Hi All - hope you are well. Hope you enjoyed the Harvest Brunch session for those who managed to come to the Community Centre.
This time its a message from Rev Delphine and a pumpkin activity to try at home.
From Rev Delphine:

Pumpkin time again! Do Pumpkins and being a Christian go together? Well, a story Eleanor pointed out to me made me think, and then my granddaughter, Nancy was telling me that last year they had visited a pumpkin field and she had found lots of “squishy” pumpkins, which had rotted on the vine. That took me back to Eleanor’s story, which, yes you are right, I am about to tell you.

A lady had recently been Christened, and a friend asked her what it was like to be a Christian, She was a bit lost for words at first, and then she noticed a pumpkin that had been sculptured to be a symbol of Christian hope. There were crosses carved into it and the light of a candle shone brightly through, shining Christ’s light into the gloom of the evening………………….and she began to answer the question,

“Well, it’s a bit like being a pumpkin, God picks you out of the patch, and brings you in and washes the dirt off on the outside. He then cuts off the top and takes all the yucky stuff from inside you. He removes all those seeds of doubt, greed, fear and prejudice. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all to see”.

It is your choice to either stay outside, and rot on the vine, like the ones Nancy found, or come in and be something new and bright.

Will you be smiling today, and shining with His light?


Pumpkin activity from Eleanor:
The activity is to decorate pumpkins, see picture above, rather than carving them, just to be a bit different. In the photo they look a bit like curling stones! However they are mini pumpkins painted with acrylic paint, some tape round the middle and decorated with hearts and other stickers. Hope you like them and enjoy decorating them in any way you like.

Date for your diary: Messy Christingle in the Community Centre, Acton Trussell (not in church as in previous years, for Covid reasons) on the afternoon of 24th December (provisionally at 2pm). Hope you will all be there to make your orange Christingles.

Best wishes from
Acton & Bednall Messy Church Team