Church communities across our diocese have been celebrating the start of Advent in creative and spectacular ways! Below are a few examples of our churches and parishes engaging with their local communities for Advent:
Advent Procession and Lantern Parade at Winchester Cathedral
Last week, Winchester Cathedral held their annual Advent Procession, a service of darkness and light, music and the spoken word. Advent is a season of expectation and preparation, as the Church prepares to celebrate the coming of Christ in his incarnation. The Advent Procession service begins this Cathedral’s annual celebration of these great mysteries.
Download the Order of Service from the Advent Procession here.
Winchester Cathedral was also filled with festive cheer last Thursday as the annual Lantern Parade returned, welcoming hundreds of participants and spectators. This year’s theme, Christmas Creatures, inspired an array of hand-crafted lanterns, including jellyfish, birds, a gingerbread man, and even a few Disney film characters.
The procession began in the Cathedral Nave with carol singing and festive activities before winding its way through the High Street and Cathedral grounds, concluding with the announcement of the winning lantern—a majestic stag that perfectly captured the theme.
It was a joy to see so many people come together to celebrate the Lantern Parade at the Cathedral. As always, the many hand-crafted lanterns were a delight to see. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who took part, performed, and helped make the event such a memorable evening.
The Very Revd Catherine Ogle, Dean of Winchester
Winchester Cathedral’s Lantern Parade remains a popular community tradition, bringing people of all ages together to mark the start of the Advent season while encouraging sustainability through the use of recycled materials. Watch the Lantern Parade highlight video here.
Prayers Take Flight at St Michael & All Angels Church, Cheriton
The Prayers Take Flight installation at Cheriton Parish Church was inspired by the paper butterflies at St. James’ Church Pokesdown, when Revd Christopher Durrant had a lunch visit with the wonderful Revd Rachel Noel! He shared the idea with his Ministry Team, Cheriton PCC, and their newly formed prayer group for the village primary school in Cheriton. They were very supportive, helping refine the idea into prayer-doves for Advent and Christmas, promoting the idea with the excellent local school teachers and support staff, as well as working out the practical style and hanging of the white paper doves.
All the children and staff of Cheriton Primary School decorated their own doves, each with their name. The older children also composed prayers on their doves, or wrote names of their dearly departed loved ones they would be thinking about at Christmastide. As well as hanging the doves as if in flight in the arches of the church nave, other doves are also hung on the church Christmas tree.
The peace doves are a way of helping the children engage with Advent waiting for peace, to become involved with welcoming the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ Nativity, and a way of encouraging the children from this non-church school to see the church building as their home too. The congregation, gathering for services, have loved the peace doves in church. I’m very much looking forward to the children’s nativity play later this month, when each child can excitedly draw their parents attention to their uniquely decorated dove flying their prayers to God.
Revd Christopher Durrant, Rector of the Upper Itchen Benefice
Messy Christingle in North Baddesley
The first Sunday of the month is usually ‘Messy Church’ in the parish of North Baddesley, so instead they began their Advent celebrations in All Saints Church with ‘Messy Christingle!’ Children, and adults, enjoyed making their Christingles and there were also tables with other activities such as making lovely fragrant pots with herbs – not quite frankincense or myrrh but a lovely way to celebrate God’s creation! This was followed by a Christingle service, where all parts of the Christingle were discussed, and why it is important in our Christian faith. Everyone held up their Christingles as they sang Hope of Heaven together. The church smelled beautiful as oranges and herbs filled the space.
Mary and Joseph joined Messy Christingle before starting their long journey to Bethlehem. People in the community have been invited to take them home for a night before they reach their destination, All Saints Church, on Christmas Day.
Wreath Making Workshop at St Mark’s Church Southampton
St Mark’s, Southampton (Archer’s Road) held a wreath making event last Friday evening, complete with mulled wine and sweet treats, and had over 40 people making beautiful wreaths. The feedback from the event was wonderful: ‘It was lovely to see a packed hall and hear all the laughter as we all attempted to make a Christmas wreath look like a wreath!’, ‘you made us feel very welcome and we love our Christmas wreaths’.
