Mosaic Church and Holbeck Christian Fellowship hosted their Carol Service for the 4th year running at St. Matthew’s Community Centre in Holbeck.
St. Matthews was the centre of Christmas the other evening (Sunday 14 December 2013) with metres of twinkling lights hanging over the stone memorial plaques and storage cabinets. Jam jars complete with tea lights transformed the area into a warm and festive environment. Hot spiced apple drinks were served along with a menu of service with carols and hot food afterwards.
This was another event hosted by the Mosaic Church and the Holbeck Christian Fellowship, successfully bringing together residents in sharing singing, eating and their listening to their Christmas Story. This year they had filmed a variety of community members reading a line each from ‘The Birth of Jesus retold by Holbeck’. There was a sense of excitement from the audience when they saw themselves in front of the familiar back to back houses projected onto the big screen.
Fay, a member of Mosaic said “the event attracts more people each year”.
I asked a group of residents sitting with us if they’d been before. They replied that they hadn’t, but had received a leaflet through the door and thought they’d come along.
We had a great time singing Carols complete with backing guitar and auto-cue. One couple stood and held each other emotionally moved by the singing and the lady grabbed me and said ‘they had lost a son at 4 months old’. After the service the Holbeck Christian Fellowship served a hot beef stew with bread from the Venus Supermarket (there was a vegetarian option too). There was lots of laughs on our table with a man trying to feed his wife a mince pie much to her annoyance.
Thanks to the Mosaic Church and the Holbeck Christian Fellowship for bringing this together for the community. It can’t be Christmas every Sunday but recreating evening events like this is a great way to get more people out of their homes and help them meet friends in the vibrant place that is Holbeck.
This article was written by Lucy Potter using our Community Reporters website
