Services in the 4 Marys Benefice
Please check our Facebook pages for any updates or email if you would
like to receive occasional updates by email.
Benefice Churches Open
All the churches in our benefice are open for visiting every day during daylight hours.
Church Services for December
Sunday 7th December:
10am Stratford Advent Communion
Sunday
14th December:
10am Higham Advent
Communion
Friday, 19th December:
Carols in the Pubs in Stratford
7.15pm The Anchor
8.15pm The Swan
Sunday 21st December:
Carol Service Sunday
11am
Raydon Christmas
Carols &
Coffee
followed
by seasonal
refreshments
4pm Stratford Carols by Candlelight
5pm Holton Carols by Candlelight
5pm Higham Carol
Service
All
the carol services will be followed
by mulled wine & mince pies!
Wednesday, 24th December:
9pm Raydon Holy Communion on Christmas Eve
Please note earlier time of 9pm!
Christmas Day:
10am Holton Christmas Family Communion
10am Stratford Christmas Family Communion
Sunday
28th December:
Services in the Deanery at St Mary’s Church Hadleigh
8am BCP
Eucharist
10.45am Eucharist
Looking ahead to January 2026
Sunday, 4th January:
10am Stratford Morning Praise
Sunday, 11th January:
10am Holton Plough Sunday
Benefice Bible Study / House Group
The House Group will have a break in December and our first meeting in 2026 will be on Thursday, 22nd January 2026 at 2.30pm.
Please get in touch
with Judith, Sandy, Christine if you would
like to know more.
Prayer pointers for the Benefice
We pray for all those who are ill, unwell or
struggling, among them Nicky Bull, Amanda Berry, Peter Snelling and Vivienne
Wilkinson, and any others who need God’s healing and wholeness.
We remember all those who have died, among the
Lydia Stewart-Clark and
Hazel Sinclair.
May they rest in peace and rise in glory.
And we pray for all who mourn,
may they be held
in God’s love
and comforted in their grief.
Prayers for Advent
& Christmas
Advent God,
we journey with you,
to Bethlehem’s stable and a new-born King,
ears attuned to the
song of angels,
eyes alert for Bethlehem’s star.
Forgive us if on our journey
we are distracted by
the tempting offers
of this world.
Keep our hearts aflame
with the hope of Christmas,
and the promise of a Saviour. Amen.
John Birch
Christmas Eve
Christmas
hath a darkness brighter than the blazing noon,
Christmas hath a chillness warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas hath a beauty lovelier than
the world can show:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus, brought for us so low.
Earth, strike up your music, birds that sing
and bells that ring;
Heaven hath answering music for all Angels soon to sing:
Earth, put on your whitest bridal robe of spotless snow:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus, brought for us so low.
Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
- The Rectory
- Hadleigh Road
- Raydon
- Suffolk
- IP7 5LH
07947 737789
Email Us