Discovering that today's 'cross reference" Advent hymn was "let all mortal flesh keep silence" filled my heart with joy!  Set to the traditional french carol tune, Picardy, the Liturgy of St James translated by Percy Dearmer is just wonderful.  Eloquent poetry, profound theology and gloriously aching melody - what more could a girl wish for?!

The line "as the dark dissolves before you" is just amazing... not the sudden starkness of electric light, but a gentle spreading of the light, more akin to the dawning of a new day.  It also feels 'real'... in the darkness and shadows of real life, rarely does light come quickly; rather we discover that its edges become less distinct and, slowy, slowly, lightness, even brightness suffuses everything.  Darkness cowers just out of reach, lurking, waiting to roll in again like a fog - but the light will never give in, and one day the final vestiges of death, fear, sorrow, sin will be gone, dissolved into the light: for here surely is the real mystery, the real power - the light dissolves, so somehow contains, the darkness and in so doing transforms it!

Lots of recordings of this one, so I opted for this because it is sung in a cathedral and benefits from that aucoustic...

Today was our fourth and final Advent lunchtime reflection using the 'Mary had a Baby' material as a jumping off point.

I think it is fair to say we all enjoyed listening to African American spirituals, learned a lot about the latter days of slavery, the struggle for justice, the civil rights movement and the power of songs to carry both truth and coded messages!  We also raised ~£60 for the Christian Aid Christmas appeal which is concerned with maternal health in Africa (as well scoffing yummy food and having lots of fun along the way) and which the UK government will match fund.

Now we begin the last stretch of our journey... Advent 4 proper on Sunday, carols round the piano on Tuesday, Families watchnight on Wednesday and the main event a week today.

Golly that's flown past!!

BPW 404 Awake, wakes: fling off the night!

It has that ring of the parent trying to rouse a teenager, a comedy sargeant major stirring his troops.... wakey, wakey, rise and shine!  No gentle Advent hymn this one, from the cross reference section, and no you tube clip to share (perversely in the offerings it gave me was Sooty and Sweep do the Highland fling....!).  Just to complicate matters further, BPW has a version heavily editted from the one in HymnQuest and in any case there is no permission to copy it... this so does not feel like what I want, as Advent marches relentlessly on towards its conclusion... Maybe that's the point, as lethargy threatens to engulf me, just as the list of seasonal extras yet to be finalised lengthens, I need a bit of a liturgical kick up the derriere!

Anyway, here are the first and final verses manually typed in from BPW...

Awake, awake, fling off the night!

For God has sent his glorious light;

And we who live in Christ's new day

Must works of darkness put away.

Then sing for joy, use all your days;

Give thanks for everything, always.

Lift up your hearts; with one accord

Praise God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Or, as one of those choruses of yester year expressed it:

Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory

Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory

Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory

Children of the Lord!

OK, so Noah's ark has zippo to do with Advent but this video from Lourdes is just so uplifiting... Enjoy!  (and whoa, you are a nice person :-) )

Good news from the Church of England here

Another first woman in the unenviable position of being historical, of being watched, of being lauded, or being insulted, of being called...

May God bless you, Libby,

With true friends to share the joys and sorrows,

With indefatigable courage and the infinite capacity for diasspointment

With moments of unbridalled laughter and fathomless love

With compassion and grace, confidence and humility

And with a real sense of fulfilment as, through you, God blesses others

And, in the words of one Afrcian Archbishop - Yippee!

This link was sent to me by a friend - after I had appeared at church last Sunday wearing my Christmas sweatshirt:

Thankfully the Baptist Union of Lilliput has no such canons!  In any case, surely a grey jumper is suitably penitential for Advent (no violet available!).  Just wait for the Christmas Day one, that's all I'm saying :-)