Alan Sayles from Writtle URC was welcomed to lead our service at Danbury URC by our church elder Sylvia Hardy.

Alan said that turning the year round Advent is with us once again, and Sylvia then lit two candles to denote the second Sunday in Advent.

With words from Psalm 72 Praise be to the Lord God, may the whole earth be filled with his glory and the hymn Hail to the Lord's anointed, were Alan's opening for the service.

In the absence of an organist Alan also had to play the piano for all our hymns this morning (we are now without a regular organist or pianist and would welcome anyone who could perform this duty for us on an occasional basis).

Alan's theme was the message brought by John the Baptist, and said he would remember this message in our prayers. Sylvia read a bible passage from Isaiah which said a new king would arise, David Whiteing read from Romans which confirmed the Isaiah passage about the coming of a descendant of Jesse, and Alan read from Matthew where John the Baptist announces the coming of the Lord.

In his talk Alan said that the strength of the message of John the Baptist brought thousands to hear him, the message being of the king to come.

He baptised by full immersion in the River Jordan and people came for all sorts of reasons, one being for repentance which has to be full and sincere.

Alan concluded that our task is to get the road ready for the Lord as Christmas approaches. The service ended by sharing the bread and wine in communion.

Our refreshments were prepared by Margaret Whitehead and Glyn Davies.

Next Sunday Graham Marriot will lead our service at 9.45am.

DANBURY TWINNING

The final meeting of 2007 for members of Danbury Twinning was the AGM, held last Thursday in the Church Meeting Room.

Chairman David Whiteing welcomed 40 members to the meeting when after the formalities of apologies and minutes had been completed he gave the chairman's report which started by stating that our 25th anniversary visit to our German twin town of Altenglan had been a great success.

Forty members had travelled to Altenglan, where we were welcomed with a champagne reception, an outing to the flower festival at Bad Ems, a superb meal in the old brewery, and a party on the last evening.

The programme of monthly meetings had also completed their 25th year and Michael Blackwell and Philip Watts were thanked for arranging them.

Michael gave us an update on the proposed monthly programme for 2008.

Our treasurer Bill Fancourt presented the accounts which showed a healthy increase even after the cost of the Altenglan visit, with income from the jumble sale and the concert given by Jennie and Chris Sharpe in aid of funds.

Points raised by members were the lack of bottle and dish evenings, the possibility of arranging a day outing instead of the mystery trip, and also theatre trips. All committee members were thanked for their hard work during the year.

The AGM was followed by a wine and cheese buffet prepared by Sylvia Beckett, Margaret Gillard and Judith Way, after which our chairman showed us the slides of the 25th Altenglan visit, in particular all of the decorated floats in the flower festival at Bad Ems.

Finally the raffle was drawn.

Next month, on the first Thursday in January, we shall hold our established Winter Warmer event with soup, bread and dessert, full details on our website: www.DanburyTwinning.info