Carols for all - Christmas 2011 with St Luke's

Christmas is a special time for St Luke's - as it is for any Christian community - and in 2011 we took the opportunity to put it about a bit.

Jesus Christ wasn't born in a church, or just for church people, so Christmas is a time for getting out of church and inviting people into it.

For a good many years now St Luke's has hosted a carol service in mid-December for our neighbours at York City Football Club. Mark Comer's photo (he managed to get back behind the camera where he feels at home this year) shows members of City's first team squad with Community Development Manager Paula Stainton after the packed service, at which St Luke's Choir got its first airing of the Christmas season.

In the same week, St Luke's despatched its own squad down Burton Stone Lane to The Corner House pub to sing carols and raise money for Help for Heroes. Parish Deacon the Revd Liz Carrington insists that she had damaged her arm previously, although the two Steves (landlord and vicar) look as if they were taking no chances with her.

St Luke's annual appearance singing carols at Tesco, Askham Bar, raising money for York hospitals, was not recorded in pictures or sound this year, but despite being put in a windy outer porch a good deal of warmth was raised as well as money for a good cause.

Finally, as redress for St Luke's occasional visits to sing in York Minster, a group made tracks to York's other cathedral - the railway station - to sample its fine acoustics and raise money for Christian Aid.

Congratulations to Elaine and Moira for standing in front of a couple of passing reindeer... and to the rest of the cheery-looking crew for reminding harrassed travellers of the world's greatest-ever arrival.

January2012