As in many churches both here in Cyprus and throughout the world, Remembrance services were held on Sunday 13 November. Acts of Remembrance took place during the morning services at our three churches and our annual evening Service of Remembrance, held at Ayai Kyriaki, was exceptionally well attended. The reason for the very high attendance was partly due to there appearing to be no other such services held in Paphos this year.
Our annual Advent Carol Service held last Sunday evening (27 November) at Ayia Kyriaki (by St Paul’s Pillar) in Kato Paphos, heralded the beginning of the run-up to Christmas. For most of us this is a joyous occasion, buying presents, selecting ‘special treats and foods’ and arranging get-togethers with friends and family. During December we will be celebrating with many special services ranging from Christmas Carol services in our three churches, a children’s Christingle, Carol Singing in the King’s Mall (on Friday 16 December at 4pm) and midnight mass on Christmas eve. Full details of these and all of our other Christmas-time services are shown on our colourful advertisement in this edition of PALS, on our website www.paphosanglicanchurch.org and on our Facebook page, Anglican Church of Paphos and at the bottom of this article.
Some seasonal thoughts from our Parish Priest, Revd. Ken Waters
CHRISTMAS comes but once a year; but the speed that it comes around makes me doubt this! I don’t know about you, but I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the carol singing (although a lot of people would prefer me not to sing when they hear my out of tune voice), the lights, the trees, the presents and the busyness of it all. I even enjoy the shopping! But please feel sorry for my wife Wendy because she knows at this time of year all three ‘Santa Clause’ films as well as every other Christmas film will be played in our household whenever I get the time. I think it’s a real miracle that at the busiest time of the year for the clergy I can still manage to watch the films. As regular readers will know, I do really love this time of year. Holly and mistletoe going up. My wife has to put up with a permanent silly grin on my face, and my constant Christmas music at home and in the car; and I can hardly sleep on Christmas Eve. I’m always first up, even when my children were young, I was the one who woke them up with “come on, he’s been!” I don’t think I’ll ever change – I’ll still be the first at the tree for the presents, even my grandchildren don’t stand a chance of beating Granddad Ken! But still more exhilarating for me, is the other side of Christmas that really gets me just as excited, and that’s the real reason why we celebrate this time of year – the birth of Christ. Over 2000 years ago a small baby was born who would change the world by his birth, life, death and resurrection. He was born to save us. Now that’s a present. I hope to see some of you at the services over Christmas like the Carol Service, Christingle and Midnight Communion. Everyone is welcome to any or all of these services – come and feel warm from the inside and give thanks for all our blessings. (“Has he been yet? No go back to sleep”) Wishing you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2023. God Bless,
A short seasonal quiz – ‘Name That Christmas Carol or Song’ – Clues:
- Bleached Yule
- Castaneous-colored Seed Vesicated in a Conflagration
- Singular Yearning for the Twin Anterior Incisors
- Righteous Darkness
- Arrival Time 2400 hrs – WeatherCloudless
- Loyal Followers Advance
- Far Off in a Feeder
- Array the Corridor
- Bantam Male Percussionist
- Monarchial Triad
- Nocturnal Noiselessness
Answers can be found, nearer to Christmas, along with details of our regular services, event, activities and church locations on our website: www.paphosanglicanchurch.org
