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As a child I remember<br />
annually sitting at a table<br />
with my school friends<br />
with an interesting<br />
collection of materials<br />
in front of us. Oranges, cocktail<br />
sticks, red ribbons, candles, and a<br />
variety of dolly mixture and raisins<br />
were scattered on the table. Our<br />
task was twofold. First, to create<br />
a ‘Christingle.’ Second, to try<br />
not to eat too many sweets so<br />
that some remained to go on the<br />
cocktail sticks.<br />
In 1747 a Bishop in a<br />
Protestant church in Germany<br />
was considering a simple way for<br />
children to think about Jesus. He<br />
came up with a candle and a red<br />
ribbon. This is the origin of the<br />
Christingle. Some 220 years later<br />
John Pensom (who later became<br />
known as ‘Mr. Christingle’)<br />
introduced the Christingle Service<br />
to the Church of England at<br />
Lincoln Cathedral.<br />
The orange itself represents<br />
the world. Into the orange are<br />
inserted four cocktail sticks,<br />
which can be thought of as the<br />
four seasons, or as North, East,<br />
South and West. The sweets or<br />
dried fruit placed on these sticks<br />
represent all of God’s creation<br />
and the fruits that come from it.<br />
The ribbon around the orange is<br />
a symbol of God’s love wrapped<br />
around the world. Furthermore, it<br />
is red to represent Jesus’ blood<br />
on the cross: the great symbol of<br />
God’s love for the world is that he<br />
sent Jesus to us (John 3:16). The<br />
candle inserted into the orange<br />
represents Jesus as the light of<br />
the world, bringing hope to people<br />
living in darkness.<br />
In the Bible, Jesus describes<br />
himself as the Light of the World<br />
(eg, John 8:12). Many will be<br />
familiar with a reading from<br />
the start of John’s Gospel from<br />
Christmas services. It talks of<br />
Jesus as the true light coming into<br />
the world (John 1:1-14).<br />
This explains why Christingle<br />
services happen in the lead up to<br />
Christmas, because Christingles<br />
are all about Jesus coming into<br />
the world and the difference that<br />
he makes. Christmas is the great<br />
annual celebration that focusses<br />
on the arrival of Jesus in the<br />
world, and the joy that it initially<br />
brought to so many: Mary and<br />
Joseph, angels, shepherds and<br />
wise men. But Christmas is also<br />
a time of great joy for us today, as<br />
we celebrate all that Jesus has<br />
done, continues to do, and will do.<br />
People are always welcome<br />
to come to St Chad’s to fi nd out<br />
more about Jesus. Stay tuned<br />
for the next Impact edition for all<br />
the details of Christmas services,<br />
including the Christingle one,<br />
where we will explore more about<br />
Jesus and the Christmas story.<br />
Rev James Norris<br />
The Orange of Christingle<br />
St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats<br />
Church Office: Linden Avenue, Sheffi eld S8 0GA<br />
Tel: (0114) 274 5086<br />
Page 15<br />
email: office@stchads.org<br />
website: www.stchads.org
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