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We are a Christian community
seeking and caring
serving and sharing
where all are welcome
Minister: Revd Philip Peacock
Email: philip.peacock@methodist.org.uk
Telephone 0114 258 9223
Worship services on Sundays at 10.45am
with additional ones around Christmas and Easter
Saturday Morning Coffee served from 10.30am to 12noon
Community Coffee & Toddler Group on Mondays from 9.45am to 11.45am
If you would like to find out more about our worship and other activities, please either make an online enquiry or speak to one of the Leadership Team
(whose photos are in the church foyer).
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Hush the Noise
I wonder how well you might know some traditional carols; whether you might be able to tell me from which carol certain words come. How about ‘and fit us for heaven’? Or, ‘be born in us today!’? Or ‘Christ the Redeemer is here!’? Or ‘hush the noise’?
This year the Methodist Church is inviting people to ‘Hush the Noise’ and to ‘Join the love song this Christmas.’ (‘Love-song’ is found in the same carol as ‘hush the noise.’) This is not the Methodist Church being a killjoy. Parties, Christmas music in stores, television adverts adding to the hype; all have their place in a British, 21st century observance of Christmas. However, we may (or may not) welcome all of these as they contribute to the ‘noise’ that is around, making Christmas ‘loud.’ What the Methodist Church is seeking to do is to encourage others and ourselves to find some time away from all the noise, so that we can hear something of the message of Christmas and ensure that it is not drowned out.
What, then, is the ‘love-song’? Well, according to the carol in which it is found, it is a love-song which is sung by angels and about peace:
‘beneath the angel strain have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and man, at war with man, hears not
the love-song which they bring.
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
and hear the angels sing!
This carol was originally a poem written by the American Minister Edmund Sears in 1849. This was after a war in North America and when there was unrest in Europe. Presumably, a hopeful message about peace was needed (and this theme re-appears elsewhere within the carol – ‘Peace on the earth’, ‘with peaceful wings unfurled,’ ‘The Prince of Peace their King’). This Christmas, where people are at war with each other, the love-song of the angels is being ignored; as rockets, explosions, gun-fire and the cries of anguished people prevent it from being heard. We need the noise to be hushed so that reconciliation can be sought.
The Methodist Church Christmas resources are being released throughout the Advent and Christmas season. There is a recording of Edward Sears’s carol. There is a short advert. There are daily reflections. All are there to encourage us and others to hush the noise and discover what the love-song of the angels may be for us individually this Christmas. It may not be a message about world peace. It could be a gospel song about how God loves you unconditionally with no strings attached. Or it could be a ballad offering you words of comfort. Or it could be an anthem which spurs you to action. So, why not seek to ‘Hush the Noise’, whenever you can, as Christmas approaches, that you may hear the angels’ love-song and join in with it?
[The words from the carols in the opening paragraph come, in order, from ‘Away in a manger’, ‘O little town of Bethlehem’, ‘Silent night, holy night’ and ‘It came upon the midnight clear.’
More resources for ‘Hush the Noise’ can be found at: methodist.org.uk/faith/hush-the-noise.]
PREACHING PLAN for DEC 2024 to FEB 2025 ( JD 01/11/24)
Dec 1 10.30am |
Utd at Millhouses. Rev Philip Peacock |
Community Christmas tree Event |
Dec 8 |
Sylvia Runciman |
Gift Service |
Dec 15 |
Rev Peacock Millhouses will join us |
Holy Communion |
Dec 22 |
LA. Rachel Tomlinson |
Carol Service |
Dec 25 10.30am |
Utd at Bents Green Rev Philip Peacock |
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Dec 29 |
No service at Banner Cross |
10.30am Services at MH and BG |
Jan 5 |
Nick Waterfield |
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Jan 12 |
Rev Prof Frances Young |
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Jan 19 10.45am |
Utd at Carterknowle Rev Philip Peacock |
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Jan 26 |
Rev Philip Peacock |
Holy Communion |
Feb 2 |
David Green |
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Feb 9 |
Denis Haywood |
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Feb 16 10.30am |
Utd at Millhouses Rev Prof Frances Young |
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Feb 23 |
Rev Philip Peacock |
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Link to Circuit Preaching Plan September - December 2024
Link to Circuit Preaching Plan December 2024 - February 2025
Weekly Rotas
Welcome & Worship
Overheads / Projector
Sound
Saturday Coffee
Our Minister
Rev Philip Peacock
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Word For The Day
John 11:25
07/12/2024
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