Today/Crèche at St Martin’s. For the 0-4 age group, with trained childcare leaders, takes place in the Austen Williams Room every Sunday. Please ask a steward to show you where to go.

Today/Prayers for Healing with anointing and laying on of hands are offered by our healing team following the 10am service each Sunday in the sanctuary.

Today/C-Club stall for Malawi. Following last week’s flourish of creativity, C-Club will be selling their cards, gift labels and other wonderful things in the Hall, following the 10am service. All money raised will be going towards St Luke’s Hospital in Malawi, where Susannah Woodd worked. Do come and visit our stall

Today/The Choir of St Martin’s has released a new Christmas CD, filled with choral favourites for Advent and Christmas, to raise funds for the continuing partnership between St Martin’s and St Mary’s Cathedral, Johannesburg. Christmas with the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields is available from choir members after the 10am service in St Martin’s Hall and thereafter in the Shop at St Martin’s.

Today/Theology Group, 12.00-1.00pm, Austen Williams Room. There will be an opportunity to reflect theologically on issues of the day and questions of forever with Revd Dr Sam Wells. All are welcome.

Today/Blessing of the Crib in Trafalgar Square, 5.30pm. Join us for the blessing of our Trafalgar Square Crib and an exciting dramatization of the Christmas Story with Chalk Farm Salvation Army Band, the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields and a live donkey. The collection will go to the 91st BBC Radio 4 St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal launched on Sunday 3 December. Please come and support us.

Today/Gospel Carol Service, 6.30pm. Join the Soul Sanctuary Choir for this uplifting celebration of Christmas, with readings from Mel Giedroyc and hip hop artist Wei, from Greenjade. This service is recorded by BBC Radio 4 for broadcast on ‘Sunday Worship’ at 8.10am on Sunday 17 December. Free entry however we encourage you to arrive in plenty of time to be certain of a seat.

Advent and Christmas Services. The full list of Advent & Christmas services is available in our whole site brochure and on our website. During Advent there will be no Evening Prayer, Monday Choral Evensong or Bread for the World. There will be no ticketing for capacity Christmas services: Gospel Carols, Nine Lessons and Carols, Community Carols and Parish Carols. Doors open 45 mins before the services start and as the church is often full we encourage you to arrive in plenty of time to be certain of a seat. We look forward to welcoming all of our visitors over this Advent and Christmas season.

Sacred Moments for Advent. Each day throughout Advent there will be a short reflection from the Revd Dr Sam Wells and guests, followed by a carol sung by one of our choirs. The series, in partnership with Premier Christian Radio, runs up to Christmas Eve, and will be broadcast on the Premier breakfast and lunchtime shows, as well as being released through St Martin’s Soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com/sacred_moments) and iTunes.

The artists and craftspeoples group at St Martin-in-the-Fields organised an excellent Advent Oasis on Advent Sunday. This was an ‘Oasis’ time of quiet reflection on Isaiah 40. 1 – 11, prayer and practical art. Art materials were available to explore, play with colour and be creative through collage, painting, drawing or writing. Many of the participants made lanterns using glasses and a variety of coloured papers. Our thanks to Sarah Sikorski and Noriko Inagaki for planning and leading the ‘Oasis’.

This week/Meditation Group, Tuesday 12 December, 6.30pm in the Dick Sheppard Chapel. The meditation group meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month. All welcome.

The changing monthly display by the artists and craftspeoples group in the Foyer of the Crypt for December is by Helen Grey. Each month a different member of the group will show an example of their work, so do look regularly to see the changing display.

Light the Well, Lightwell, extended to 14 December. An installation by Anna Sikorska which is comprised of lit porcelain lanterns made by the community of St Martin-in-the-Fields. You can buy a porcelain lantern to take away and light a small candle inside. Proceeds to the New Art Studio and Art Refuge UK, working with art therapy in the context of migration and displacement. Each lantern costs £10 (cash only). See Jonathan or Anna to purchase lanterns or go to the Box Office. Lanterns can be collected after the 10am service on Sunday 17 December.

Partnership with St Stephen, Walbrook to Enter New Stage. Three years ago St Martin-in-the-Fields entered into a partnership with St Stephen, Walbrook. St Stephen’s was looking to renew its life at a time when it wasn’t in a position to pay a full-time parish priest, and St Martin’s was looking to develop the national movement that HeartEdge has become. The partnership had three dimensions. (1) Jonathan Evens was appointed half-time Priest-in-Charge at St Stephen’s, and Half-time Associate Vicar for Partnerships at St Martin’s. (2) An extensive music partnership has developed with St Martin’s Choral Scholars singing at the Discover and Explore series at St Stephen’s on Mondays and St Martin’s Voices singing at the Thursday Eucharist. (3) There has been administrative support from St Martin’s including the provision of payroll services. Since February 2015 a number of things have changed. At St Martin’s, HeartEdge is growing apace and taking more of Jonathan’s time. His involvement in art and disability initiatives has been fruitful and hugely welcomed. At St Stephen’s, the opening of the enormous Bloomberg building across the road from the church has increased the number of people working in the parish immeasurably. The St Stephen’s PCC has decided that this is the right time for them to pursue their own pattern of ordained ministry, separate from St Martin’s, at this three-year juncture rather than after the five-year period originally envisaged. They anticipate the music and administrative partnership will continue. This means Jonathan Evens will move from 1 January to being full-time at St Martin’s. Even though this change has real positives for St Martin’s, St Stephen’s PCC recognises it doesn’t accord with the original plan and have undertaken to leave the financial arrangements unchanged for the next two years. We will be glad therefore to be seeing more of Jonathan at St Martin’s and to be enjoying his greater involvement with HeartEdge as it grows and develops.

The Archers, Thursday 21 December. The Archers Christmas party will be held at the Union Jack Club starting at 7.00pm on 21 December. Everyone is welcome but only 25 people can be accommodated so it will be ‘first come, first served’. To book, for menu choices and cost contact Ruth Hutchinson, 020 8801 9520, or Michael Moran, mtj_moran@yahoo.co.uk / 077 7627 1064.

Art Talk: Chinese Textiles, Monday 15 January 2018, 6.30pm, St Martin’s Hall. Talk by Jacqueline Simcox on Silks From Imperial China. Free tickets from https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lecture-chinese-textilestickets-38247649750. See Jonathan if you cannot access Eventbrite. The first in an occasional series of art talks focusing on aspects of Chinese Art and organised with the Chinese Speaking Congregations of St Martin’s.