Category Archives: Christmas

Worship for New Year 2025

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We look forward to the next of the church winter seasons, called Epiphany, which follows Christmas. A little background to the seasons and festivals follows below the worship pattern.

Services at St Peter’s Church Langton, St Andrew’s Tur Langton and St Leonard’s, Thorpe Langton

JANUARY AND FEBRUARY SERVICES

JANUARY
5th No Service
12th 10.30am Church Langton Holy Communion, Martin Hathaway
12th 4.30pm Tur Langton Family Service Jonathan Dowman
19th 10.30am Tur Langton All Age Worship Maxine Johnson
26th 10.30am Church Langton Holy Communion, Martin Hathaway

FEBRUARY
2nd 6.00pm Thorpe Langton Holy Communion, Candlemas Martin Hathaway
9th 4.30pm Tur Langton Family Service, Jonathan Dowman
9th 10.30am Church Langton Holy Communion, Martin Hathaway
16th 10.30am Tur Langton Holy Communion, Martin Hathaway
23rd 10.30am Church Langton Holy Communion, Martin Hathaway

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We hope you can join us for these services but also wish our friends and followers here who live further away, a very peaceful, prosperous and healthy 2025.

The Church Winter Seasons and Festivals

Background INFORMATION

Christmas follows Advent and is the season that begins on December 25th. 

Twelfth Days The 12 days between Christmas Day and January 5th, also known as Epiphany Eve. Shakespeare’s play, ‘Twelfth Night Or What You Will’ celebrates this special evening and last day of Christmas. Shakespeare wrote the play as a Twelfth Night entertainment around 1601–1602.

Epiphany The feast of Epiphany is celebrated on January 6th, and is also known as “Three Kings’ Day”. Many countries, including Spain, Italy and Mexico, celebrate the giving of Christmas gifts on King’s Day, (El Día de los Reyes) in recognition of the time when the Wise Men traveled from the East and brought gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

Woolly Nativity of St Peter's Church, shows the knitted figures of the Christmas story against a painted backdrop with the animals in the stable and views beyond to Bethlehem and the Star of the East
Woolly Nativity of St Peter’s Church

Our Nativity scene in St Peter’s see us bring the Wise Men inside the stable on that day. Until then, they are outside, traveling and following the Star.

The season of Epiphany continues with the Sundays of Epiphany, and ends with the Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas) on 2nd February.

Candlemas is traditionally the 40th day of (and the conclusion of) the Christmas/Epiphany season. Candlemas is celebrated on 2 February to commemorate the purification of the Virgin Mary (after childbirth, according to Jewish law) and the presentation of Christ in the Temple. Candles are traditionally blessed at this festival, hence the name.

After these seasons, the church changes to Ordinary Time, until the season of Lent.

Thank you 🙏

A beautiful start to Christmas

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St Peter’s Carol Service

Thanks to everyone who came to the Carol Service last night. So lovely to see so many of you!

The flower team have surpassed themselves and the Nativities (we have two!)! are both out on display.

The knitted version and traditional ceramic figures are in their stables but you’ll notice that baby Jesus hasn’t arrived just yet and the Wise Men are waiting in the wings.

Woolly Nativity
The Traditional Nativity


Thank you to Rev Martin and Maxine Johnson for devising a lovely service of familiar Bible readings, more recent reflections and prayers.

So many favourite carols highlighted the words and thanks as always to Keith Folwell for playing the piano.

Thanks to all the readers, and the team, for mince pies, mulled wine and tea and coffee to finish.

It was lovely to see everyone and our thanks go to everyone who generously donated to our Christmas Appeal supporting the Al Shurooq School in Bethlehem. (See our post yesterday).

The appeal runs in church and online over Christmas until 5th January, so we’ll keep you posted with the amount raised.

Donate here

Finally some more photos of the decorations in church.

Christmas Appeal 2024

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Al Shurooq School for Blind children in Bethlehem

This year, the PCC were approached by Canon Philip Norwood on behalf of the McCabe Educational Trust which supports the Al Shurooq School for Blind Children in Bethlehem. Canon Philip is a longstanding friend of the chuches in the Langtons and many parishioners have enjoyed trips to the Holy Land with Philip, including several members of the PCC. It seemed a natural choice for the team to support a cause so close to Philip’s heart.

He sent the following report which explains the needs of the school for the future and which we hope our Christmas Appeal can support. You can donate online via the button link and also in person at St Peter’s in our services over the Christmas period, starting with our Carol Service on Tuesday 17th December and running right through until Twelfth Night on 5th January, 2025. We thank you for your continued support, as ever.

Donate to St Peter’s Church Christmas Appeal

Report by local representative of the McCabe Educational Trust, Natasha Albina, November 2024

Natasha visited Al Shurooq where she met with Board members and administration. The school currently has 34 pupils aged 3 – 12 years. 21 pupils who come from Hebron, Jericho and remote parts of the West Bank, live and stay at the school all week as transportation is no longer available to take them home for weekends. Pupils from around Bethlehem commute every day as it is difficult for the school to provide for them to live in-house.

This year the school started taking on social cases of children with visual disabilities and opened a new class for 10 pupils with multiple disabilities and behavioral problems. There are plans to bring blind children from Gaza to the school. 24 teachers are currently employed, in addition to therapists who work with special cases.  

The school is facing an existential financial crisis with an annual deficit of £140,000. October salaries were only possible by taking from the employees protected end of service fund – a drastic measure. The reasons are multiple. A key Kuwaiti donor died who had been paying the full salary bill since Parents are no longer contributing as they have no income because of the Gaza war. The cost of basic necessities in Bethlehem has rocketed because of the war. The Palestinian Authority has no funds and the Ministry of Social Affairs owes the school more than £130,000. The Moslem Awqaf Charitable Trust is a major funder of social institutions in Palestine, but won’t fund a Christian institution – even though most of Al Shurooq’s children are Moslem. The school is very dependant on MET funding.

Some positives. TAM Women Media and Development in Palestine, paid the salary for 3 special education teachers for three months and the Ministry of Education has provided a music teacher who comes regularly to teach the children music and playing on different instruments. Individual benefactors and institutions have always given food supplies so there is no shortage where food is concerned.

To generate some income, Al Shurooq refurbished their basement in order to open an after-school center for children with special needs. There is no such program in Bethlehem.

During the day the basement will be used for the Shurooq school and in the afternoon as an after-school center. We are asked to consider funding two capital projects. Not long ago, the school invested in solar panels on the roof (18 kilowatts) to help with their electricity bill.

This lowered their energy cost by 60%. 14 kilowatts are further needed to cover the whole electric bill. The cost of this project is £15,000. An additional solar installation is required for hot water at a cost of £8.000. They ask us to consider including these projects in our Bethlehem Christmas Gift.

The link below takes you to the website for the school.

Al Shurooq Blind School

Thank you!