Christingle without Christ ...

is just    'ingle'    which means nothing more than an open fire or a domestic fireplace.

I went with MightyMouse to his school's Christingle service.

Last year I described it as incomplete.

The year before I described it as incomplete.

He was incomplete this year too - he missed out 'Christ';  Christ the King, Christ the Saviour.

The curate reminded us that Jesus is the light of the world (ok) and that His light shines in the darkness (ok) , and that in some places in the world, some people still live in darkness because of wars (um?). He said that not far from us tonight, there are people still living in darkness because of poverty (implying that all 500 of us were therefore, in the light). So we must shine Jesus' light into their dark world and give to the charity of the evening.

I sat near an old friend, who does not call herself a Christian, who said at the end, that they (the vicars and curates at this particular church) have always misunderstood 'darkness'.

So who is in the dark here?