The Salvation Army Chatham

Once again we have begun our Christmas season with the Carol Concerts at the Central Theatre.

O Come, All Ye Faithful

Whilst we were again this year a little disappointed with the attendance (well, its still November isn’t it?) several hundred people shared in the experience and seemed to enjoy themselves greatly. The newly formed Community Gospel Choir proved to be a great success and members said how much they had loved being part of the group.

Colour in dress and performance

Bringing the word ‘Christ’ to the fore as being the ‘word on the street’, the beginning of Christmas, the various corps groups produced two hours of  enjoyment and challenge to the appreciative audiences. The collection of toys for distribution to needy families was as fruitful as ever and the monetary collection will support our development plans for the ‘Community Hub’ in Chatham. Here are a few selected pictures of the event.

Timbrels

Angels

Singing Company

Primary

Gospel Choir

Junior Band

Songsters

Band

Mark/Jessica

Congregation/Santa

Finale

A full Saturday morning of rehearsals, followed by two performances, left everybody very tired, especially the children. Consequently our Sunday worship comprised only a morning meeting. In any case the Singing Company were involved in The Salvation Army’s territorial carols evening at the Royal Albert Hall and had quite a large following from the corps, especially parents and family of course. Another long day for them and we hope they’ll be able to stay awake at school today! Hopefully we’ll have a report later in the week (on the RAH, not the schools).

Meanwhile we would like to express our thanks to all who worked tirelessly for the success of the Carol Concerts. So many peole were involved that it makes it impossible to remember everyone personally. But grateful we are, none the less.

This was the first Sunday of the advent season and the first candle was lit during the morning meeting.

Ruth lights the first candle

The meeting, led by Major Beverley, included songs 12, 79, 86 and 156 from the Salvation Army Song Boook and 736 from Songs of Fellowship. Scripture was included from Matthew 2:1-12 with further quotations from Psalm 33:20, Psalm 34:3, Jeremiah 33:3 and Psalm 118:1. No contributions were brought from our musical sections.

In her message Major Beverley brought some thoughts around the carol ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ and said:

Why was Bethlehem significant? It was because of the expectation of the Jewish religion for about 1000 years as described in the prophecy of Micah. God fulfilled His promise in Bethlehem when Jesus was born and pressed the ‘start’ button for the saving of the world.

Many people look to the ‘stars’ to see the future, Not a concept which we accept but on this occasion God used the stars to proclaim Jesus’ birth. People wanted to celebrate this great event but Jesus came ‘silently’. No one heard His coming. King Herod was afraid and the people also became afraid of Herod himself. What would he do? We now know that he resolved to kill Jesus and this is reflected in modern day society when people kill others. We live in a ‘world of sin’. The same messy world that Jesus was born into. There are plenty of tyrants like Herod alive in the world today. People who need obvious judgement. But who really needs to be saved? The carol says ‘descend to US – cast out OUR sin. We all need God’s salvation. WE need the Saviour. ‘When meek souls will receive Him, still the dear Christ enters in’. This is the most precious gift of all.

Major Beverley McCombe

Finally a reminder. Churches together in Chatham organise the tree of hope in the town centre. This is a tree where stars can be hung in memory of a loved one. At the same time a charity collection is made and this year we are the nominated charity for our community work. We need volunteer col­lectors each Saturday in December ( 5th, 12th and 19th) to stand in 1 or 2 hour stints from 10am—5.00pm. On the 12th of December The Salvation Army have the responsibility to ‘man’ the tree and help with people writ­ing their messages on the stars to be hung on it. This is in addi­tion to any carolling during December. Any members of the public who would like to be associated with this activity should contact us please. We will be very grateful for any time you can give.