How can it be December already?  Ignoring the rising panic that nothing is ready for Christmas yet, let us proceed to mark off some dates in the diary which will help with shopping, praying, celebrating and generally Christmasifising the next few weeks:

First up – shopping – have you marked the DOCK Market dates (Saturdays 6th, 13th and 20th Dec 11am-4pm; Thursdays 11th and 18th Dec 6-9pm) into your diary yet?  Remember, if you don’t find something for everyone on your list amongst our (booked-out!) range of market stalls, your cuppa is on the house!

(There will also be Christmas markets during the festive flicks at the pop-up cinema in the pop-up market – extra seats have now been made available so Christmas Vacation, Die Hard and Muppet Christmas Carol are still up for grabs!)

Then – praying.  Because it’s VITAL to find spaces to pause, pray, ponder and prepare ourselves for something a bit deeper than a headlong dash to a turkey dinner.

And so it’s perfect timing that the 24-7 Prayer baton, which started its year-long journey in DOCK Cafe at the stroke of midnight at the start of 2014, is returning for two days (and nights, hardcore) from 3:30pm on Sunday 7th December until 9am on Tuesday 9th December.

 

Talk to anyone who called in for an hour or two during our 24-7 Prayer days at the start of the year and you’ll hear just how profound and peaceful those times of quiet in Dock Cafe were.  During the overnight stints the whole cafe will be turned into a series of interactive stations to prompt and inspire different types of prayer (and during the day when the cafe is open these will be concentrated in the Prayer Garden).  Sign up NOW on the timetable here before December gets too busy!

Also on Sunday 7th December at 6pm we’ll be gathering in Dock Cafe for our last Sunday night service of 2014 – a chance to worship together and give thanks for an amazing year of growth and life in the Titanic Quarter.  (There may also be some hot punch and Christmas Carols).

And speaking of Christmas Carols, the next date for your diary is a biggie: Thursday 11th December at 5pm for the Dock’s now-traditional Christmas bash, A Titanic Christmas, which started four years ago as a handful of freezing people gathering around a brazier to meet their brand-new neighbours and drink mulled wine, and has grown over the years to incorporate flying Santas, candlelit carols, Christmas markets, nom-noms on Nomadic and more Christmassiness than you can shake a stick at:

Plus… watch out for the newly-decorated DOCK Cafe and DOCK Picnic after this weekend, a new and classy Christmas playlist (NO Slade or Band-Aid), hot punch on the menu, and much more…

Impossible to feel Bah Humbug in the middle of that lot!