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Christmas events
Here are some dates for your diary.
The first Sunday in Advent will be on 27 November.
The Gift Service - Sunday 11 December - As before we should be glad to receive gifts which are suitable for children. These will be distributed to a good cause.
The children will tell us the Nativity Story on Sunday 18 December.
On Christmas Eve the Crib Service will be held in Wrangholm Kirk, New Stevenston in the early evening. The exact time will be given next month.
Also on Christmas Eve the Watchnight Service will be held in Holytown Parish Church at 11.30pm.
Christmas mail
The Boys' Brigade will be happy to deliver your Christmas cards within the village of Holytown. They may be deposited in a box from the first Sunday of December, that is the 4th and the last opportunity will be on the 18th. The cards will be delivered immediately after the 18th. A donation towards the BB funds would be appreciated.
The Sunday School nativity
Calling all budding young actors/singers. Come and join our growing number of children aged between 3 and 13. Help us retell the Nativity Story. We meet in the Church at 9.55 am and you can be collected from the Church Hall between 11.00 am and 11.15 am. If interested please either ask any of the Sunday School staff or simply come along. We look forward to seeing you!
I shall meet you there
Some years ago a radio evangelist announced that he would speak the following Sunday on 'Heaven'. During the week he received a letter from an old man who was very ill. Here is part of that letter.
"Next Sunday you are to talk about 'Heaven'. I am interested in that land because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for over 55 years. I did not buy it. It was given to me without money and without price. But the donor purchased it for me at a tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation since the title is non-transferable. It is not a vacant lot.
"For more than a half-century I have been sending material out of which the greatest architect and builder of the universe has been building a home for me, which will never need to be repaired because it will suit me perfectly, individually, and will never grow old.
"Termites can never undermine its foundation for it rests upon the Rock of Ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks or bolts will ever be placed upon its doors, for no vicious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling stands, now almost completed and ready for me to enter it and abide in peace eternally without fear of being ejected.
There is a valley of deep shadow between the place where I live in California and that to which I shall journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home in the City of God without passing through the dark valley of shadows. But I am not afraid, because the best friend that I have ever had went through the same valley alone, a long, long time ago and drove away all the gloom. He has stuck by me through thick and thin, since we first met and became acquainted 55 years ago, and I hold His promise in printed form, never to forsake nor to leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of shadows, and I shall not lose my way when He is with me.
"I hope to hear your sermon on 'Heaven' next Sunday from my home, but I have no assurance that I shall be able to do so. My ticket to heaven has no date marked for the journey ... No return coupon . . . And no permit for baggage. Yes, I am ready to go and may not be here while you are talking next Sunday, but I shall meet you there some day."
Anon
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