Now this Is Church!

This weeks post is two weeks worth of Chips wrapped up into one – which I have tentivley titled ‘Now This is Church’.- and I glanced at the Keep in Touch and noticed that under ‘The Week Ahead’. it mentioned that next week is the first Sunday of Advent (which for those who didnt know is the countdown to Christmas) and another thing, if you dont know – where have you been?

This week we were sadly missing a few of our Congregation through a selection of reasons – Francesca and Victoria are spending the weekend in the mainland doing a bit of shopping (nothing like a bit of retail therapy) – well if you ask a girl that is! – and of course those who are unwell, recovering or just unable to worship with us today were missed greatly but no doubt we will see you all again soon and everything will return to normal.

Because we were also missing Dean – Maureen cooked lunch all by herself – Well Done! and some of the girls pulled together to help her collect and clean the plates afterwards… good work – but before all of that the small group that was Church & Chips went down to the lower floor during the meeting to practice the drama peices for the Christmas Carol Service. – we were missing a few main characters and I and some others had to stand in — it was fun though, but honestly – please come back! we need you!

We read it all so well that we even began to practice it with props and something tells me Vicky will want to practice it without words sometime in the future – so please put the 14th December in your diaries and come and join in the celebrations at the Hall for Christmas… we might even have a visitor ?!?

If I was to say… The Basil Fawlty Walk… Would that make you come… not even out of curiosity?

This weeks meeting was led by Captain Kelvin as usual and he got us very much involved in the running of things this week as he led us in belting out an ‘accoustic’ version of ‘Abba Father’… well actually it was Vicky – Corps Christmas Album anyone?

Now back to the reason I have titled this Blog ‘Now this Is Church’. – well, you see my reasoning is that any Church that can hold its spirit when it is missing so many people is a proper Church.. any Church that has a strong youth following – and leaders that shepard the young’uns in the best way possible is a Church.. and a Church that gets involved with each and every of its members is a proper Church – and to me – Clifton ticks all those boxes and maybe more … on the subject of getting involved (sorry, this week is a little less co-ordinated than usual as stuff zooms into my head, which I must write down before it goes zooming out the other side!) Last Sunday evening saw Graham and Vicky lead the evening worship as a duo – and because Graham has an awesome nose for awesome sermons he got his House Group involved (the best one, may I add) and we performed ‘A Sermon in Drama’. based around the Parable of Talents (this was epic, and if you missed it you missed quite an evening) and it all fitted quite well seeing as it was the Talent Scheme Ingathering too!.. unfortunatley I cannot really explain it to you because you really had to be there to experience it – but here is some Prior warning.. Graham is leading Evening Worship again next week..

After a fully satisfying meal of Fish Fingers and Chips we all let of some steam before returning home to the impending doom that is Homework left to the last minute and another ugly week of School / College / Work .. or in some cases retirement — but I cant see how that’s boring to be honest!

Hope everyone has a brilliant week this week and also if you have a spare minute checks out the Corps Website – which is now live and ready over at www.saclifton.co.nr - we hope to have it all finished in the coming weeks so it becomes somewhere for everybody to connect with but at the moment its an ace place if you have lost your Keep In Touch.. (or is that just me!)

First week of Advent – Crikey… someone want to tell him to slow time down?

Jordan

The Colour of Love

Today marks Rememberance Sunday, a day in which we remember those who have fought and are fighting to keep peace in the world. today The Junior Soldiers followed the band into town to watch the Parade held at the War Memorial just down from Clifton.

We watched as flags of many colours were raised in honour and the Guernsey Concert Brass marched  and played ‘The Last Post’ before the cannon was fired to mark the two-minuite silence – the silence resonated around the surrounding area and not even the wind stirred as together, we marked the lives and sacrifice given in defence of England and The Channel Islands.

The Band was made up of members from both L’islet and St Peter Port Corps who flew the Salvation Army Flag and led the hymns during the wreath-laying – the crowd came from island-wide to join the service and we joined in singing a selection of Hymns from our Naval and Army songbooks as well as something from the Royal Air Force.

After the Wreaths had been laid and the War Memorial was a sea of Red Poppies – The Colour of Love – prayers of rememberance were spoken and the uniformed Sea Cadets performed some kind of Royal Salute.

After the service had ended The Band led us back to the Hall as we spent some time in thought about what we had just witnessed and how it has changed the world forever. – When we arrived back at Clifton we spent some time chilling out, as we waited for today’s feast to be served and the younger children to return from Sunday School – Johnathon began to sell his Chips Newspapers which are published on a weekly basis and are likened to the Keep In Touch with a more colourful young-person orientated feel.

When everyone was finally back together in the bottom room of the Hall, this weeks lunch was served – Pizza and Chips .. this must have been a hit with everyone because most people managed to scoff two whole slices of Pizza and a plateful of Chips  – the moral of that story is ‘Make More Pizza’.

After our crowd of Hungry Hippos had been fed and watered until they could’nt take any more (well.. we ran out of food to be honest!) Vicky began to talk about… yes, here it comes Christmas and we began to plan this years performance to be featured during the Corps Carol Service in December which includes a bit of a blast from the past – and a couple of classic television characters.. but thats all im saying right now – put the date in your diary because this is one of the best events our Church puts on and if your lucky you might get some Mullied Wine and a Mince Pie or two at the end!

This week has been brilliant and I am sure the weeks to come will be too

I hope to write more in the next couple of weeks – and keep the Blog on your visiting lists as I have been working on some Christmas Decorations which will really spice up your computer screens in the run up to one of the best times of the year (others being, Easter, My Birthday..)

Thanks very much for your amazing support, all your comments both online and in person – it means alot.

Jordan