Advent Torch Relay
28 November 2008
Parishioners at St Catharine’s in Frome are joining with other Christians in the Somerset town during December to bring the true message of Christmas to as many people as possible. They are holding a torch relay around various venues including St Catharine’s during Advent, and will be singing carols wherever the torch rests on its journey.
Deacon David Brinn is one of the leading lights in this innovative approach to Advent. He told cliftondiocese.com, “Imagine the Olympic torch relay with a Christian twist. Each church will be responsible for the torch for two to four days and will then pass it on ceremonially to another church. Every day that church will take it to a different venue where as many Christians as possible will congregate to sing carols.
“The theme of the relay is ‘Jesus the Gift of Hope’ and it will round off the year of events and community action which the churches have organised and taken part in as part of the HOPE08 project. So successful has this joint work been that this idea is being taken on into the future under the banner HOPEFROME. In a way the torch relay symbolises this moving from one year long phase of collaboration and community action by Frome’s Christians, to another longer term one.”
The torch will be lit at a short service at the Anglican St John the Baptist on Church Steps at 4.45pm on Sunday (30 November). That is also the town’s Christmas ‘extravaganza evening’. Then escorted by hundreds of Frome’s Christians, the torch will make its way down Bath Street, through the Westway precinct to Market Yard where it will be the focal point for the community carol singing. The flame of the torch will then be used to light the fireworks at the end of the extravaganza, reminding people of the coming of the light of Christ into the world at the first Christmas.
The torch will then appear around town to bring the message to as many people as possible. The venues and times have been carefully chosen so as to reach as many different sections and age groups of our town and district’s population as possible. Eventually the torch will end its journey at Midnight Mass at St Catharine’s Catholic Church on Park Road.
Parishioners at St Catharine’s in Frome are joining with other Christians in the Somerset town during December to bring the true message of Christmas to as many people as possible. They are holding a torch relay around various venues including St Catharine’s during Advent, and will be singing carols wherever the torch rests on its journey.
Deacon David Brinn is one of the leading lights in this innovative approach to Advent. He told cliftondiocese.com, “Imagine the Olympic torch relay with a Christian twist. Each church will be responsible for the torch for two to four days and will then pass it on ceremonially to another church. Every day that church will take it to a different venue where as many Christians as possible will congregate to sing carols.
“The theme of the relay is ‘Jesus the Gift of Hope’ and it will round off the year of events and community action which the churches have organised and taken part in as part of the HOPE08 project. So successful has this joint work been that this idea is being taken on into the future under the banner HOPEFROME. In a way the torch relay symbolises this moving from one year long phase of collaboration and community action by Frome’s Christians, to another longer term one.”
The torch will be lit at a short service at the Anglican St John the Baptist on Church Steps at 4.45pm on Sunday (30 November). That is also the town’s Christmas ‘extravaganza evening’. Then escorted by hundreds of Frome’s Christians, the torch will make its way down Bath Street, through the Westway precinct to Market Yard where it will be the focal point for the community carol singing. The flame of the torch will then be used to light the fireworks at the end of the extravaganza, reminding people of the coming of the light of Christ into the world at the first Christmas.
The torch will then appear around town to bring the message to as many people as possible. The venues and times have been carefully chosen so as to reach as many different sections and age groups of our town and district’s population as possible. Eventually the torch will end its journey at Midnight Mass at St Catharine’s Catholic Church on Park Road.
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