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.  We will also have a Midnight Mass beginning at 11:30 on Christmas Eve, and a Christmas Morning Service at 11am on Christmas Day.

We need people to distribute posters advertising our Christmas Events.  Do you know somewhere that a poster could be  displayed?  You can pick them up from church on Sunday, or copy them from the Where and When page on the All Saints website.  Right click on the posters and choose “save as…”

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Meanwhile, for the Second Sunday of Advent, our readings will be Isaiah 40:1-11, 2 Peter 3:8-15, and Mark 1:1-8, and we will be singing the hymns O Come O Come Emmanuel, Down by the Jordan, Jesus comes with Clouds Descending, and Come Thou  long expected Jesus. You can find the readings via this link.  Our sermon will be reflecting on the words of John the Baptist: Behold the Lamb of God!

Video and audio of our major services can be found on the Audio-Visual page of the All Saints website and as always, directions can be found on the Where and When page.  Most people get to hear about us via the internet or by word of mouth, so please feel free to pass on this email to others.

All are welcome to join us as we share the presence of the risen Jesus in our lives!  We hope to see you soon and that you will enjoy worshiping with us,

God bless and Happy Advent,

Iain