In an uncharacteristically quiet Christmas week (partly because it lands on the weekend) and with two services still almost totally unprepared due to limited inspiration, I find not a lot to say today, so instead of me, how about a prayer from someone else?

Lord of all time

Bless this season

Come amongst us

In all we do.

Help us to prepare

For your coming,

Not merely to skuttle

To and fro,

In a frenzy

Of cooking and shopping,

Parties and glitter,

Worthless waste

Of precious time

Given by you.

Lesley K Steel, in Shine on Star of Bethlehem, pub Canterbury, third ed. 2004, p. 68

On Sunday evening we used a legitimate variant of the refrain of this song as the response for our intercessions (if anyone has a copy of 'Let's Praise' we used the chorus of No 91 'It was raining down in Memphis', also by Garth Hewitt).  It is another example of thoughtful contemporary hymn-writing for Christmas...

Light a candle in the darkness
Light a candle in the night
Let the love of Jesus light us
Light a candle in the night

Like a flicker in the darkness
Comes a mother’s desperate cry
And a baby’s voice in answer
Brings the coming of the light

He didn’t come in wealth and grandeur
He didn’t stand with men of power
He had no status to commend him
He was homeless he was poor

But he came to heal the wounded
And he came to heal the scars
Of a world that’s bruised and broken
Where the image has been marred

And we see him in the hungry
And the homeless refugee
In the sick and dying children
His arms reach out to you and me

And I feel his breath upon me
And he whispers “Follow me”
And he grants his fire within me
Says let it shine for all to see

Garth Hewitt © 1985 Chain of Love Music

Andy Scott's Hopeful Imagination post today links this which is beautiful.  Yes, it has speculative elements, but I found it very moving.

Among last night's readings was the familiar opening of Isaiah 9 which includes...

"...and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (NRSV)

" and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (KJV)

The reader commented that in her country, where the KJV is the translation of choice, preachers often stress the comma between 'wonderful' and 'counsellor' making them two separate attributes.  She asked me which was correct... and I said I didn't know but that in Hebrew there are no commas and that is was an interpretive decision.  Alas my Hebrew knowledge is zero and my interlinear is at church, but I seem to recall that the words aren't even in exactly the same order that the translators use. 

Alas without seeing the text (in interlinear form) I have no idea which are nouns and which adjectives linked to them so what follows might be utterly flawed, but here's my thought for today... take out all the commas and let each word be a 'name' in its own right:

He will be called

Wonderful

Counsellor

Mighty

God

Everlasting

Father

Prince

Peace

How does that shape our reading?

Yesterday was for us, like so many churches up and down the UK, the Sunday School nativity and the Carol Service.  And it was a great day.

The Sunday School service had a repeated refrain 'there's something special going on' and there certainly was.  Although quite a lot of our folk were already away on overseas jaunts (the down side of being so multi-national) the place was pretty full and a fair smattering of visitors/rellies to fill the gaps.  The age of our children means that we have adults joining in with them and there's something kind of fitting about a Canadian hermeneutics lecturer acting the part of head shepherd or an African MBA as one of the magi!  We were guided through some of the many things that make the holidays special by a little angel who eventually found her way to Bethlehem and the stable.  The familiar tear-jerker of young voices singing 'Away in a Manger' crowned the action.  As our response we were invited to write our names on cut out 'baubles' and hang them on the Christmas tree and it was quite special to see young and old, regular and visitor responding.  There certainly was, and more significantly is, something special going on in our church.

And so to the evening when, after several flurries of snow during the afternoon, we gathered at the C of S down the road for our shared carol service.  In this we had sought quite deliberately to involve people from 'user groups' of the three fellowships involved as well as celebrating the diversity of our own folk.  There was so much that was special, but among the highlights were these...

• a primary school choir from east Glasgow singing in Latin
• a Bible reading using a voice simulator (a la Stephen Hawking) by a member of the Guide unit for girls with severe disabilities
• Bahamian and Zimbabwean readers, rich in emphasis
• the blending of adult and children's choirs
• the cooperation of organist and pianist (how often does that really happen?)

There was a sense of unity, that geography, education, language, physicality were unimportant as this group gathered to 'Prepare to Celebrate.'  As we dispersed, some back to the less affluent East End, some to pack to travel thousands of miles, some to resume the relentless march to 25th December, there was a sense that this had been a special moment and that we were just a little more ready for the coming of Immanuel.