TUESDAY 27th DECEMBER

 

Lord Jesus, Light of light,
you have come among us.
Help us who live by your light
to shine as lights in your world.
Glory to God in the highest!

                                                                          Gifts


So how was your Advent?  What went well in your life? What would you have done differently? A lot of water will flow under all our bridges in the next year. How will you approach Advent 2017?


As a present, we wanted to leave you with lovely Benjamin Zephaniah's 'Talking Turkeys' but we couldn't get permission to reprint in time, so if you want to remind yourself about Benjamin's very funny seasonal poem, you'll need to Google it yourself. Here's a vegetarian alternative...

A Very Happy New Year to all readers!


Sprouting for boys (and girls)

Raise three cheers, give up a shout
For the humble, hardy, Brussels sprout.
Be you Brexin or be you Brexout,
They're cool.

Let's have a British Board of Veg to tout
The merits of the buttery, nutty Brussels sprout
If Brussels objects, then dare to flout
Their rules.

Gregg Wallace says that there's not much doubt
Of the vitamin value of the Brussels sprout.
If you say different then you learned nuffink (or nowt)
At school.

Some folk rave over sauerkraut
But cabbage simply pales besides a Brussels sprout
Serve al dente with lardons round about
And drool.

Stave off the 'flu, ward off gout,
With iron-rich good-for-you Brussels sprout
You'll never be obese (or the least bit stout)
Sprout fuel!

Kids will moan, kids will fuss about
Something, so let it be the Brussels sprout.
Tho' it make them sigh, tho' it make them pout,
Sprout Yule!

                                             Vince Cross: December 2016.

SATURDAY 24th DECEMBER

                                                                 The Crib: St. Peter's

God our Father
Tomorrow the Saviour is born
And those who live in darkness will see a great light.
Help us, who greet the birth of Christ with joy,
to live in the light of your Son
and to share the good news of your love.
We ask this through Jesus Christ,
the light who is coming into the world.
Amen

Are you ready?

I said:

Are you ready?

Let me hear you one time..:

Are you ready?

Look, enough of the James Brown shtick, you know what we're trying to say. Yes, the turkey, yes, the presents, yes, the tree, yes, the inevitable Christmas 'flu, but we know you won't forget the reason we do this stuff. The waiting is very nearly over. God becomes incarnate, reaching out to humankind to bring us home to his Kingdom. Make time for Him too.

If you have been, thank you for following this blog throughout the Advent season. We hope it's been a blessing to you: informative and if we've done our job, sometimes thought-provoking.

We'll leave the blog up, certainly to the middle of January, but then it will disappear like the winter snow. There's a New Year to be experienced: new challenges to be faced. We move on with Christ as our companion on the road.

There'll be one last post (lol) on Tuesday 27th.

                                                        Happy Christmas, St. Peter's!

Theotokos

She is greater than you could possibly imagine.
She is less than you demand she be.

She is the construct
Of a handful of words
A myriad paintings
An infinity of divines
Working out their purposes
On her person.

How could it be otherwise?
For she is the mother of God.
A single point of view,
A particular, partial understanding
Could never comprehend the truth.

Love her. Love her son.
Everything else follows.

                         VC


People of God: shout and sing!
Tell the good news of peace on earth.
Lord, bring us today into Christ's peace
All God's people shout:
Amen!

Angels dance
and the bright star shines.
All creation bows to the Lord of all.
Lord, bring us today into Christ's light.
All God's people shout:
Amen!

One with us,
yet born to save,
he will show us the way to God.
Lord, bring us today into Christ's love.
All God's people shout:
Amen!

People of God: shout and sing:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Amen!

FRIDAY 23rd DECEMBER

                                          Churchwarden Phil learns how to knit Christmas


People of God: prepare!
God, above all, maker of all,
is one with us in Christ.
Maranatha!
Come, Lord Jesus!

God, the mighty God,
bends down in love to earth.
Maranatha!
Come, Lord Jesus!

God with us, God beside us,
comes soon to the world he has made.
Maranatha!
Come, Lord Jesus!

We are God's children,
we seek the coming Christ.
Maranatha!
Come, Lord Jesus!

Much that we'd all like to happen at St. Peter's wouldn't happen without the support of Cathy in the church office. So here's a big thank you on behalf of the Advent Team and everyone else for what she does, efficiently, enterprisingly, and with a smile! Thanks Cathy!



