Author: Jo Dawes

“At Christmas, when we speak of peace and goodwill, how should we respond to the many atrocities, acts of violence and hardships that we hear about throughout the world? What can we do to make a difference? I think the first, and perhaps the most powerful, is prayer,” writes Father Matthew in his Christmas message. You can find the whole message along with a list of Christmas services at St Thomas Becket and Bishop Robert's Christmas message in the Christmas Flier.

This week's Church of England podcast features an interview with Libby Lane, who is to be the first woman bishop in the Church of England, on her reaction to the news, dissenting views, her hopes and the challenges ahead. You can find the podcast on the CofE website front page or follow this link.

This Sunday's Family Service with Holy Communion at 10.30 will include a dramatised Gospel with assistance from Junior Church. Also, the flame of the Peace Light of Bethlehem will be brought to us from the Church of the Nativity. If you want to share the light and take it home, please bring some way of carrying it (a lantern, for example). Members of the Scout and Guide Movement distribute the light, brought from Bethlehem to Austria, throughout 30 European countries and beyond. You can read more about the Peace Light here in English and in German.

Revd Libby Lane is to be the new Bishop of Stockport, and the first woman bishop in the Church of England. She is currently Vicar of St Peter's, Hale, and St Elizabeth's, Ashley in Cheshire. She will be consecrated as Bishop of Stockport on 26 January 2015 at York Minster and will serve as a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Chester. Follow the links to the announcement on the Church of England website and a background story on the BBC website.

This Christmas “we need to feel again the shocking reality of God becoming incarnate in conditions of extreme vulnerability and deprivation,” Bishop Robert reminds us in his Christmas Message, and says this reality carries responsibilities for us. You can read the whole of Bishop Robert's Christmas Message or listen to it as an audio file on the Diocese in Europe website.

You don't have to be an Anglican to come to church at St Thomas Becket. We welcome everyone. On Christmas Eve we will have a Children’s Christmas Service at 4 pm and Midnight Mass at 11.30 pm. There will be services of Holy Communion at 10.30 am on Christmas Day and New Year's Day in addition to our usual Sunday Services. You can find details of Christmas Services by clicking on the link on the right of this page and of all other services on the services page.

Bishop Robert's Advent Appeal is raising funds for the Sant’Egidio project in Italy which offers emergency help to migrants who land off the Sicilian coast, raises awareness of their rights as asylum seekers and eventually assists their integration into Italian society. It focuses particularly on young people and children. Full details are available on the Diocese in Europe website. Please give as generously as you can. Donations can be made in church and will be collected and sent to the Diocesan Office.

The next walk with Church Wanderers this Saturday, 13 December, will start at Aumühle after all. Please meet at Ausmühle S-Bahnhof at 11:36. (From Hamburg Hbf you need to take the S21 to Aumühle at 11:04.) The walk through pretty country, woods and along the Bille river to Reinbek will take no more than two hours, so there'll be plenty of time to get back for the the Carol Service! Please let Nicki Schiller know if you are coming by 10pm on Thursday, 11 December – nicki.schiller [at] gmx.de

Is bigger always better? Is being small being a failure? What does it mean to be a small church community? On five evenings in January and February we are going to “visit Bethany”, the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, the siblings who welcomed Jesus in a simple way. For more information about the Small church Reflection Meetings, please download the PDF.

Our service of nine lessons and carols is on Saturday 13 December at 6pm, followed by refreshments. Please come to this very popular service and bring your friends.