Advent 9 - Christingle with Graham Kendrick

 December 9th

Micah 5:2-5

The Coming Messiah

² “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”

³ Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth;
Then the remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
⁴ And He shall stand and feed His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;
And they shall abide,
For now He shall be great
To the ends of the earth;
⁵ And this One shall be peace.

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Click on the arrow to listen to this beautiful song by Graham Kendrick



The tradition of Christingle originated in Germany (yes, the Germans brought us this too). 

One Christmas Eve Bishop Johannes de bottom de Watteville decided to make a simple symbol to give to the children in the Moravian Church to explain the love of Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas. He gave each child a lit candle wrapped in red ribbon with a prayer which said: "Lord Jesus, kindle a flame in these dear children's hearts".

In 1968, John Pensom of The Children's Society introduced Christingle services to the Anglican Church from where it spread.

So, a Christingle is symbolic and made up of:

an orange, which represents the world

  

a red ribbon tied around it representing the blood of Christ

 

dried fruits or sweets skewered on four cocktail sticks pushed into the orange, representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons

a white candle pushed into the centre of the orange, representing Jesus Christ as the light of the world.

Here's one attempted earlier (I think it requires some attention):

Find this and other Advent recipes in our Advent Recipe Book, available from Amazon