Advent and Christmas at lammermuir church

We have lots planned for the lovely Advent and Christmas time, and hope you can join us for our services and events.

Our services are held on Sunday mornings at 10am - the first Advent Sunday service in Humbie Church, followed by coffees and teas; the second Advent Sunday service in Yester Church, with Sunday Club for the children. On the third Avent Sunday, we'll have a Service of Lessons and Carols at our service in Bolton Church, which will also be followed by coffees and teas, on on the fourth Advent Sunday, we'll have a Nativity service at Yester Church. If your child(ren) would like to participate as an actor, or would like to be a narrator or help with props (that's for the slightly older ones), please let Aniko know by 30th November. A rehearsal will take place on Friday, 20th December in the afternoon. 

An Advent service of Remembering, for all who have lost loved ones and miss them especially at this time of year, will be held on Sunday, 15th Dec at 4pm in Humbie Church.

We'll have an Advent Study Group again, meeting on Thursdays from 28th Nov, 1-2pm in East Saltoun. We'll follow 'Glimpses of Glory', a programme written by the Rev Robin Hill of Longniddry and Gladsmuir Church. Please let us know if you'd like to participate.

We are also offering an Advent Retreat Morning, on Wednesday, 4th Dec, 9.30-12.30, in East Saltoun. Places for this are limited, and we suggest a donation of £5 to cover material and catering costs. To book, please contact Aniko.

There will be a few opportunities to come together for a chat over coffee and tea, at our drop-in Coffee Morning in Yester Church on Wednesday, 11th Dec, 10.30am-12noon; at our Advent Coffee Morning on Saturday, 14th Dec, 10-12noon in the Session Rooms in East Saltoun, and at a pop-up Coffee Morning in the Stables in Garvald on Friday, 20th Dec, 11am, which will give us a chance to meet the community in this newly expanded part of our parish. We hope you can join us - and if you'd be able to provide some baking, especially for the Garvald coffees, we'd be very grateful.

Messy Church takes place on Sunday, 1st Dec, 4-6pm in Humbie Village Hall, where we'll think about 'All things bright and beautiful'. We have a wonderful new team who are looking forward to welcoming you. It is mainly for children of preschool and primary school age and their parents, grandparents or carers. There will be crafts, a toddler area, games, a story and time for a children's prayer, and a shared supper for the children. 

Grown-ups can get crafty, too: Margo and Elizabeth will offer a chance to decorate Christmas biscuits both at Toasty Tuesdays in Humbie on 3rd Dec, and at the Yester Coffees on 11th Dec.

Sophy and Claire will guide us in crafting a floral Advent table piece, on Tuesday, 10th Dec, 10am in Humbie. For this event, places are limited, so please contact Aniko to book, and we suggest a donation of £5 to cover material costs.

The Gifford Community Choir has their Christmas Concert on Thursday, 12th Dec at 7pm in Yester Church. Tickets are available from the choir.
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For all who like to sing carols themselves, we'll have an opportunity to do so with our church choir on Wednesday, 18th Dec at 3pm in Yester Church. And the annual Carols around the Christmas Tree, this year again with the Dalkeith & Monktonhall Brass Band, will be on 23rd Dec at 6.30pm outside Yester Church.

And then for Christmas itself:
we'll have the fabulous Humbie Christmas Eve Nativity service on 24th Dec, 4pm in Humbie Church, followed by refreshments - for many of us the beginning of Christmas. Everyone is very welcome to the service, and children are invited to come dressed up as angels or shepherd (or sheep!) and join in, while adults may wish to join the Nativity choir, which rehearses the carols on the day from 2.30pm in the church. This service gets very busy, so please arrive early, and follow the guidance of our parking attendants. That evening, there's a Watchnight Service at 11.30pm in Saltoun Church, led by the Rev Norman Smith, our Presbytery Clerk. And on Christmas Day, we'll have a family service at 10.30am in Humbie Church.

We continue slightly more quietly after Christmas, with an End-of-Year service on Sunday, 29th Dec at 10am in Yester Church, and our Epiphany service on Sunday, 5th January, at Humbie Church, followed by coffees and teas.

We hope to see you, and wish you a happy and peaceful Advent and Christmas time!