Advent, Christmas & Epiphany Services
Normal weekday services will continue except between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. When a major holy day occurs on a weekday, the usual 8.30am Morning Prayer service will become a Eucharist.
Throughout Advent and Christmas, we encourage everyone to make a gift to the annual Christmas Bowl Appeal.
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Christmas
The common name for this festival of Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is derived from the older name, Christ Mass (just as Halloween is derived from All Hallows Eve). In the Western Churches the celebration extends for 12 days, as the old Christmas Carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas, reminds us. (Sadly, that song also reminds us that religious prejudice and fear of people whose religious practices are different from our own is not a new thing.) In the Eastern Churches, Christmas is celebrated on several different dates, with January 6 (our Twelfth Day, the Feast of the Epiphany) as the most common date. The liturgical colour for this special season is white or gold.
Friday, December 24 • Christmas Eve
5.00pm Christ Church Cathedral: Children’s Christmas Service
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11.00pm Christ Church Cathedral: Midnight Mass
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Saturday, December 25 • Christmas Day
9.00am Christ Church Cathedral: Eucharist
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Sunday, December 26 • Feast of the Holy Family
9.00am Christ Church Cathedral: Eucharist
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Sundays after Epiphany
The Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord Jesus Christ marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas. It is a special day to celebrate the visit to the Christ Child by the Oriental sages (the magi, or even "wise men") who were not part of the Jewish faith tradition but sensed God calling them closer in the birth of Jesus. The Sundays that follow Epiphany invite us to explore different ways that God is revealed to us today: in Jesus, in nature, in the Bible, in other people, etc. The liturgical colour for the Sundays after the Epiphany is green, even though the proper colour for Epiphany is white or gold.
NB: No services at Lawrence during January
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Sunday, January 2 • The Epiphany of the Lord Jesus (9.00am Sung Eucharist)
Sunday, January 9 • Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus (9.00am Sung Eucharist)
Sunday, January 16 • Second Sunday after Epiphany (9.00am Sung Eucharist)
Sunday, January 23 • Australia Day Celebrations (9.00am Sung Eucharist)
Sunday, January 30 • Fourth Sunday after Epiphany (9.00am Sung Eucharist)
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Sunday, February 6 • Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (9.00am Sung Eucharist)
Sunday, February 13 • Sixth Sunday after Epiphany (9.00am Sung Eucharist) 11am at All Saints, Lawrence
Sunday, February 20 • Seventh Sunday after Epiphany (9.00am Sung Eucharist)
Sunday, February 27 • Last Sunday after Epiphany (9.00am) with Parish AGM after the service
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