Welcome
The Shirwell Mission Community comprises eight Churches in seven rural parishes in North Devon:
Bratton Fleming; Challacombe; East Down & Arlington; Kentisbury; Loxhore; Shirwell and Stoke Rivers.
The Mission Community
Services during December 2018
The Mission Community lies within the Shirwell Deanery and covers an area of just under 50 square miles with a population of approximately 2600.
The parishes extend north east of Barnstaple to the Exmoor National Park and the Somerset border.
The Rector is Revd Rosie Austin, who lookes after the seven parishes. She is assisted by a curate Revd Martyn Tyrrell, two retired clergymen, Rev Chris Tull from Challacombe and Rev Mike Miller from South Molton.
Rosie lives in Bratton Fleming, the largest of the parishes and placed centrally within the Mission Community.
Martyn lives in Shirwell, the second largest parish.
All enquiries for weddings, funerals and baptisms should be made to Rev Rosie Austin:
Telephone 01598 711962
Email: rosieaustin@live.co.uk
Carol Services
Sunday 16 December
East Down 3.00pm
Shirwell 6.30pm
Saturday 22 December
Bratton Fleming 7.00pm
Sunday 23 December
Challacombe 3.00pm
Kentisbury 6.00pm
Loxhore 6.30pm
Stoke Rivers 6.30pm
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Date |
Place |
Time |
Service type |
|
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December 2
Advent 1
Purple |
Bratton Fleming Shirwell East Down Loxhore Challacombe Methodist Chapel |
09.30 09.30 11.15 15.00
15.30 |
Holy Communion Holy Communion Holy Communion Evening Prayer BCP
Christingle |
|
December 9
Advent 2 Purple |
Bratton Fleming Stoke Rivers Challacombe Shirwell |
09.30 11.15 11.15 16.00 |
All Age Worship Morning Worship Holy Communion Christingle |
|
December 14 |
Bratton Fleming |
14.00 |
School Carol Service |
|
December 16 Advent 3
Purple |
Bratton Fleming East Down
Shirwell |
09.30 15.00
18.30 |
Holy Communion East Down with Arlington Carol Service Carols by Candlelight |
|
December 19 |
Kentisbury |
10.30 |
School Nativity Service |
|
December 22 |
Bratton Fleming |
19.00 |
Village Carol Service |
|
December 23
Advent 4
Purple |
Bratton Fleming Shirwell Challacombe Kentisbury Loxhore Stoke Rivers |
09.30 09.30 15.00 18.00 18.30 18.30 |
Gather for Prayer Morning Worship Carol Service Carol Service United Village Carol Service Carols by Candlelight |
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December 24 Christmas Eve |
Bratton Fleming Challacombe Bratton Fleming Shirwell
|
16.00 22.00 23.30 23.30 |
Crib Service Holy Communion Midnight Communion Holy Communion (combined with East Down) |
|
December 25 Christmas Day
White |
Loxhore Shirwell Bratton Fleming Stoke Rivers |
08.00 09.30 10.00 11.15 |
Family Communion Family Communion Family Communion Family Communion |
|
December 30 Christmas 1 White |
Shirwell |
11.00 |
Team Service |
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Christmas Services
Christmas Eve
Bratton Fleming
Unrehearsed Nativity 4.00pm
Challacombe Holy Communion 10.00pm
Bratton Fleming
Midnight Communion 11.30pm
Shirwell Midnight Communkion 11.30pm
Christmas Day
Loxhore Family Communion 8.00am
Shirwell Family Communion 9.30am
Bratton Fleming Family Communion 10.00am
Stoke Rivers Family Communion 11.15am
Curate's Ramblings December 2018
Advent
How many days are left until Christmas? Are you counting? Are you looking forward with expectation or a weary resigned shrug?! In recent years one of the shifts in our society has been the move away from the illusion that we all share the same understanding of our shared lives. It may be that we are beginning to recognise a more truthful interpretation, which is that in our society people are very different from one another and hold very different ideas. Christmas has always been a time of great expectation and delight for some yet always a time of sadness for others. The season of Christmas does not mean the same to everyone and we are not all looking forward to the same events.
Advent is the name given to the weeks that span the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. It is when the church community looks not back to the Bethlehem story but forwards to the way that we believe all of our shared stories will end. A day has been set, on a date unknown to us, when everything will be changed. It is for this reason that the season of Advent is the season of hope, and the Bible tell us it is a hope that we are all invited to turn towards. It is the Christian hope that says that our divided lives in this divided world do not represent the destiny that awaits us.
The darkness of this world- the problems, the pain and death itself- will come to an end on a day when Jesus will return. This will be the return of our God who will not be seen as a baby in a manger or a figure on a crucifix, but as the saving God who will make everything new. Advent reminds us that at a time when nations are in anguish, those who choose to turn to Jesus are part of a story that ends well – that there is reason to stand up in hope. Our hope begins to be seen in the practice of forgiveness, in the promise of reconciliation, and our hope awaits the dawn of light that never ends. There is joy in looking to the horizon of the future because beyond that horizon is the advent of Jesus Christ.
May you know something of that joy during this Christmas season!
Martyn