Special Services
Some photos from this year – Good Friday, Pentecost, Blue Christmas and Christmas Eve
CHRISTMAS SEASON 2025:
CAROLS SERVICE – This year we are joining the Montrose Church of Christ and the local community to celebrate Christmas in the Montrose Town Centre gardens. The program commences at 5:15pm on Sunday 14th December. Bring along your picnic chairs and blankets, and enjoy a free sausage sizzle, Christmas craft, face painting for the kids and a special visit from…you know who! The Carols will begin at 6:30pm. Come and celebrate the joy of Christmas with family, friends and neighbours.
BLUE CHRISTMAS SERVICE – for those who find celebrating Christmas, and the Christmas season difficult
7:30pm Wednesday 17th December
CHRISTMAS EVE
11pm Wednesday 24th December
CHRISTMAS DAY – Celebrate with us
9:30am Thursday 25th December
ACTIVITIES OVER THE CHRISTMAS SEASON:
CAROLS SERVICE:
7pm Sunday 15th December
BLUE CHRISTMAS SERVICE: for those who find celebrating Christmas, and the Christmas season difficult
7:30pm Wednesday 18th December
CHRISTMAS EVE:
11pm Tuesday 24th December
CHRISTMAS DAY: Celebrate with us!!
9:30am Wednesday 25th December
Everyone and anyone is welcome to all of our services.
ALL SAINTS DAY – celebrated on Sunday 3rd November
There was a range of activities undertaken on the day:
Decorating a prayer flag
- in memory of a person who you have known and loved who has died, or
- in thankfulness for a person who still has the light of God shining through them or
- as a symbolic statement of your own intent to live as a saint.
Prayers were said:
1. Near the circular mosaics –
In the company of friends, and in the present memory of all who have gone before us,
we meet in this welcoming garden, around these mosaics which remind us of our history, to remember.
We do so together
in the grace of Christ,
in the love of God
and in the companionship of the Spirit.
We gather to remember and to honour those we love who have gone before us.
As we gather in faith, we are reminded that, although our bodies return to dust, we shall all be raised with Christ in glory.
Invitation to name loved ones
2. Near the new garden seat
This seat and the garden is a picture and a reminder of our Montrose UCA community today – our saints at work in all sorts of ways
Prayer for others:
3. Near the Peace Tree
Blessing:
Zulu people have a beautiful way of greeting each other and some African congregations have a lovely way of sharing the blessing at the end of a service.
We are going to combine both for our blessing to finish this service today.
I chose this location beside the Peace tree on purpose because the Zulu greeting is a way for individuals and groups in formal and informal situations to come together peacefully.
It seems to me to also be a way to take leave of each other with the promise that we will be very happy to see each other again and we hold special memories of each other.
This is where the name tags will come in handy for some of us. Everyone lines up, and in a circular motion, we move to greet each person with the words: I see you, Saint ……
PENTECOST
Our recent celebrations for Pentecost were colourful indeed with an array of balloons and streamers.
As part of the service on June 2nd (Pentecost 2), a poem called One Day, by Martin Luther King Jr was used:
One day, youngsters will learn words they will not understand
Children from India will ask: what is hunger?
Children from Alabama will ask: what is racial segregation?
Children from Hiroshima will ask: what is the atomic bomb?
Children at school will ask: what is war?
You will answer them.
You will tell them: those words are not used any more
like stage coaches, galleys and slavery
Words no longer meaningful
That is why they have been removed from dictionaries.
We continue to live in hope, through Jesus Christ.
LENT AND EASTER SERVICES:
Lent officially begins on Ash Wednesday, which is February 14th this year.
The following Sunday, February 18th, there will be a special service led by Dr Peter Harris, held at 9:30am.
Good Friday service is March 29th, 9:30am – a time of quiet reflection.
Easter Sunday if March 31st, 10:30am – a time of celebration.
Please join us as you wish.