Today for the first time, I will be leading a 'pop-up nativity' using Bible Society material (from 2017!!)
The premise is simple - people are invited to dress up as their favourite character in the story, to join in some pantomime style responses, and to sing lots of carols/songs.
The version we're using is based the 'Bear Hunt' game/story and is called The Greatest Story.
As the traveller/angel/narrator I'll be wearing my 'believe' jumper and a tinsel halo, as one does!
The countdown to Christmas is now on...
Carols by Candlelight - led by someone else (thank you A) - this evening
Christmas Voices evening Zooms (final five)
Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve morning
Christingle on Christmas Eve morning
Christmas Day celebration
Community Christmas Day Lunch
It's going to very full on - and it's going to be fun!
My Vicar School jumper arrived today - there is a good choice of colours for these hoodies, which are specially ordered once a year (I think). I chose 'blue ink' which is actually a very dark teal/petrel kind of a colour.
It's really quite small (the size you might put on a sideboard), and you could so easily walk by without spotting it, but in the Memorial Square in Railway Town is a beautiful nativity scene in a shed.
I like that I could so easily have failed to notice it.
I like that it's small and insignificant next to the bright white lights on the trees.
I like that that's how it would have been - nothing to see, just a another peasant baby, born in an out of the way place that no-one ever went.
Today I have been working on the service of Lessons and Carols for Advent 4, also known, this year as Christmas Eve!
I decided to go totally traditional and use only Bible readings - but which ones? Looking back over previous years' outlines, I ended up with a list of thirteen scripture passages to choose from. In the end, I a using ten of them - one as a 'call to worship' and nine to be read in the main body of the service.
Choosing carols was also a good challenge, as usually I've been interspersing 'choir' and 'congregation' but this year it's all 'congregation'... so we begin with some lovely Advent pieces before moving into Christmas and, yes, even Epiphany.
I am looking forward to seeing what folk make of it - a new context is always as challenge as 'everyone' knows what 'always' happens, except the new minister and any of the new folk who have joined or visited us over the past few months.
Just the small matter of the Christingle and Christmas Day left to plan...
Sometimes something is suggested that is really well intended, but it just doesn't feel right... That's how I felt when I saw on social media a request for churches in the UK not to light the second candle on their Advent wreath/ring as a sign of solidarity with those in Bethlehem who are suffering so much at the moment. The logic was that the candle for Advent 2 is (sometimes) seen as representing 'Peace' and sometimes (more rarely?) is called the Bethlehem Candle.
I had a problem with the idea, not that it wasn't well intended, but that it actually - to me - was misguided in two ways...
Firstly, all four candles are 'prophetic' we light candles of 'hope' when all seems hopeless, 'joy' when we are distraught, disillusioned or desperate, 'love' when the world feels full of hatred - and for 'peace' in a world where war, violence and injustice seem to reign. Not to light the candle seems to me, to say 'we have given up on the idea of peace.'
But what about the solidarity with Bethlehem? So why just that town (other than the obvious baby Jesus in a manger) - should we not stand in solidarity with those in Ukraine or Russia, those who are affected by wars in places we never hear about, or those who are victims of violence in the home? If we don't light the candle for Bethlehem, then maybe we should never light it at all..
Two much used sayings...
It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
A candle at midnight is a non-conformist; it say to the darkness, 'I beg to differ'
We lit our 'peace' candle as a prophetic symbol that we believe Gods promises are trustworthy and true.
We lit our 'peace' candle because we want to say to the darkness that threatens to overwhelm Bethlehem, and countless other places, 'we beg to differ'
We lit our candle rather than cursing the darkness.
Others chose differently - maybe they were right and we were wrong, but we believe our motivation - just like theirs - was good.
