St Faith’s through the Church’s year A sequence of images of worship at St Faith’s following the church’s year from the season of Advent, together with highlights of other services Part One: from Advent to Good Friday Click on each slide to move to the next slide

Advent The church’s year begins in early December with the feast of Advent, celebrating the impending coming of Christ Jesus into the world at Christmas On the Advent wreath, a new candle is lit by a child on each of the four Sundays before Christmas At the family service during Advent 2009, Father Christmas made an early appearance to explain to the children the true meaning of Advent and Christmas

Toys on Parade At the Advent Family Service in an earlier year, the first candle is lit on the Advent wreath The congregation bring presents to be distributed to needy local children

The Christmas Tree Festival Since 2009, we have hosted a charity Christmas Tree Festival in early December. 50 local and national charities and organisations sponsor and decorate trees to raise money for their causes

The Christmas Crib As Advent gives way to Christmas, the crib is constructed and decorated beneath the nave altar

Candlemass The Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple In February, a service celebrated by candle-light relieves the darkness of the year as we look forward to Lent and the ultimate victory of light over darkness at Eastertide

Celebrating Christmas At the Christingle service on Christmas Eve, children and parents process round the darkened church carrying lighted Christingles At the Christmas midnight High Mass, the coming of the Saviour is celebrated with full ceremony

Mothering Sunday The solemn season of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, is relieved on Mothering Sunday, when the children are presented with flowers to give to their mothers

Palm sunday The events of Holy Week, which ends the Lenten season, begin with Palm Sunday. We process from Merchant Taylors’ School to church, led in 2009 by a donkey, and the church is decked with palm branches to mark Christ’s entry into Jerusalem

Maundy Thursday On the Thursday of Holy Week we recall the solemn events of the Last Supper, The celebrant will wash the feet of members of the congregation; those present will gather round the nave altar for communion; then sanctuary party and people process to the Lady Chapel to recall the events in the Garden of Gethsemane

Maundy Thursday The Lady Chapel has been decked with flowers, greenery and many candles to represent the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed on the night before his crucifixion. Members of the congregation will keep watch there until midnight.

Good Friday On the day when the Church recalls Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, the Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday is celebrated. The Great Crucifix is borne from the back of church to the choir, where it is erected and where the congregation come forward to kneel at the Saviour’s feet

St Faith’s through the year slideshow 2 St Faith’s today slideshow Part Two covers the church’s year from Easter Eve to the Patronal Festival in October. Go to.... St Faith’s through the year slideshow 2 Archive slideshow 1 Archive slideshow 2 St Faith’s today slideshow The home page Use the home page links(or the search engine) to access features on our major celebrations throughout the year – as well as many other aspects of our church’s life and worship Design, text and photography by Chris Price