Last Sunday, the 20th of December 2009, was quite a special one for us as a congregation and I thought I would let you share in a little of what that was like.

Let me first of all set the scene by saying that the Sunday before Christmas is usually a very quiet one for us. We have a lot of students in the congregation and of course most of them go home for Christmas. A lot of other people also leave the city at this time, and the cold weather also affects attendances - as does the fact that traditionally the Free Church does not celebrate Christmas. However this Lord's Day was different.

In the morning we had a very good attendance - about 100 people - a good number of children and the atmosphere was for me, warm and friendly (the renewed building has certainly helped in this area. I really enjoyed preaching on Philippians ch.2 . You can hear this by clicking on the sermon link a couple of posts further down - http://www.stpeters-dundee.org.uk/node/185

However I am also able to let you have a taste of our singing because we recorded some. Please remember that these are recorded live - complete with babies crying etc! They are not professionally layered or mastered...but I think that Colin Mackay did a fantastic job with this.

We began with Ps 148 - View 02-ps-148-m4a

and then we sang Psalm 34- http://drop.io/x30ghxv/asset/01-psalm-34-m4a

That morning we also sang a couple of paraphrases -

Firstly - While Humble Shepherds - http://drop.io/x30ghxv/asset/04-while-humble-shepherds-m4a

And then we finished with singing the passage we had been looking at , Philippians 2 - http://drop.io/x30ghxv/asset/03-philippians-2-m4a

In the evening we had a Christmas Fellowship which was informal and included a wonderful nativity play by the very young children from our Monday Club and also a short film made by the older children (thanks to Izzy Macleod for leading the Nativity play and Andrew Robertson for producing the film - they did a great job which was appreciated by the parents). We also had Wilma Kennedy singing the Gaelic Carol - Child in a Manger. And we sang a psalm, and a few carols as well. Some of these are below but please remember that these are recorded 'raw' and that the main singer , Mark Ellis, and the instruments were all miked through the speakers and so you will hear more of them - than of the congregation singing. So these give a slightly distorted picture. The singing was wholehearted and wonderful though. And it was wonderful to have so many non-Christians present. There were 150 people at the whole event. It was probably the best community outreach we have done in my 17 years here. May there be eternal fruit. (I have already had two people pop into the office this week and ask about Christianity Explored). Anyway here are some of the songs we sang...

First a traditional carol - Infant Holy - http://drop.io/x30ghxv/asset/05-infant-holy-m4a

Then a beautiful modern carol - From the Squalor - http://drop.io/x30ghxv/asset/06-from-the-squalor-m4a

And then a delightful mix - a new carol to the traditional tune Greensleeves - http://drop.io/x30ghxv/asset/10-what-child-is-this-m4a

We finished with two songs expressing our joy at Christ coming into the world....the joy was felt!

Firstly - Joy To The World (sorry this is cut a wee bit short) - http://drop.io/x30ghxv/asset/07-joy-to-the-world-m4a

And finally one of our favourite songs - its not a Christmas carol but it is wonderful sung theology. And it was great to see so many singing about Christ and the New Song.....with such enthusiasm...may the words they sung become true to every one. The song is 'Your Love Has Lifted Me". http://drop.io/x30ghxv/asset/09-your-love-has-lifted-me-m4a

And then to coffee, mince pies and cakes. Lots of conversations, laughter, questions and thanks. It was one of those joyful moments which make you so glad to belong to Christ and his church. May there be many more.