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Christingle 2017Ideas for a Messy Church Christingle service

and other informal church worship

Written by Martyn Payne, BRF’s Messy Church team

Messy Church is part of The Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF) a Registered Charity.brf.org.uk/messychurch

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Outline for this resourceWhat follows is an outline for a normal Messy Church service, working with the components of the Christingle as well as the Bible story of Mary’s song.

Messy Church is a way of being church for children, young people and adults, and in particular, those who perhaps have never attended a church service before. It is shaped by key values of hospitality, creativity, celebration, being for all ages, and centred on Christ. Most Messy Churches last about 2 hours, with the first hour taken up with activities on the Bible theme that are designed to appeal to a range of learning and spiritual styles. Then there is a short celebration that includes the Bible story, song and prayer. Messy Church ends with a meal together.

The resources written for this Messy Church Christingle can of course be adapted for a range of other informal church settings. Some of the activities could become part of an all-age or parade service; the session introduction and the outline for the messy celebration could be adapted for a short sermon or interactive talk with songs and prayers; and the idea for the meal could be an opportunity for a seasonal community get-together around food.

The traditional explanation of the Christingle that links the various elements which are put together can continue to be used of course, but in this resource a fresh narrative for this has been written that relates to Mary’s song and so explores that Bible story and the Christingle itself in a new way.

In your invitations and publicity for your service, don’t forget to mention that you will be holding a special collection for The Children’s Society. Also make sure that you have ordered your collection envelopes, candles and red tape in good time.

Bible references in this resource are from the Contemporary English Version (CEV).

Mary’s songBible story: Luke 1.46-56

Introduction: Notes for church leaders

Mary was a vulnerable teenager and at risk. There’s no doubt The Children’s Society would have needed to offer her protection and advocacy, had it existed in first century Palestine.

We can so easily read Mary’s story at Christmas with the rosy glow of hindsight, missing the enormous danger this young girl was in. She was pregnant before she was properly married; she could be rejected by her family; and if convicted, she would face death by stoning. Who would ever believe her story? Even her fiancé, Joseph, struggled with that. Mary desperately needed someone to listen to her, just as The Children’s Society listens to children and young people who aren’t safe, aren’t loved and can’t cope today.

Just think what the headlines could have been in the local Nazareth newspaper had this story been released. Had she perhaps been abused at home? Or exploited by the local occupying forces from Rome? And what was she saying, blaming it all on an angel and an ‘impossible story’ of God having a son!? When we put it like this, we can better understand the true trauma and drama behind this well-known Christmas story, but also better appreciate the amazing inner strength of this young girl in the face of a unique moment in history. Young people can be amazingly resilient, but even so they do need the surrounding care of a family of support in order to cope with the injustices and unfair tragedies that affect their lives. This is just the sort of support that The Children’s Society provides today.

For Mary, non-judgemental care and support did come eventually from Joseph and then later from her cousin Elizabeth, who gave her time and space to come to terms with her momentous vocation as the ‘mother of God’. She slowly grew into a new and bigger family support network where she could feel safe and fulfil her amazing promise to the angel to ‘let it be, according to your word’.

Mary’s song, known as the Magnificat from the opening words in the Latin, puts into words Mary’s processing of all that was happening to her. Not only was she being drawn into new human relationships that held her safe, but it is clear from her song that she had gained new perspectives on God’s love for her. In addition, she began to see that what was happening to her belonged to a much bigger narrative of God’s mercy from the very beginning. Mary sings of how God is creating a new sort of family for the humble, the poor and the powerless. Her bold and ambitious vision of this new family stands as a charter for all who seek to stand by, and stand up for, those who feel as alone and as fearful as Mary did.

As Christians, we know that everything depended on Mary’s ‘yes’ to the angel Gabriel’s message from the Most High. It is arguably the most momentous ‘yes’ in history. Because of it, the incarnation was possible, which in time led to our salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Mary’s song is in effect the first Christmas carol of the season – but it can be sung at any time because (like the Christingle itself) it celebrates the story of God’s love for every individual and for the whole world.