Revd Lorna Allez ran the workshop, as during her ordination training in a previous church, she had helped an experienced wreath maker with her workshop in the church each year, and this year decided to have a go at running one herself!
It’s an amazing opportunity to fill the building with those who don’t normally find themselves in church, and there were so many faces who I didn’t recognise who were friends and neighbours of those who attended St Mark’s.
Revd Lorna Allez, Children’s, Youth & Schools Lead at St Mark’s Church Southampton
Parish of St Matthew with St Paul, Winchester, Bring Back Their Community Advent Calendar
St Matthew with St Paul, Winchester, are once again displaying their community Advent calendar, the physical copy of which was constructed by James Clay and Nick Page (Nick also created the artwork for the calendar doors from one of his lithographs). The calendar is opened every Sunday by a member of the clergy, and on several weekdays (you can see videos in the online version of the calendar). People are welcome to pop into church to take a look, or you can open a door each day in the online version.
We are thrilled to have our Community Advent Calendar back again this year. It displays some absolutely lovely artwork made by children in our church family and we are very proud of their hard work. It’s a lovely way for us to feel connected during Advent, especially as it is online as well as in the church itself, and to help us prepare ourselves for the coming of the baby Jesus at Christmas.
Vicki Tibbitts, Children & Youth Ministry Leader
Christmas Unwrapped Advent Calendar at Christ Church Winchester
This year, Christ Church Winchester have shared a unique Advent calendar with their church community, the ‘Christmas Unwrapped Advent Calendar’! Download a copy to your phone or computer here.
We have produced an Advent devotional that is available to everyone in our church, designed to be easy to use and accessible to all. Each day gives a question to think about and discuss as well as a short Bible passage (usually one or two verses) to look at. We have encouraged families to use this devotional together, maybe at breakfast or dinner, and to use the question each day as a starter to pursue God as we get ready for Christmas. There is also a bonus challenge of trying to memorise the verse each day!
Megan Graham, Children and Families Minister
‘Journeys’ Advent Service at Holy Epiphany Bournemouth
Holy Epiphany Bournemouth held their Advent Sunday service on 1 December, which followed the theme of ‘journeys’. The journey of Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem was discussed – which route did they take?
The church also started a Posada Journey at the service – ‘posada’ is Spanish for inn, and it’s a Mexican tradition to host representations of Mary and Joseph for the night. Mary, Joseph and ‘Dave the Donkey’ are welcomed into people’s homes in the parish, a way of literally and metaphorically welcoming the Christ-child into homes and hearts. Mary and Joseph will be visiting a school, a nursing home, Bright Stars Party, and much more, and will arrive back at ‘Bethlehem’ on Christmas Eve for the Crib and Christingle Service. Polly and her father, Paddy, are the first family to take the precious basket of the knitted Holy Family home with them.
Another journey featured in the service was that of Harry, one of Holy Epiphany’s Confirmation candidates, who shared his journey to faith following his teenage years of PTSD – he now feels safe and trusts in God’s love for him.
The last journey discussed was the journey of the toys – Rainbows, Brownies and people of all ages brought forward gifts of toys for the Salvation Army to distribute to local children. Prayers were said around the altar for the toys, before their onward journey.
Advent Sheep Trail in the Parish of Hordle and Tiptoe
A few years ago, the Parish of Hordle and Tiptoe introduced an afternoon Crib and Nativity Service on Christmas Eve, which has proven hugely popular with local families. They often have hundreds of people crammed into the church for this one service – it’s standing room only!
Each year our Parish runs an Advent campaign to engage the villages and advertise our Christmas services. This year we are running a sheep trail. The shepherd has lost his sheep and needs help finding them. There are 8 sheep hidden around the village sporting a tag with a clue to work out the sheep’s name. Can the children round up all the sheep by calling out their names at our Crib Service on 24th Dec? There, we will tell the nativity story from the perspective of the shepherds, whose sheep ran off when they abandoned them to go and see Jesus the Messiah because they knew that was the most important and exciting thing they could do. The shepherds will explain all the things they have seen and heard and why this news really is great joy for all people.
Anya, One of the Event Organisers
To advertise the Advent Sheep Trail, the parish have started posting a series of videos on Facebook of the shepherd hunting for his sheep around the village, which can be found here.
