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A Skinny Fairtrade Latte in the Food Court of Life - Page 772

  • Advent 4.5

    Yes, today we have our final Advent reflection, one which moves us ever closer to Christmas itself.  I have enjoyed this series, a little different from the usual with its emphasis on visual art, and today I have to raid the Sunday School cupboard and the Flower Lady's stash for props!  Don't tell anyone.

    Then I have to tidy my office ready to vacate it for four months... that feels kind of weird.  But it is a mess and I don't want to come back to an Advent mess at Easter!  I think the inanimate objects are conspiring against me too - why does my colour laser need two new cartridges the last time it'll be used for a while (unless I take it home of course).  And will Lazarus, my computer that is at least eight years old, last out the day... so far so good but he's tired!

    Bit of an odd day really - at one level absolutely normal for the time of year and at another not at all.  I guess that makes it a bit like the first Christmas then... most of the world getting on with its usual stuff and something occurring largely unnoticed that was different.  Not that my odd Advent is significant on a global scale, just it makes me think about the events of whenever it was a couple of thousand years back.

  • A Prayer

    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

  • A Candle in the Darkness

    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

  • More of Mary...

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

  • Comma?

    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?