The Christmas Eve Services:  ***TOMORROW***TOMORROW***


At 15.30 and 17.00 the Crib Service. An active all-age service for children, their parents, grandparents and carers. Choose the time that suits you best. Enormous fun.

At 22.15 there's forty minutes of your favourite carols (Come and Sing Carols). And then why not stay on for the service with the extra tingle as at 23.30 we gather to greet the birth of Jesus at the very first moment of Christmas Day. It's a special experience!

And so that the church looks wonderful throughout Christmas, Rosemary and her rota team of thirty-six (yes, thirty-six!)  cleaners will have been through to sweep, vac and polish the carpets and pews. We're not going to go all 'Oscar-nomination' on you, but when you're around the church some time, just look at the number of people who help make this place welcoming and lovely. You're probably one of them, so please feel appreciated. And if you're not, then why not? (Sorry to be quite so pointed!)


Stop Press! from our Foodbank Correspondent...


Lorraine Bewley-Tippler has sent us the following note:

'One of the congregation who had been at ADVENT SOUP talked afterwards to Councillor Stephen Legg about the needs of the Emmanuel Coffee Shop which were discussed at the lunch. He promptly made contact with the trustees and offered them a grant of £400, which they have been delighted to accept.

'And at OPEN HOUSE last Saturday, Rev. David was given a hamper to raffle. The total raised was £76, which he gave to me on Sunday for Foodbank. By midweek the money was being used. Foodbank opened on Wednesday and gave parcels to 27 needy families. By the end of the day we had run out of tins of meat and fish, but the hamper money was used to replenish the stocks for Thursday, when another 8 parcels were made up and given. About 120 people had food for Christmas. Thanks be to God for blessings which are spread.'


Joseph on his death bed

One regret?
Always the outsider, me.
Mary and the boy
Like twins.
A family within a family.
Knew what the other was thinking
Before it was ever said,
And me alone on the edge of the room,
Or passing through with a nice piece of wood or two,
Looking in on their world,
Private and mysterious.

It went way back.
I didn't know her
(silly, coy word)
Until after he was born.
Thereafter dutiful intercourse
And so along came James and Joses 
Jude and Simon.
But no, I never knew her,
Not really.
However that boy was conceived
I was always an anti-climax.

When he was small,
He helped in the yard,
Watched and asked questions.
In that sense,
Now I'm dying,
The business is safe.
He'll do the accounts,
Manage the difficult clients.
The others will do the work.

There was that moment
Up in Jerusalem
The year before his bar mitzvah,
He ran wild with the zealots,
Pretending he was working for me.
I ask you:
'I must be about my father's business'!
I was incandescent,
Mary emollient,
And after that
If such a thing is possible,
They were both even more unreachable.
Perhaps he'll end up a rabbi.
It runs in the family.
I suppose that's OK
Provided it doesn't turn his head.

Well, I'm curious to know
What will become of him,
But I'm like Father Moses
Looking over the golden, longed for land
The fulfilment of an adolescent exile
Not mine to enjoy.
He and I
We'll never share a pie and a pint
At the close of a profitable day.

The lad has an aura,
A strange unworldly kind of promise.
That's as much as I can say...
 
                                       VC

Antiphon:

O Emmanuel, our King and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.

THURSDAY 22nd DECEMBER

                                                                     Fork Handles
                                                Oh how we've waited to add this caption!

Lord Jesus

We pray that your coming may transform our work:
Help us to labour eagerly and honestly,
To know that everything we do has a place in your purpose.

We pray that your coming may transform our family life:
May we learn in our homes the peace, love and generosity
We should show to all people.

We pray that your coming may transform society:
Inspire us to hunger and thirst for what is right,
To work against injustice wherever we find it.

We pray that your coming may transform the world,
Bringing peace and justice to all nations,
And turning the forces of science and technology to good ends.

Amen.


Prayer Space:

Just two more opportunities to use Open Church and explore this week's Prayer Space: the church will be open after Morning Prayer from 9.30 until noon both today and tomorrow.

As Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem, this week Prayer Space asks you to consider the baggage you're carrying into Christmas, to put it down and to place yourself in the Nativity action. Where do you fit in?


