This past Sunday, the Right Revd. Dr. Johannes Seoka, Bishop of Pretoria, visited Christ Church lead
a combined Holy Eucharist service, which included the institution of Fr. Samuel Isaacs as the new Priest in Charge, and Confirmation.
Pictures from the service are available on our gallery page.
A collection of sermons from 2013 have been uploaded, including the Mission Week addresses by Rv Frank Chikane and Fr Leonard.
It is with great pleasure that we can announce this morning that our Rector, Fr. Duncan Mbonyana, will be returning to Christ Church as of 30 September 2012.
Fr. Duncan has been absent from Christ Church for the past several months due to health concerns. He has informed us that his doctors are confident he has recovered sufficiently to return to his work at the parish.
We very much look forward to welcoming Fr. Duncan back to Christ Church at the end of this month.
Resources from past meetings of the Bible Study Group, including the 2012 Lent Course, are now available from the parish
website. For more information on the Bible study group, or to download resources from the past meetings, please visit our new Bible study page.
Preparations for Christmas have started at Christ Church. The choir have begun preparing the music program for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, which is a highlight in Pretoria's musical calendar, and a uniquely Anglican celebration which is not to be missed. The service will be on the 24th of December 2011, starting at 17:30, and in keeping with tradition, will feature beloved carols and hymns from the middle ages through to modern compositions.
We are also preparing an evening of Christmas cheer on Saturday the 17th of December. Deck The Halls will feature the Christ Church choir singing Christmas favourites, and perhaps something unusual too. The festivities begin at 18:30 in the Parish Hall.
We're also pleased to announce that we will have three visiting organists at Christ Church over Christmas this year. Kevin Kraak will be joining the choir for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, and Nicol and Martina Viljoen will be joining us for the Midnight Mass and the Choral Eucharist on Christmas Day. All three are regular visitors to Christ Church, and they promise to make lots of noise to get Christmas off to a grand start.
Please check the website and notice boards at church regularly for updates on these events. Visitors to Pretoria are very welcome to join us in our worship over the Christmas period.
Christ Church is located at 820 Pretorius Street, Arcadia, Pretoria. For a map and detailed directions, please visit our map page, or find us on Google Maps as Christ Church Arcadia.
Back issues of the Christ Church Chronicle are now available as downloadable PDF documents from our new archive page.
Two new recordings of sermons from earlier this year have also been added to the sermon page, and are available through our sermon podcast.
The parish is gearing up for its morning market on Saturday 27 August. Please bookmark this date and invite friends and family to join you for a fun day in the spring sunshine!
In the following weeks, we will be posting regularly to keep everyone informed and up to date:
Auction
This is a first for Christ Church. We’ll be holding an auction as part of our morning market, with some premier items up for auction! In the following weeks we’ll be advertising what’s up for offer, so that you can be sure to tell colleagues and friends to make their bid. In the meantime, we’re looking for donations of big-ticket items: spa treatments, hampers, electronic goods, timeshare, and so forth. Speak to your bosses about company donations, club together with friends from the parish to buy something for our auction, or see whether you have something lovely at home that you could part with. Contact the parish office if you can help. It’s all for a great cause, and we need your support!
Donations
The White Elephant stall is in urgent need of donations. Indulge in some early spring cleaning, and part with those unnecessary items that clutter up your cupboard, spare room or garage. We’re looking for any household items, posters, old pictures and frames, clothes that no longer fit, books you no longer read, kitchen goods, and so forth. Anything you bring will find a happy home!
Raffle
Up for grabs is a brand new, state-of-the-art, Sony Bravia KDL-40XBR7 LCD television. Tickets are R300 each, and the number of tickets has been limited to 70, so you stand a great chance of picking up this super prize. For a ticket, please SMS Patricia Maguire at 083 5489 160. For a review of this fantastic TV, click through to http://tv.toptenreviews.com/
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the appointment of George King as Director of Music at Christ Church. In the past 30 years, George has more than proven himself a worthy steward of Christ Church's century old music tradition, transforming the parish choir in to one of South Africa's finest.
To celebrate this milestone, the choir will be performing specially selected music at the 9:15 Choral Eucharist this coming Sunday.
The music will include William Byrd's Mass for Four Voices, Ralph Vaughan Williams' well known hymn-anthem All people that on earth do dwell, William Mathias' anthem, Let all the people praise thee, O God, written for the wedding of HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, and Olivier Messiaen's O sacrum convivium, one of the modern master's most important and celebrated choral works.
The full music list for the service is available on our music list page.
The choir will be joined by the trumpets and timpani of the Christ Church Players, and by Nicol and Martina Viljoen, principal organists of the Cathedral of St. Andrew and St. Michael, and Bloempark Reformed Church, Bloemfontein.
Christ Church is located at 820 Pretorius Street, Arcadia, Pretoria. For a map and detailed directions, please visit our map page, or find us on Google Maps as Christ Church Arcadia.
Guarded parking will be available during and after the service on the church close, and the section of Pretorius Street between the church and the Venning Park Rose Garden.
Nicol Viljoen, the principal organist of The Cathedral of St. Andrew and St. Michael, Bloemfontein, will be visiting Christ Church during July 2011.
He will play the organ for the 9:15AM Choral Eucharist services on Sundays 10 and 17 July. Nicol is a regular visitor to Christ Church, and his exuberant improvisations and embellishments on hymn tunes are well worth hearing.
St. Alban's Cathedral will host the Diocesan Youth Choir Competition this coming weekend.
The Christ Church Youth Group will be supporting the choir from the Archdeaconry of Tshwane-Bokone, of which Christ Church is a constituent parish.
All are welcome to attend. The competition begins at 10:00 on Saturday 4 June 2011.
St. Alban's Cathedral is located at 237 Schoeman Street, Pretoria, and can be found on Google Maps through this link.