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Follow the Star: A pop-up Christmas journey

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The first time an Advent and Christmas campaign from the Church spanned digital, print, traditional press and broadcast in terms of promotion and awareness We have been working with colleagues from dioceses and parishes to develop a range of resources to help churches, choirs and singing groups, communities and schools to 'join the song' this Advent and Christmas:

An invitation to all choirs and singing groups to sing a new version of ‘The First Nowell’ – listen to a preview. This year’s Church of England Christmas theme – Follow the Star: Join the Song– highlights how singing can help us draw closer to God and each other through journey from Advent to Epiphany. This year’s theme – Follow the Star: Join the Song – highlights how singing can help draw us closer to God and each other through the journey from Advent to Epiphany.

Webinar: Support your church this Advent and Christmas

I found getting involved in the campaign was fantastic. We've had a good response from the local community and have see more new people to our church in January”

The Church of England is running the following webinars to help you get the most out of this year’s campaign:AN AUTUMN heatwave may be spreading across the UK, but the Church of England is already preparing for the long winter nights of Advent and Christmas. A key element of the campaign is the invitation to all choirs and singing groups to sing a new version of 'The First Nowell.' There are free resources available to support choirs of all ages and stages to learn and perform the carol. Perhaps your church can find some creative ways to showcase your choir or singing group this Christmas.

Using Join the Song with under-18s: engaging under-18s through singing the new setting of The First Nowell. Learn about the resources available for under 18s and get practical ideas for using them at your church. Sign up to join this webinar, held on Wednesday, 27 September. One of my friends in North Carolina tells of her brother’s family driving into Thomasville [NC], where their cousins and aunts and uncles were, for a Christmas season get-together. As they passed by the Episcopal church where a manger scene was in the yard, her 5-year-old nephew asked about the meaning. “That is Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus, there in the manger,” Jean’s sister-in-law explained. There is a wonderful lesson for us right there – these three (or four, or however many) met God in the midst of doing what they were supposed to do: they were at work. God is not limited to meeting with us in a certain place (a church) or at a certain hour (11 AM Sundays). God can and does speak to us ANYWHERE and ANYTIME. The lesson is BE ALERT! The annual observance of the birth of our Savior is almost over – Epiphany, recalling the visit of the Wise Men is commemorated today, January 6, and ends the liturgical celebration, following the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” No gifts of turtle doves, French hens or partridges in pear trees; rather the more traditional gold, frankincense and myrrh. Christmas 2023’s digital resources unwrapped: join the Digital Labs team for an interactive session looking at the resources available for this year’s Christmas campaign. Sign up to join this webinar, held on Wednesday, 11 October.What about their being kings? Probably not. Matthew calls them “wise men from the East”– MAGOI in the Greek (which is where we get our term MAGI) – probably astrologers which explains why they would have noticed and then been so excited about coming across something unusual in the sky. As they would later say to Herod, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.” Not unheard of in that day – the idea that heavenly signs marked the births and deaths of great leaders was widely accepted.(3) What they saw excited them, even enough to make them drop what they were doing and follow the star. After the success of the #FollowTheStar Campaign in previous years, the Church of England is returning to this popular theme for 2022. More than 120,000 copies of Church House Publishing’s #FollowTheStar booklet were sold – 50% more than the figure for #GodWithUs in 2017. The reflections written by Revd Dr Isabelle Hamley, chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, were very positively received and widely used in print, our app and Alexa In the story of the first Christmas, the shepherds are astonished to find the night sky filled with countless voices singing God’s praise.

The theme of this year's Christmas campaign is Follow the Star: Join the Song. Inspired by Luke 2.20 (GNB) it highlights how singing can draw us closer to God and to each other as we journey from Advent to Epiphany and celebrate the birth of Christ. Read more on the campaign story here.

The partnership with BBC Sunday Worship and Daily Worship resulted in millions of people hearing the #FollowTheStar reflections Three webinars are being organised to help churches make the most of the new resources in services, schools, or at home, with both children and adults.

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