St Michael’s Church - Christmas Tree Festival
Saturday, 12th – 14^th December 2009  

Advent means “coming” or “arrival” and it is the time in the church year
when we think about Jesus coming to us on the first Christmas Day and also about his second coming.
Having a special thinking period before Christmas goes back  at least 1500 years.
The idea for our Christmas Tree Festival was conceived by Gill Shaw, as a way of helping people
to explore the many different aspects of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. 
Several meetings later, all of us interested in decorating a tree or creating a banner set about our tasks
depicting one of the themes decided upon.  The Festival came to life on the 11th December,
when the trees and banners were put up, ready for visitors to see the following day. 
As part of the festival, there was a free Family Activity Day on the 12th and
Sunday services and Christingle service on 13th.
On the 14th, Bruce and Phil delighted their audience with “Rock for Christmas” -
a chance to listen to pop music from many decades and join in the singing of old favourites and
Christmas songs and carols.  Rev Wendy even stood up and danced!  
The Christmas Tree Festival drew many people into church, 70% of whom were new to St Michael's.