Yesterday we had 400 kids in church – from our 4 local primary schools! They come each year to make their christingles, have a bit of a sing (very good this year), and have the experience of being in a church.
This year we had our Bishop come to give them a ‘wee word’ – he was great, charging up and down the aisles helping kids make christingles, and helping to wash up when the workers had a well-earned cup of tea. That’s the sort of Bish we need around here!
The kids were ever so good, and we have got the whole thing down to a fine art now, so it’s all organised well in advance. The best moment is when every christingle is lit, and 400 kids sit in silence. Magic.
I shall miss this next year!
(NB I have permission from the schools to publish these pictures)
Godschool's Blog 
Lovely pictures, its so nice to see. I used to like lighting candles too. It seems strange to be afraid of them.
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Yes, it was strange but I explained she couldn’t put it on the book shelf in front of her because it was made of wood … !!! 88|
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:))
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How really lovely gilly, memories and pictures you can look back on in years to come 🙂
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Christingle is a wonderful service. Yours sounds like a great event with all the schools joining in – as you say an opportunity for many of the children to experience a church service for the first time.
Sounds like the Bishop enjoyed his part in it too 🙂
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Our United Reformed Church colleague, who is congregational so is a bit suspicious of bishops, was bowled over !! Can’t be bad :yes:
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Looks as if they all had a good old think about it and fun too, making and lighting it etc :yes:
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They just love it when they’re allowed to light the candles … although some of them are scared of the flame. I had to take one girl’s candle from her, she was so scared – she kept holding it away from her and there was real panic in her eyes. The flame was a bit big so I blew it out, pinched the wick and lit it again with a smaller flame. She was still a bit chary so I just said to her ‘don’t be scared – be careful’ … I find it incomprehensible that kids are afraid of candles – that’s all we had at night time when we lived on Tristan and there are so many fascinating things a kid can do with a lit candle … 😉 Fortunately we stopped short of burning down our wooden house :))
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Great idea having the candles in oranges – when my chldren did the same at school?church I seem to remember they carried candles with circles of plastic to catch the wax
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I suspect then that would have been a candlelit carol service or something similar: the christingles are always made to the same pattern with oranges, cocktail sticks with fruit etc – it’s all symbolic. The circles of card or plastic are a good idea for carrying a candle – and we’ll be having them this year for our carol service!
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The first time I experienced Christingle was when I returned to the UK in 1993…it’s lovely and I do think the photographs you are showing here are beautiful.x
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Thanks, Janet. I really like the first one in particular, with the three major cultures represented in those little faces.
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The man is a treasure! 400 children I think I might have been trembling. All peaceful and happy together. There is hope for the future.
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Very excellent teachers, Liz, doing a good job under most difficult circumstances. Many children are only in school for a few months, such is the turnover of people moving in and out of the area: and many start school with no knowledge of English at all. We really have to hand it to the teachers.
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Its very interesting to learn what is happening in other places. I’m full of admiration for the teachers who cope with such a challenging job. We have a growing number of children whose first language is not English, but the actual numbers are tiny. I do hope the teachers are getting time to retrain on how to teach children to speak English .
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I don’t know about the training, but with government cutbacks, it’s harder and harder for teachers who often have to rely on the help of auxiliary staff to do one-to-one with some of the children – that person may no longer be affordable.
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As I pointed out earlier….too quick for your post….This is a wonderful experience for many children…famlies…Adults, too! Splendid! Hugs! :)x
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thanks – yes, it was!
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Congratulations for such a wonderful occasion. Being in England I was looking for a white face. Your country has certainly greatly changed. For the good we hope.
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The high proportion of other cultures is one of the reasons we wanted to come to this parish and this church. Our city is the first city to be majority black and Asian. And all British!
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