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 NativityThe 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.
Smiles were all around when a certain email popped into our in box recently. What is it all about? You might well ask! St Peter’s now qualifies as a Bronze Eco Church. After filling in questionnaires on the Arocha UK website, we discussed our care for the churchyard, the flowers and the creatures that inhabit it, as well as the care for our building and our hopes for its future use by our community. We applied to Arocha Uk and were delighted to receive our Bronze Eco Award. We made promises to help protect God’s Earth and its creatures from extinction by reducing pollution, landfill and food waste. This promise applies to St Peter’s Church building and churchyard but also to us as individual members of the church community.
Join us on our Eco Journey
There are a number of initiatives we aim to support at the start of our Eco journey. The churchyard is already a haven to wildlife, (see the example below) but we want to install bug houses and bird boxes and hedgehog houses go encourage more. Can you help us make them or install them? If so, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us here by email or reply to this post on our Facebook Page.
See below, just one example of the extraordinary natural habitat found in the churchyard. These tiny fungi form an almost magical landscape and appear in the autumn.
The fairy village – tiny fungi growing in St Peter’s Church yard
Just One Thing
We pray to encourage our community to join us in pledging to do “JUST ONE THING” however small to help restore the Earth’s balance. Lifestyle Change does not have to be massive it can be as small as not using paper handkerchiefs, reducing the use of cling film and single use plastic such as bottled water or it could be to set the washing machine to a lower temperature.
Could you think about making a pledge and letting us know? We’d love to hear what you and your family have decided to change in your household. Every step we all take, however small, makes a huge difference.
Fair Trade Produce
The use of Fair Trade produce is so important to ensure that farmers in third world countries have a fair salary and have good working conditions. Would you consider buying Fair Trade produce for your pledge? We want to promote the use of Fair Trade produce in St Peter’s especially during our much-loved Cream Tea Sundays.
Time for tea!
What is YOUR Carbon Footprint?
Finally, one last thought to ponder is to check your own carbon footprint on the website CreationCare.org.uk where you can get your own personalised carbon footprint number. Use this number to update every six months or whenever you have time. What a great thing to do with your children and grandchildren by introducing them to carry on the legacy of caring for God’s Earth.
Visit St Peter’s church and churchyard
St Peter’s is open every day for contemplation and quiet prayer. It welcomes you for those moments when you need a quiet space to get away from the pressures of everyday life or just for somewhere to sit for a while. St Peter’s is always there for all.
Creation is given as a gift to us all and we share responsibility to protect and nurture it.
Come along and celebrate the season of Autumn. This beautiful season is the time of the year of migration and hibernation. The nights draw in and we prepare for winter. November includes All Souls. Two Remembrance services at Church Langton and Stonton Wyville.
Service Rota
October 6th Communion 6.00pm Thorpe Langton – Martin
13th Harvest Festival 10.30am Church Langton – Martin
13th Harvest Festival 4.30pm Tur Langton Jonathan
20th All Age Worship 10.30am Tur Langton – Maxine
27th All Age Worship 10.30am Church Langton – Maxine
November 3rd All Souls Service 3.00pm Church Langton – Martin*
3rd Communion 6.00pm Thorpe Langton – Martin
10th Remembrance 10.30am Church Langton – Martin
10th Evensong for Remembrance 4.30pm Tur Langton – Jonathan
17th All Age Worship 10.30 Tur Langton – Maxine
24th Communion 10.30 Church Langton – Martin
Sunday 3rd November 3pm – All Souls – Tea and cake after the service
Rosy Autumn Harvest
COVID GUIDANCE: All services are now live in church, observing the current UK Government guidance: Masks/face coverings are now optional, but we ask that if you have symptoms, please do not attend. Please check updates onLeicester Diocese’s website
St Peter's Church, Church Langton 