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Mary’s song about God’s blessing picks up on Elizabeth’s blessing when the two cousins meet. And yet that blessing often comes with a challenge and a cost.

Key verse from Mary’s song: God has blessed me (Luke 1.48).

How are God’s blessing and God’s love linked by the cross?

What cost are you prepared to pay to bless others in need?

4. Candle art

For this activity, you will need: a box of 10 household candles, A4 card and watery paint.

The candle in the Christingle represents Jesus as the light of the world. This is the light we are called to reflect through our own lives in acts of kindness and generosity that honour God who created us. We can do this in big and small ways each day and this activity offers the chance to explore these. Some of these may indeed be hidden from the world’s headlines, but are always precious in God’s sight.

Ԏ Using a candle as a pen, create a simple wax line drawing that illustrates helping others in some way, such as:

Holding a person by the hand; visiting a sick person in hospital; carrying someone’s shopping; sending a text message to someone who is on his/her own; putting money in a collection box; giving someone a present.

Ԏ The drawing will be difficult to see when you’ve finished but will come to life once you paint over the card with a watery paint.

How many different acts of kindness can you illustrate this way? In her song, Mary sings about empowering the humble. Their stories are often untold or ignored. This activity celebrates the small random acts of kindness that can make a difference in this world.

Key verse of Mary’s song: He puts the humble people in places of power (Luke 1.52).

What acts of kindness and generosity have you experienced in your life? How can you pass these on?

How does The Children’s Society help the vulnerable and needy in our society to experience kindness?

5. Orange boats

For this activity you will need: plenty of small oranges, knives (take care when working with young children), some pre-prepared blue jelly, cocktail sticks, small squares of coloured paper and sets of plastic food-preparation gloves (if you are going to use these creations in the meal later).

The orange of the Christingle stands for the world – God’s world. Did you know that there are thirteen segments in an orange when you cut it up carefully? Here’s an activity that challenges us to play our part in sharing God’s love with the world.

Ԏ Cut the orange carefully into segments.

Ԏ Stick a cocktail stick mast into each segment and give each one a paper sail.

Ԏ On each sail write down one of the ‘fruits of the Spirit’ as found in Galatians 5.22 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control). Add to these other fruits such as: generosity, humility, thoughtfulness and hope.

Ԏ Float these segments as boats on the blue jelly sea.

Ԏ These are the God-inspired good things that can change the world.

Key verse from Mary’s song: He helps his servant (Luke 1.54).

Which boat will you be sailing into your world today?

How do these spiritual gifts shape the work of The Children’s Society?

(NB These fruit boats could become something for your dessert at the meal later!)

Messy Church Christingle activities1. Ribbon hearts

For this activity, you will need: heart templates in cardboard, red ribbon, cotton wool and fabric glue.

The red ribbon tape around the Christingle is a sign of God’s mercy for the world he loves. Mary sings of God’s personal mercy towards her and God’s mercy to everyone. The word mercy expresses the depths of God’s love for us, who in no way could deserve or earn it. Although we hurt ourselves, others, and God’s world, God’s love for us remains constant, circling us just like the ribbon goes around the orange.

Ԏ Cut out the heart shape. To give the heart a 3D aspect, stick some cotton wool onto it and then wrap it carefully in the red ribbon until it is completely covered. Add a ribbon hanger and you can hang it up as a decoration.

Key verse from Mary’s song: God always shows mercy to everyone (Luke 1.50).

In what ways do God’s love and mercy surround us each and every day?

How is The Children’s Society showing God’s love and mercy towards children and young people who are in need?

2. Foil sculptures

For this activity you will need: a roll of kitchen foil, scissors and a selection of different translations of the ‘Magnificat’ (Luke 1.46-55).

The foil that is used on the Christingle around a candle is there to catch the melted wax and reflect the light of the Christ flame. However this foil can also be used to create elements of Mary’s song.

