Christmas poetry at Redeemer
Redeemer Church London member STEVE PAGE has been spreading joy with his poetry for years – and here you can enjoy three he put together last Christmas, ahead of this Sunday’s carol service.
“The Wonders of His Love” - Redeemer Church London carol service
Sunday December 14, 2025 at 4.30pm and 6.30pm
University of West London
There’s less than a week to go now until this year’s annual carol service at Redeemer Church London on Sunday.
Church member STEVE PAGE has been spreading joy with his poetry for years – and we often hear his latest offerings at our Christmas services.
Here, you can enjoy three he put together this time last year. We hope to see you this Sunday!
CHILDREN UNDERSTAND
Children understand loveliness.
They recognise the aroma,
the touch of love,
the echo of hearts
that rise to adore.
Children understand loveliness.
They recognise the savour,
the weight of feast,
the press of voices
that sing with laughter.
Children understand loveliness.
They recognise Christmas
within the heat,
the fire and glory
of Christ's forgiveness.
Children understand Christmas.
Look to them.
SAVIOUR
This month I call you Saviour.
Mostly, instinctively
I call to you as Lord-God and Father.
Typically these are the names
I call to mind at early dawn.
But this month you are Saviour
as I become more acutely drawn
to my need to call on your saving grace
on your sacrificial willingness
to cast off the trappings
wrapped up with heavenly glory
to embrace the blood and the mess
that comes with small town nativity.
This month I address
my Hosannas to you,
my divine infant Saviour.
GIFTING
When does a gift given become a gift received?
If a gift is not accepted, is it a gift indeed?
If a gift is left unopened is the gifting actually achieved?
(Is a gift not a gift if it is rejected?
Does it lose its giftedness when refused or neglected?)
Does the gift itself retain some kinetic gifted energy?
Or does it need the active catalyst of reception
to truly be the gift that its giver intends it to be?
This Christmas be sure to accept your full responsibility
to receive with a fully open heart as well as open hands
this gift I give to you from me.
(I've left the receipt in the bag.)
Sounds of the Season - Joy to the World
In our final Sounds of the Season Advent Blog, we look at Joy to the World, and how it reminds us of our eternal future this Christmas!
Sounds of the Season
Welcome! It’s December the 22nd, and we’re continuing with our very first Redeemer Digital Advent Calendar! This year, in the lead up to Christmas, we’ll be producing daily content which we hope blesses you, encourages you, and reminds you of the hope that we can celebrate this Christmas!
We’re continuing today with the last of our 4 Advent blogs which have been released every Tuesday until Christmas to make up a series called ‘Sounds of the Season’. Each week we’ve been taking the opportunity to appreciate the deeper meaning behind Christmas music, with a focus on a specific Christmas carol that helps to shed light on the true meaning of this Christmas season.
Today, we look at my personal favourite carol - Joy tothe World! You can hear a version below.
Creation is groaning.
In Romans 8:19-22, creation is described as ‘waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the songs of God’ and that it has been ‘groaning with the pains of childbirth until now’. This year has been a year of difficulty for all of us, but it is not us alone that groans, but creation itself has been groaning, ever since the fall.
It’s not difficult to see the effects that the actions of humans have had on creation, and to recognise the reason that it groans, however as we sing Joy to the World this Christmas, there is an opportunity to remind ourselves that there is hope! Both for creation, and for us!
Heaven and Nature Sing!
Though we recognise that the world in which we live is broken, in many ways beyond repair, we also know as Christians that God promises this won’t always be the case! We sing about it in Joy to the World…
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
This verse is inspired by Revelation 22:1-5, where we read of the glorious future promised to those who follow Jesus! A place where there is no curse, no darkness, no pain!
In his book The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis gives us a glimpse of what it might feel like to arrive there.
It was the unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right forehoof on the ground and neighed, and then cried: ‘I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up! Come further in!
(C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle [New York: HarperTrophy,1984], 213.)
This is the feeling that we sing about when we sing this carol at Christmas!
Joy to the World
I think that’s the reason that this is my favourite carol, because its title describes the effect of Jesus’ birth. He came to bring Joy to the World! The reason that we can look forward to an eternal future where heaven and nature will sing, is not because we’ve found the solution ourselves, but instead because Jesus came! He came to live and die for us, to pay the price for our failings, and bring an end to the groaning of creation forever!
We are in a season of great pain, turmoil and difficulty this Christmas, but it is into the midst of all of those temporary feelings that Jesus comes, and he comes to bring unshakeable, everlasting joy. Joy to the World!
