Bath University CU did a fantastic job putting on a great Carol Service. They formed a huge choir, who were brilliant, and literally hundreds stayed for mince pies and mulled wine afterwards! When I got up to speak, every seat I could see was filled. The maximum capacity is 1013. It seemed to go well, and I got some great encouragements from the Abbey staff, especially from George Hooper, one of the ushers who’s been coming to Bath Abbey since 1952! I spoke (as you would imagine) about the meaning of Christmas, and it seemed that people were with me throughout.
The CU exec seemed very upbeat afterwards and felt I’d pitched it at the right level. I also had the pleasure of having my mother and father-in-law in the congregation, who’d brought some friends, and also the support of some ChristChurch Londoners, including Anila Babla, Angela Divine, Catherine Warren, Louisa Collington, who sat next to me in the front row, so they were a great encouragement too. The Abbey is very high tech, they had a huge projector screen behind me, and everyone who was stuck behind a pillar watched on TV relay. They have about 10 TV screens. They have two cameras, which followed me as I moved around the dais.
So I felt very grateful to God as I wheeled out of town. It’s possible that there were Christians in Bath before the end of the first century, and last night hundreds heard the gospel there in 2011. Tonight I’m speaking at the University of Kent CU Carol Service at 6.00pm, and then later the same night at Christ Church Canterbury University CU Carol Service at 8.30pm