Ԏ Cut off a large piece of foil (approximately 20 cm square) and crunch this up gently into a loose ball.

Use this as your raw material from which to sculpt an object or a person related to Mary’s song. For example:

A hand raised in praise A figure bowed in humility A throne A crown A favourite food The different versions of the Magnificat might suggest other possibilities for a foil sculpture.

Key verse from Mary’s song: I’m glad because of God my Saviour (Luke 1.47).

Which part of Mary’s song do you like the best?

Which sculpture best links to the work of The Children’s Society, do you think?

3. Cocktail stick crosses

For this activity, you will need: a ready supply of cocktail sticks and bags of mini marshmallows. It’s advisable to put small quantities of marshmallows in a dish per person/family to avoid cross contamination.

The four cocktail sticks that will be inserted into the orange will eventually display symbols of God’s goodness to us. Their necessary sharp points however can sometimes be tricky for young fingers to handle. Care needs to be taken and perhaps this very fact can alert us to the mystery of God’s blessing.

There cannot be love without cost. Mary would discover this as she eventually had to let go and watch her son die. God’s love for us comes at the cost of the death of Jesus. To explore this:

Ԏ Build a freestanding cross using cocktail sticks and mini marshmallows.

Ԏ The marshmallows act as the joining pieces for the sticks. How big a cross can you build? NB The structure will be stronger if you use two or three sticks for each section of the cross.

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6. Everlasting love

For this activity you will need: strips of coloured paper approximately 22 cms long and 5 cms wide, coloured pens, glue sticks or tape.

The red ribbon around the Christingle reminds us of God’s love being like a circle that goes on forever. This simple activity uses the properties of the Möbius strip, a surface with only one side and only one edge, to illustrate this.

Ԏ Loop the paper strip on itself as if to make a segment of a chain, but before you stick it together twist the paper once and then connect the ends.

Ԏ What you create is a circle of paper that has only one side to it.

Ԏ Check this by writing on the inside of the loop the phrase God’s love never ends, taken from the chorus of Psalm 136.

Ԏ Keep on writing it and you’ll get back to where you started.

Ԏ It all appears to be written just on one side.

Ԏ Use coloured pens to illustrate this verse.

Ԏ You might like perhaps to make one really big example of this Möbius strip to use round the giant Christingle of Activity 9.

Key verse from Mary’s story: The Lord made this promise… forever (Luke 1.55).

What does it mean for you to say that God’s love never ends?

How does The Children’s Society bring this sort of love to those for whom human love has run out or run cold?

7. One light

For this activity, you will need: felt tips or paints for the primary colours (red, yellow and blue) and the secondary colours (orange, green and purple), a circle of white card and a pencil.

It is easy to forget that the white colour of light in the Christingle candle is in fact a mysterious blend of all colours. When we light the candle to remind us of Jesus being the light of the world, we can also understand it as Jesus being the one who brings us all together as one. Mary sings about God’s power in verse 49; however this isn't something destructive or intimidating but rather the power to unite our many differences into something beautiful and creative. With this is mind, the following activity explores the spectrum of colour in white light.

Ԏ Divide the card into six equal segments from the centre and paint or colour each segment a different colour.

Ԏ Alternate between the primary and secondary colours so that every other segment is a primary colour.

Ԏ Make a hole in the centre of the card for a pencil, point down.

Ԏ Turn the card by twirling the pencil rapidly so it becomes a spinning top.

Ԏ The colours should blend together into pale white.

Key verse from Mary’s song: God, All-powerful, has done great things (Luke 1:49).

How does Jesus help unite all of us into one with our different ‘colours’ of personality and gifts?

The Children Society works with all sorts of children and young people, inspired by the fact that Jesus cares for them all equally with the same bright light of God’s love.

8. Counting our blessings

For this activity you will need: Eight jam jars, bunches of grapes and cherries, boxes of dates, raisins, jelly babies, liquorice and fruit all-sorts, chocolates and Haribo™ sweets, paper and pens.

