Christingle 2012

For over 40 years The Children’s Society Christingle has been a key part of celebrations within churches and has raised essential funds to support the charity’s work with vulnerable children and young people across the country.

The Christingle is an orange, which represents the world. Around this is a ribbon which represents the blood of Christ shed for all. It is also spread around the world as the spirit of the Lord is all around the Earth. There are 4 sticks in the Christingle which represent the 4 season and the 4 points of the world, North, East, South and West showing how Gods presence is all around the world.

On each of these sticks are some fruits or marshmallows representing the fruits of the world. Around the base of the candle we have a piece of green foil to represent the advent wreath  or sometimes silver foil to represent the light of Christ reflected in us. Finally there is a lighted candle,  which represents the light of the world

The origins are said to come from a Christmas in 1747 in Germany, when Bishop Johannes de Watteville thought about how he could explain the love of Jesus and what Christmas really means to the children in the church. He decided to make a simple symbol to express the message of Christmas in a fresh and lively way. Pastor Johannes de Watteville gave each child a lighted candle wrapped in a red ribbon, with a prayer that said "Lord Jesus, kindle a flame in these dear children's hearts".

Today we had our own Christingle service with many young children coming, collecting a Christingle. We collected money for the Children's Society and collected new toys for giving to the local children's refuge to ensure that all those children had a present to open on Christmas Day.