The Salvation Army Chatham

Christmas Eve has arrived at last. In fact our readers in far eastern countries are only a few hours away from Christmas Day. Somehow the Advent season seems to have gone by quickly this year.

Carol playing in the High St

All our musical groups have been involved in the ministry of carolling in one form or another and a number of privately organised groups have also participated in various ways. Above and below are pictures of the Band’s ministry in the High Street taken on a Sunday morning when the street was relatively quiet. At times, particularly on Saturdays, it was positively ‘heaving’ with shoppers.

Major Drew speaking to the shoppers

Yesterday our morning meeting was led by Major Kathy.

Major Kathy

For this final Sunday of advent we continued with the theme ‘Behold th e King’. Using Matthew 2:13-23 she included songs 81and 82 from The Salvation Army Song Book, 1419 and 410 from Songs of Fellowship and the carol ‘Unto us a Boy is Born‘. The Singing Company and Songsters again provided musical ministry, the children with ‘All the Days of our Lives’ and the Songsters with ‘A manger filled with Love’.

For the children Kathy told the Christmas story with some help from both young and old alike. Audience participation was encouraged and the hall rocked with laughter at the reaponse received!

In her scripture message Major Kathy invited us to consider the character of Herod. He was desperate to achieve the loyalty of his people knowing that his title was not genuine. The hint of another king terrified him. His loyalty was to himself and he was concerned only for his survival. He was suspicious of the birth of Jesus and was disturbed by it. Consequently he made plans to be rid of the threat. Insecurity was the seed that grew into a destructive nature. In fact, Jesus did not come to threaten Herod but to be the means of the salvation of the world. He did challenge the nature of that world, though. Have you been challenged by Jesus? We need to acknowledge where the real majesty lies. He is the King of Kings!

In the evening we enjoyed our carol serrvice, come to be known as our ‘corps’ carol service to distinguish it from the public concerts held each year in The Central Theatre. Major Drew was our leader.

Major Drew

The evening saw a capacity congregation in attendance including many who normally only attend some of our mid-week activities. It opened with the Timbrels and included a number of traditional carols sung by the congregation. Click the following links to see the carols used. (SA Song Book Nos. 82, 84, 85 and 90 together with ‘A Starry Night‘ and ‘Calypso Carol‘). All four of our corps musical sections contribited to the occasion and the Worship Band accompanied two of the carols. The Band brought ‘Christmas Idyll’, the Songsters ‘The Saviour’s Day’, the Singing Company ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ and the Junior Band ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas’. The singing of ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’ by Christine Lockwood heralded the Nativity scene which paved the way for the BBC presenter, the late Sir Robin (actually Nigel) Day to interview the wise men, the shepherds and Joseph and Mary in order to try to understand the mystery of that first Christmas night. This prepared the congregation for the message which was given by Major Drew. He said we often complain that the Christian message is lost in the ‘business’ of the modern Christmas season. We must start with the central character, Jesus. Earlier we were asked the question ‘what would we have done if we had been there?’ We have to respond to this question, even today 2000 years later. All of us, no matter how lowly, can be ‘at home’ in His presence. The way we live is the answer to the question ‘how would we respond?’ Jesus gave us many illustrations of how we should live and we must learn to live with His message constantly in our minds.’Do it for others and you do it for Him’ Do we need to change our values to enable us to serve others?

Here are some pictures taken during the service.

There will be a Christmas Eve service in our Hall at 11.30pm this evening (preceded by mulled apple juice at 11.15) and all are welcome. During the service the white ‘Christ’ candle will be lit to herald the birth of Jesus. We are also planning a special item for this website tomorrow (Christmas Day) so join us if you can. The item will remain on the site for the period of the Christmas celebrations and we invite you to return as often as you wish to reflect and worship.

Finally let us leave you with the responsive reading with which we began our morning meeting yesterday:

In the beginning the world was dark

But the Word was there

God said ‘let there be light’ and there was light

Through the Word light came into being

God saw the light was good

But people loved the darkness

A man of God called John told of the light

The light was coming into the world

The Word became a baby, God’s son came to live among us

He shone in our darkness

Jesus Christ is God’s living Word

He is the Light of the World

Alleluia!

Pretty straightforward isn’t it. Why do people find it so difficult?

Have a great Chrsitmas wherever you are and whatever you are doing. See you all again soon.