The cocktail sticks on the Christingle will contain good things to eat – usually sweets, but also fruits. The following activity challenge helps prepare for making the Christingle, but also turns it into a mini guessing game!

This activity does need some preparation but shouldn’t take too long.

Ԏ Count out how many of each sort of fruit or sweet you put into each full jar.

Ԏ Keep the totals secret.

Ԏ The challenge is for families to try and guess how many grapes or cherries or jelly babies etc there are in each jar.

Ԏ Keep a record of their guesses.

Ԏ The families who get closest to some of the totals could win a small prize given during the meal. Later on, use the fruits and sweets from the jars as ‘the fruits of the earth’ that are stuck on the cocktail sticks of the Christingle.

Key verse from Mary’s song: God gives the hungry good things to eat (Luke 1.53).

Many of us are fortunate to have choices about the fruits and sweets we eat. As you put each sweet onto a stick, you might like to think of something or someone in your life you are grateful for. Might you ever dare to forego your choices in order to help others who have none?

What takes choice away from the children and young people The Children’s Society helps?

9. Giant Christingle

For this activity you will need: A large ball (eg a fitness ball) – check your local pound shop for bargains here (or ask at a local school), large sheets of orange paper (or paper you can paint orange), a cardboard tube (a wrapping paper tube will work best), white paper to cover that

tube, card pieces to create a flame for the top of the ‘tube candle’, red wrapping paper for the ribbon (or perhaps the large Möbius strip from Activity 6), four short bamboo canes, small boxes of various shapes which can be covered or painted to represent sweets and fruits, plenty of paint, tape…and imagination!

As part of this Messy Church celebration, everyone will be making their own individual Christingles. The Giant Christingle activity offers the opportunity to make a huge Christingle together, which can be a visual aid for that celebration as well as a reminder that God’s blessings, God’s love and God’s light are for all of us together not just for ‘me in my small corner’. Mary recognised this when, in her song, she linked what was happening to her personally with how God was going to transform the whole world.

Assemble all the elements for this giant construction exercise. Set groups off to work on different parts of the Christingle:

Cutting the orange paper (or painting brown wrapping paper orange)

Covering your large ball in this orange paper

Cutting out the red paper for the ribbon

Wrapping the cardboard tube in white paper to create a candle

Constructing and painting a flame

Painting and wrapping the small boxes to pierce with the bamboo sticks

This big visual will be fun to make and also provide a focus for the worship in the celebration.

Key verse adapted from Mary’s song: With all my heart we praise the Lord (Luke 1.46).

Which part of this Christingle did you help to make?

How might this Christingle symbolize the ongoing support The Children’s Society offers to young people in need?

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Messy Church Christingle celebrationFor the celebration, you will need:

Oranges (with a hole that’s the same diameter as your candles), candles, squares of foil, cocktails sticks and ribbons to make individual Christingles. To save time, in advance make a hole in the centre of each foil square and the beginnings of a hole in the top of each orange ready for the candle. Sweets and fruits (you can use the jars of sweets and fruits from Activity 8), a map of England, a carton of map pins - one pin for everyone present. You may also like to use the giant Christingle from Activity 9 as the focus for your gathered worship.

Ԏ Gather everyone together.

Ԏ Some transition music is often useful for this – you might like to use the music you are going to sing whilst lighting Christingles to familiarise everyone with it. Here are some suggestions:

§ ➢Tell out my soul, Timothy Dudley-Smith

§ ➢ Hope of Heaven (The Christingle Song), Helen and Mark Johnson (Out of the Ark Music)

§ ➢Shine Jesus Shine, Graham Kendrick

§ ➢My Lighthouse, Rend Collective

§ ➢This little light of mine, Anon

§ ➢Like a Candle Flame, Graham Kendrick

or the following version of Mary’s song, which can be sung to the tune of ‘Joy to the World’:

With all my heart To God I sing. Because He's chosen me. The world will say I am the special one The mother of His Son The mother of His Son The mother…the mother of His Son.

