Christmas in the Carpark services at Bognor Regis church

Vicar Revd Tim Crook said; “When the Government recently announced that we were now thankfully allowed to sing outdoors, it was a real game changer to our plans and programme.

“We love singing the well-known carols about Jesus, who is the true centre and meaning of Christmas.

“During the August summer Sundays, we held some terrific Church in the Carpark services.

“God’s provision for us, now means that we can continue the celebration to mark the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus.

“At South Bersted we don’t believe that one-size-fits-all so for over a decade we’ve been offering a programme of both traditional organ and robed-choir led services and contemporary informal services, some aimed at families and others for adults.

“Being outdoors means that we can do things which we couldn’t ordinarily do, such as toasting marshmallows over fire braziers, singing around a huge Christmas tree and having a life-size Nativity installation, where guests can take their photos.

“Participants can have one of our takeaway carol programmes with the words, or follow along on their smartphone or tablet from the lyrics on our website or pdf download.

“If it’s wet we will transfer all the services indoors, where we can remain socially distanced in our households, but sadly we cannot sing out loud and will need to be masked inside.

“It would be strange to think of us, saving Christmas, when the real meaning of the season is how God saved us, in sending His Son Jesus to rescue us from the consequences of our rebellion towards God’s rightful loving rule over our lives.

“There is already much talk in the media from the Government’s experts about how things will be different next year by Easter.

“At South Bersted church, we put our hope in Easter for another reason, not a vaccine from Covid but the death and resurrection of Jesus.

“In the new year, we are launching a series, we are calling ‘94’, and invite anyone to join us, on a journey with Jesus through Mark’s gospel from New Years day to Easter days.

“We are dividing the gospel of Mark into 94 bite-sized chunks and will produce a devotional thought via email each day.

“There will be sermons on Sundays, which are available online and small group discussions on Zoom, to follow them up and discuss them as we track down towards celebrating Easter.

“There is so much to be thankful for as God has been so kind to us despite our rejection of Him.”

Limited tickets to the free Christmas services are available at www.southbersted.org.uk

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