The Parish Magazine December 2024

Lights shining in
the dark!
Corinne writes: October was filled with so much light! It
brought daylight savings, the weather has felt chillier, and
with the clocks changing, the days have grown shorter.
With that said, there has been so much goodness and light
that it has felt easy to be filled with joy. One of my favourite
Bible passages is John 1:5 'The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.' I love the idea that
even in the darkest of times, hope is always an option, and
for Christians, so is our faith.
There have been many things to be grateful for, including
our time spent together in Sunday Club. On the second
Sunday of the month, we talked about what it means to
have a rich life, one where we are grateful and humble and
live life to the fullest.
We talked about how richness can come from doing
things we love and being with people we love, and when we
have an abundance, that is when we are called to give to
others and support our community.
SPEECHLESS
On the theme of richness, we made a very rich chocolate
dessert with a topping of chocolate biscuits and chocolate
gold coins. Any snack or treat is always a hit!
Then, on the fourth Sunday of the month, we read a
passage in which Jesus healed a blind man.
We had a fantastic discussion comparing Jesus's
guidance and love like a pair of glasses, giving us clarity and
a tool in which to live our own lives.
The children were so insightful it actually left me and
the other adults speechless. It is so beautiful to see their
minds learn and grow!
After our conversation we took turns playing a puzzle
game in which one person was blindfolded and the rest
guided the blindfolded person through a maze of red and
green coloured paper, guiding them to get from one end of
the maze to the other, making sure the person only stepped
on the green pieces of paper.
GLOWING LIGHTS
At Messy Church, our theme was 'Light for the World'
and we had many crafts and activities focussing on light.
One of the children's favourite activities was creating their
own lanterns with windows cut of the cardboard and then
decorating them with coloured tissue paper.
We loved seeing the colours shine brightly, lit up by
battery-powered LED tea light candles.
On the last day of October we also had our first annual
children's light party, in which we all gathered in and
around The Ark, decorated with brightly glowing lights.
The Parish Magazine — December 2024 9
Corinne
We talked about how Halloween is an opportunity to all come together and have some fun, but that instead of focussing on
the dark and spooky nature of Halloween, we could celebrate all together at a light party and focus instead on the goodness and
light in the world.
We had lots of fun with competitions such as relay races, handless doughnut eating contests, apple bobbing, the flour game (in
which you try not to let a chocolate fall into a pile of flour), as well as decorating our faces with face paint, creating some candle
holders, and enjoying hot chocolates with squirty cream.
Seeing the young people's faces light up with so much joy truly brought light into this dark time of year.
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