My God is great And He is good; He's given what He said. He cares for everyone For people just like me For those of low degree For those of low degree For those…for those of low degree. Those with the power

He has bypassed The rich are not His choice. It is the poor He’ll help All the forgotten ones They will be Abram’s sons They will be Abram’s sons They will…they will be Abram’s sons.

With all my heart To God I sing. Because He's chosen me. The world will say I am the special one The mother of His Son The mother of His Son The mother…the mother of His Son.

Celebrate what has been enjoyed and created together. Very briefly link the activities, and any responses offered, to the song that Mary sings and to the parts of the Christingle. This will need some explanation if you haven’t covered Mary’s song as part of the Messy activities.

Say: this year we’re going to link our making of the Christingle to what was the first song of the New Testament as well as the first carol of Christmas! It’s the song that Mary sang when she visited her cousin Elizabeth to share the news of the baby Jesus inside her. This was going to be a baby who would change everything, and the song reflects that. Jesus was going to turn everything the right way up again because we as human beings have messed up God’s world. Mary sings about this with amazement in her song of praise.

Here are the opening lines of Mary’s song, adapted so we can use them as a call and response chorus while we make the Christingle.

Leader: We praise the Lord with all our hearts.

Everyone: Because God has rescued us.

Practice this several times. It may also be helpful to have the words up on a screen or written on a large piece of card so everyone can see them.

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1. Leader: Mary sang, ‘God cares for me, his humble servant.’

Invite each person to take an orange and then stick a small map pin into it.

The orange represents God’s world and the pin represents us. God cares for each one of us individually in this world, just as Mary discovered.

Leader: We praise the Lord with all our hearts.

Everyone: Because God has rescued us.

2. Leader: Mary sang, ‘God always shows his mercy to everyone who worships him.’

Invite everyone to wrap the red ribbon around the orange as a sign of God’s mercy.

God’s love never ends and surrounds us all each and every day.

Leader: We praise the Lord with all our hearts.

Everyone: Because God has rescued us.

3. Leader: Mary sang, ‘The Lord scatters the proud… puts down the mighty… lifts up the humble…sends the rich away empty.’

Invite everyone to stick the four cocktail sticks into the orange around the foil and above the ribbon.

The cross is what turns our ideas of power and privilege upside down and shows us the way of humility and service. Mary’s child would change the world this way.

Leader: We praise the Lord with all our hearts.

Everyone: Because God has rescued us.

4. Leader: Mary sang, ‘From now on all people will say I am blessed.’

Invite everyone to place a sheet of shiny foil with its hole, on top of the orange, like a blessing.

God loves this world and longs to bless everyone.

Leader: We praise the Lord with all our hearts.

Everyone: Because God has rescued us.

5. Leader: Mary sang, ‘God all-powerful has done great things for me and his name is holy.’

Invite everyone to push the candle gently through the foil into the top of the orange.

God is God of all the earth and is very, very special.

Leader: We praise the Lord with all our hearts.

Everyone: Because God has rescued us.

6. Leader: Mary sang, ‘God gives the hungry good things to eat.’

Invite everyone to stick their selection of sweets and fruits onto the cocktail sticks from small bowls on tables nearby.

God wants us to bring good into this world as we let Jesus work in and through our lives.

Leader: We praise the Lord with all our hearts.

Everyone: Because God has rescued us.

7. Leader: Mary sang, ‘God helps his servant people and has made a promise to us that will last for ever.’

This is the moment to light the candle. This should be done carefully with one or two people lighting candles which then become the source of light for the Christingle next to them.

This is not just a way to remember Jesus as the Light of the World, but also that the light in itself brings together all the different colours of our individuality so that we can work together and become a new family of love for the healing of the world.

Once all the candles are lit, repeat the chorus:

Leader: We praise the Lord with all our hearts.

Everyone: Because God has rescued us.

