Soul Purpose Christmas

Soul Purpose once again offered a Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, together with much more, at the Trinity Centre – Fi Iddon (10.45) who was one of those organising the event, reflects on Soul Purpose Christmas 2013.

It’s always both a pleasure and a struggle to report back on Soul Purpose Christmas… a pleasure because the day has so many highlights, but it’s often a struggle to attempt to articulate these! Perhaps part of the struggle comes because the greatest joy is one of a loving atmosphere – it’s hard to describe this, but we know it when we feel it.

The Trinity Centre was full of joy, acceptance, love and friendship on Christmas Day, and those who came knowing no-one left with new friends.  We have really appreciated the more intimate atmosphere of the Trinity Centre in the last two years, and it’s certainly felt like a real family day.

Richard Lins (10.45) and his team provided a fantastic meal with all the trimmings and certainly no skimping on quality, which is such a witness to our guests of God’s abundant provision. Some guests came to Church first, and others (particularly those who tire easily) were collected just for the meal and after-noon entertainment.

The Trinity Centre looked fantastic; it was decorated in record time the day before alongside what must be the speediest veggie peel in history – 27 minutes to prepare veg. for over 100 people! Many hands really do make light work. And that’s another highlight of Soul Purpose – so many people contributing in such a variety of ways to make the day go smoothly.

I’ve written over 70 thank you letters to people from churches across the town: what a witness to our desire to work together to share the wonderful news of Jesus at Christmas.

Although Soul Purpose isn’t affiliated with any one particular Church, we are especially grateful to Trinity Churches for individual support, financial giving through the Café and for the loan of the Trinity Centre.

Each guest left with a party bag containing not only a piece of Christmas cake and some chocolates, but also a voucher for a tea or coffee in Café Connect, an invitation to Alpha and a booklet explaining why Christmas is so special for Christians.

Some of our guests are alone, others struggle for a variety of reasons and many have been particularly impacted by the austerity measures. We often think of Soul Purpose Christmas as a light shining in darkness but, as the darkness seems all the more threatening, so the light shines all the brighter. Our hope and prayer is that this will have pointed the way to the Light of the World who gives us the gift of living life to the full, whatever our circumstances.

The Next Soul Purpose event will be a weekend of community outreach, spearheaded by Christian young people from across our town, on the Spring bank Holiday weekend. Watch out for further information nearer the time.

Fi Iddon (10:45 congregation)