Merry Christmas!
A Choir at Christmas
Looking for an opportunity to hear some carols this Christmas? Find out where you can here…
I absolutely love carol singing. The last time I was in a choir was at sixth-form college and I’ve been craving a chance to belt out some Christmas carols ever since.
It seems like I was not the only one in that camp this Sunday afternoon as 20 odd Redeemer folk gathered after the Sunday service for a choir practice. Headed up by Jo, Kayla and Anna, the Redeemer Christmas Choir will be performing at our Christmas Concert.
We ran through three different songs in a traditional SATB choir format, and for a bunch of amateurs, we sounded pretty pro. A traditional carol, a glee carol and a dancy lil number are featured in the performance.
As part of Redeemer’s ‘Love Ealing’ event we will be singing carols at Ealing Broadway shopping centre and handing out chocolates on Sat 14th Dec before our carol service the next day! So, come and find us, get in the festive spirit and eat some chocolates!
If you can’t make it to that (or if you really, really loved hearing us sing) then we will be performing the next day (Sunday 15th) as part of the Redeemer Christmas Concert at 6pm at UWL!
I am personally looking forward to seeing our resident poet, Steve Page, lifted up on strings in a white and gold leotard. Ok, that might be a joke, but his bass singing voice isn’t!
- Josh Gagel
#RedeemerRecommends - It's Not Too Early For A Christmas Album!
#RedeemerRecommends some great versions of classic carols to enjoy this Christmas!
Christmas has come early for this week’s #RedeemerReccommends!
I have been working on arrangements for carols for this year’s Christmas events at Redeemer (find out more HERE) and inevitably that means listening to A LOT of Christmas carols, and I’m certainly not complaining, as there’s some fantastic Christmas albums out there!
I wanted to recommend one in particular which I have loved listening to recently, Joy to the World (Live) by Jeremy Riddle!
The album has got some fantastic live versions of Christmas classics like O Come All Ye Faithful, O Holy Night, and of course Joy To The World, as well as a new recording of All Hail King Jesus.
In an interview prior to the EP’s release in November 2018, Jeremy talked about wanting to recapture the awe and wonder associated with the celebration of Christmas, and he definitely does so with this superb collection of songs.
You can hear more of his vision for the album below…
Carols, Community and Celebration!
This Sunday we sung carols by candlelight and heard about what it really means to be ‘home’ at Christmas time!
This Sunday we had the privilege of hosting our annual Carols by Candlelight event at Ealing Town Hall! Always a time of celebration, this year was no different, with people coming together to sing carols, enjoy a free glass of mulled wine and a mince pie, and get into the Christmas spirit!
What a fantastic event it was this year! Over 300 people gathered in the Town Hall, we sang more carols together than we ever have before, yet there was still time to listen to outstanding performance songs and poetry and learn from Pete Cornford about what it really means to be home at Christmas time. He reminded us that home is not always about a physical place but that we truly find what it means to feel at home in our relationships with those that we love. We as Christians believe that we are welcomed home when we seek relationship with God, that he waits for us with open arms. Jesus talked about this as part of his teaching, and you can read about it in Luke 15:11-32.
If you were one of those that joined with us this Sunday we hope you felt welcomed and at home amongst us, and if you haven’t already, see if you can spot yourself in the family photo we took at the end of the evening!
If you want to find out what it looks like to be a member of the Redeemer family, you are so welcome to join us at our family service this Sunday (the 23rd of December) at 10am in the Town Hall for festive songs, a nativity and even a few games!
Finally, there is also still an opportunity to contribute to the collection which was taken on Sunday evening to support the work of St Mungo’s, an organisation which aims to help those without a physical home to go to this Christmas.
Carols by Candlelight
Fancy singing some carols next weekend? Find out how you can do just that….
Christmas is a time to gather together to drink mulled wine, eat mince pies and sing carols. These traditions have been going on for hundreds of years.
Today when life is such a rush it is so vital to take time to pause and connect to others. With so many carols to choose from: the children singing ‘Away in a manger’, enjoying a performance of ‘O Holy Night’ (the nations favourite carol), tapping your feet and enjoying the fun ‘See Him lying on a bed of straw’ or the more classic ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ - there is something for everyone.
I know that many places raise money for good causes by charging for tickets - but I am delighted to say that on Sunday 16th December at 6pm you can come to Ealing Town Hall and enjoy the singing, nibble a mince pie or two and enjoy a drink for free. I hope to see you there.