Churches Together Marple Area

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‘Celebrating our unity, respecting our differences, we witness the love of Christ and help people to follow Him’

Please look at individual churches for details of their services etc. Links to the Churches to the Churches HERE
Find them on the map Here

Updated December 4th 2025

United Reformed Church Link magazine for December and January to download Linknov2025 LINK DEC JAN 2026

THIS SATURDAY ( DECEMBER 6TH)

We are giving out Christmas booklets to children and leaflets with times of all our churches Christmas services.

If you could help for a short while it will be good to see you . The leaflets are in a box at Gascoigne Halman estate agents on Town Street

More details and offers of help to Marian

0161 427 7254

SUNDAY 7TH DECEMBER RIDGE METHODIST CHURCH
3 pm Christmas celebration party with crafts and food at Ridge Methodist followed by
4 pm Nativity, Christingle and Carol service

Download this year’s leaflet of all our churches services:CT Services Christmas 2025 pdf

PRAY AND REFLECT ADVENT: HOPE, PEACE, JOY AND LOVE With thanks to National Justice and Peace Network for these Advent reflections

SUNDAY 7TH DECEMBER – THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT – WEEK 2 PEACE
I will hear what the Lord God has to say; a voice that speaks of peace, peace for his people. Psalm 85:8

THE IN-BETWEEN TIMES Advent is about the in-between times and Advent is where God will meet us. We have on one hand, a world in disarray and it doesn’t seem like there is much hope. On the other hand, we have a vision of something better. That’s the struggle of Advent. A new born baby in a stable announcing: ‘Peace on earth’ or a man on a cross crying: ‘Forgive them, Father’. It is a bridge. The Jesus who does not solve all the problems or remove all the pain and suffering, but who says that fear can be met with faith and that history and hope do rhyme. (Source unknown)

TO BRING PEACE AMONGST PEOPLE When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and the princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner,Mto rebuild the nations, to bring peace amongst people, to make music in the heart. Howard Thurman

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 30TH – THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

HOPE Let us see, O Lord, your mercy and show us your saving help. Psalm 85:7

WAITING AND WATCHING
Advent is about two comings. It’s about waiting and watching for the coming of the Christ child – new life, new birth, new hope coming into our world and into our lives. It is the fulfilment of God’s promises.
But it‘s also about waiting and watching for the end times when the fullness of God’s kingdom will be revealed. Both these advents are about the coming together of humanity and divinity.
We are called to prepare the way of the Lord. We watch and reflect on who we are. We live with expectancy and anticipation of God’s presence in our lives. We wait for the angelic messenger that promises us that the womb of our humanity will bear a child named Jesus. Advent reminds us that waiting and watching are holy work. So how do we do this? Silence is the key. Silence is a way of waiting, a way of watching, and a way of listening to what is going on within and around us. We come to self-knowledge through stillness and silence, through attentiveness and watchfulness. © Michael K. Marsh and Interrupting the Silence from The Season of Advent – Holy Waiting and Watching
SLOW DOWN AND LISTEN
In our busy, stressful world, we have to consciously seek out silence and stillness. God speaks in all sorts of ways – through scripture, through nature, through other people. However, unless we slow down and listen, we miss his promptings and his voice. Only then can we truly appreciate the value of the journey, as well as the destination; the value of slowing down, looking and listening; learning from the rhythms of nature; from the formation of community along the way, and from times of stillness and rest.
So often we rush through life at breakneck speed, never pausing to reflect and be still. It is only when we slow down and look that we really see. By slowing down, and being more present to each moment, all sorts of lessons are learned. For some people, this might involve the healing of painful memories. For others, it could be time to discern the next stage in life. For many, it is a chance to really get away and listen to God. For me, it is an invitation to a whole way of being – one that recognises that God is not ‘out there’ to be sought, but already ‘in here’ to be found. © Annie O’Connor from The Camino: Finding Stillness and Presence
THE SILENCE OF LOVE
Be still and know. Be still and look. Abandon yourself to God in longing love, simply, holding on to nothing but God. God’s silence is the silence of love.
It is good to wait in silence for God’s coming. (Source unknown)