This is the moment to sing your special Christingle song based on the song that Mary sang.

Prayers

You might like to use a map as a focus for prayer. Everyone should hold their Christingle up, with eyes open, invite everyone to say ‘amen’ to this special The Children’s Society prayer:

Lord God, who made the whole of creation and yet knows every child and young person across its many continents, show your mercy towards those who struggle this day with fear, sadness and loneliness. Bless The Children’s Society as they reach out to all in need and show us how we can play our part in bringing your light into the dark situations they face. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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A final act for the celebrationInvite everyone to find the map pin which represents themselves on the Christingle and to put one finger over it, while still holding the Christingle carefully in the other hand.

Thank you Lord that, like Mary, we can experience your personal love for each one of us and at the same time rejoice that you are at work across the whole world, bringing your everlasting love to everyone, everywhere.

Let’s end the celebration with ‘the Messy Grace’. You will need to put your Christingles down for this. Take some time to practice the actions before you say ‘the Messy Grace’.

Hold out your hands in front of you, as if receiving a massive gift from God – May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

Cross your hands over your body, as if being hugged – And the love of God,

Join hands with those nearby – And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,

Lift your joined hands high joyfully – Be with us all, evermore. Amen.

Blow out the Christingles.

The Messy Church Christingle Meal

The meal is a vital component to the worship in a Messy Church. It is an opportunity to offer new families genuine hospitality that gives them a break from cooking at home; it is a huge friendship making time; and it is also the moment to be able to talk about the learning and their experience of God in the Messy Church service.

If you are holding your Christingle in the northern hemisphere in the dark days between Advent and Candlemas, a warm meal will be very welcome. It is worth budgeting time and money for this. If you choose a weekend afternoon slot for your Messy Church Christingle, then maybe a grand high tea might be the order of the day. (Don’t forget the orange boats that you may have made in Activity 5!) Whatever you choose, make it the best it can be and make sure you have enough chairs and tables for everyone to sit down in groups of 8 to 10, including places for the team. This is not the time for clearing up but for making friends and bearing witness to the light of Christ among your guests.

The meal is also a time for some other final elements of this Messy Christingle Service:

Ԏ Don’t forget to say a simple messy grace either as you go in to the meal or just before you start eating.

Ԏ You might like to include some of the Mealtime Conversation Starters on the tables (see the n ext section).

Ԏ This is an opportunity to pass around collecting envelopes for The Children’s Society and to say a few words about its latest projects and initiatives.

Ԏ Use a mealtime break between courses to share news of some of the other seasonal activities happening at your church or in the local community.

Ԏ Award simple prizes for the families who best guessed the number of fruits or sweets in the various jars (see Activity 8).

Ԏ Celebrate birthdays and other Messy Church family news.

Ԏ Hand out invitations to your next Messy Church along with literature about The Children’s Society as well as some Faith at Home ideas from this Messy Church Christingle (see the final section).

Ԏ You might also like to consider a small free gift for families such as Christmas Family Time from BRF here.

Mealtime conversation starters

1. Can you remember the first Christingle Service you ever came to?

2. Which part of the Messy Christingle Service did you like the best?

3. What new things have you learnt about the work of The Children’s Society?

4. Mary’s song is regularly sung in churches around the world. What you makes it so special, do you think?

5. Which part of the story of the Messy Christingle will you remember this time tomorrow?

6. In the story, Mary was a vulnerable teenager like many with whom The Children’s Society works. What do you think helped Mary through that bewildering and difficult time after the news from the angel?

Faith at Home ideas

Find a special place in your house or flat to keep your Christingle safe - you may have to replace some of the fruits and sweets that don’t make it home!

Find a quiet moment in the next few days to read through the story of Mary’s song from the Bible as a family together (Luke 1.46-55) and try to link it up the different parts to the Christingle.

Talk together as a family about how you might better support the work of The Children’s Society.

Find out more about The Children’s Society and see how the collection that was taken at your Messy Christingle Service at childrenssociety.org.uk