Advent 2025
Christingle
Sunday, 7th December 2025, 4pm
A festive service for all the family that celebrates the light of Christ with the choir of St James and St John school. A wonderful way to mark the beginning of the Christmas season, with a warm, welcoming atmosphere and hot chocolate served afterwards.
Nine Lessons and Carols
Sunday, 21st December 2025, 6pm
Our service of Nine Lessons and Carols starts our Christmas celebrations. This year we are pleased to have as our special guest the Bishop of London and next Archbishop of Canterbury, The Right Reverend Sarah Mullally. This will be her final visit to St John’s before taking over her new responsibilities at Lambeth Palace so do take this opportunity to wish Bishop Sarah well in her new role.
Christmas 2025
Parish Carolling
18th December, 6.50pm
You are invited to join us for a jolly traditional Christmas evening as we walk around the parish to sing some carols with our choral scholars and collect money for the food bank at St Matthew’s, Bayswater. We meet at the church and leave at 6.50pm, then visit several pubs, giving them our best musical delights under Nick’s conducting and ending at The Victoria for a mince pie.
For more information please contact Alex: alex@stjohns-hydepark.com.
Christmas Eve
4.00pm – Crib Service
A unique service for all ages, telling the story of Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus in the crib, join us as we begin the feast of birth of Christ.
11.30pm – Midnight Mass
Enjoy the first mass of Christmas in a candlelit church, singing Christmas carols led by the choir and orchestra. The setting will be Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicholai and the anthem O Magnum Mysterium by Lauridsen.
Christmas Day
10am – Family Festival Eucharist
Children are invited to come along dressed up in their fairy costumes and sparkly shoes or Christmas pyjamas and to bring their toys with them if they wish. Sing Christmas carols with the choir, accompanied by orchestra.
Christmas Flowers
Remember a loved one by making a donation to this year’s Christmas flowers. Complete the slip inside your order of service and leave it with Philip. A list of those in whose memory donations are given will be displayed in the porch.
Christmas with Emily Burnett
Wednesday 10th December, 7pm
On Wednesday evening our brilliant former Choral Scholar and star of The Voice, Emily Burnett, is returning to St John’s to give a festive concert with special guest performers to even include the inimitable Nick Miller! Tickets are available from her website, eburnett.co.uk, or on the door for £20. Doors will open at 6.30pm.
Advent Course: Hidden Christmas
Wednesday 10th and Tuesday 16th December, 7.30pm
Join us for our Advent Course, ‘Hidden Christmas’. Together we’ll explore Tim Keller’s inspiring book, which invites us to look deeper into the Nativity story and discover the profound truths that often go unnoticed amid its familiarity.
Come and rediscover the wonder of Christmas in a fresh and meaningful way.
For more information please contact Alex: alex@stjohns-hydepark.com.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Refugee Drop-in Volunteers
St John’s hosts a monthly Sunday drop-in centre for refugees run by the West London Synagogue. This provides families with a hot meal, a shopping voucher and a contribution towards their transport, as well as signposting for other practical help. The drop-in centre normally takes place on the third Sunday of the month and they are always open to volunteers to assist them. If you would like to join the volunteer crew, please speak to the Vicar. The next drop-in centre is December 14th at 12.30pm.
Book Club
Book Club met recently selected their next book –Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time. This is a 1951 detective novel concerning a modern police officer's investigation into the alleged crimes of King Richard III of England. It was Tey’s last book published in her lifetime, shortly before her death. In 1990 it was voted number one in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time, a list compiled by the British Crime Writers' Association. Book club next meets on the 12th January 2026. For further information, speak to Irwin Nazareth.
