On the second Sunday of Epiphany (14 January), our congregation held its first Christingle service in Mariakirken. The Christingle service has a long history with the Bergen Anglican Church although it had been some time since the last one.

While the Christingle service was familiar to most everyone in the congregation, many of our newcomers were unfamiliar with the service including our priest Kirk!

Christingles are made from an orange decorated with red tape, sweets, and a candle that are given out to the congregation during the service. We had to use small electronic candles because we are not allowed to use real candles in Mariakirken although the electronic candles worked exceptionally well. Thanks to Per Bjørnø who figured out how to engineer the electronic candle onto the orange right before the service!

Each piece of the Christingle holds special symbolism to help people understand the message of the Gospel. The symbolism for each piece was explained during the sermon offered by o...

This year's two Services of Nine Lessons & Carols were very well attended. Over [30] singers led the services, with Roger Martin directing. The first service, at Korskirken, saw many new faces, while the second at Mariakirken filled every seat in the church. Altogether the collections raised { ] for [charity].

After the second Lessons & Carols we held our annual Raffle Fundraiser in Mariastuen. As usual this was lots of fun for everyone, with many great prizes donated and won, and over [ ] raised for [charity].