Your week?

Just another Manic Monday?  Torrid Tuesday:  Whizzy Wednesday: Thundering Thursday: Furious Friday:  Sapping Saturday:  Suffering Sunday ?

Take five.  You and Him.  Explain.  Listen.  Be calmed.  Renegotiate the day.

                                                               Snowdrops: Lilford


Winning the lottery

I hadn't been expecting that -
Her looking so young.
Perhaps I hadn't been listening at the briefing.
Easy to be dazzled in those high marble halls.

Precociously challenging in stance and set.
No visible tattoos.
Large eyes searching mine.
I tell you, I felt imtimidated. Me!
At a loss how to pitch my line.

I said might she like to sit down?
Not really she replied Happy as I am thank you.
I folded my wings.
Dropped the bombshell.
(I like these moments).
Oh she murmured.
(There was a hint of satisfying unsteadiness I thought).
By instinct a hand fluttered down to her belly
Flat under the fullness of the black skirts.

Run that past me again?
I did. With relish.
Explained that with Him everything is possible.
Ditch your logic, forget your physics,
Anything you thought you knew about biology.

Rather too quickly she said
OK whatever I'll do it.
I was a bit put out.

I'll leave you the contract I said.
You might want to read the small print.
There are consequences.
No rights, no royalties,
No book deals, a gagging clause.
A reputation:
Obedient, submissive, meek, pure.
You may be stalked, trolled,
Held up for inspection,
Caricatured, misunderstood...

I know she said and smiled.
That's the way it is these days.
My heart melted.
You have to make sacrifices for any child.
Why not this one?

                           Vince Cross

 Antiphon:

O King of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.

WEDNESDAY 21st DECEMBER

                                                                   A Blue Christmas
                                    The shortest day of the year: Twyning, Gloucestershire

God our Father
the angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary
that she was to be the mother of your Son.
Though Mary was afraid,
she responded to your call with joy.
Help us, whom you call to serve you,
to share like her in your great work
of bringing to our world your love and healing.
We ask this through Jesus Christ,
the light who is coming into the world.
Amen



If other commitments prevent you from coming to the service this evening, make a few moments at home or in Open Church to remember those struggling with grief and hopelessness at this deep, dark time of the year.

Bells Across the Snow   by Frances Ridley Havergal

O Christmas, merry Christmas!
Is it really come again,
With its memories and greetings,
With its joy and with its pain?
There's a minor in the carol,
And a shadow in the light,
And a spray of cypress twining
With the holly wreath tonight.
And the hush is never broken
By laughter light and low,
As we listen in the starlight
To the 'bells across the snow'.

O Christmas, merry Christmas!
'Tis not so very long
Since other voices blended
With the carol and the song!
If we could but hear them singing
As they are singing now,
If we could but see the radiance
Of the crown on each dear brow;
There would be no sigh to smother,
No hidden tear to flow,
As we listen in the starlight
To the 'bells across the snow'.

O Christmas, merry Christmas!
This never more can be;
We cannot bring again the days
Of our unshadowed glee.
But Christmas, happy Christmas,
Sweet herald of goodwill,
With holy songs of glory
Brings holy gladness still.
For peace and hope may brighten,
And patient love may glow,
As we listen in the starlight
To the 'bells across the snow'

Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) was a poet and hymn-writer, some of whose work can still be found in our hymn-books today. Perhaps her most famous lyric is 'Take my life and let it be'. Though the words of 'The Bells' are Victorian, the emotions and sensibilities are very recognisable. They are what we will prayerfully bring before God in our Blue Christmas service this evening.



Antiphon:

O Morning Star,
splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death.

TUESDAY 20th DECEMBER

                                                   Annunciation: Dante Gabriel Rossetti


O unknown God,
whose presence is announced
not among the impressive
but in obscurity;
come, overshadow us now,
and speak to our hidden places;
that, entering your darkness with joy,
we may choose to co-operate with you,
through Jesus Christ, Amen.

                 Janet Morley

Yesterday...

Twenty four carol singers of all ages braved the rain and cold to take some happy Christmas music to the streets of Weston Favell, and make some money for the East Park Hostel for the Homeless. Rosemary, Peter and the Enterprise Committee send out a thank you to all who sang, collected and gave. The total raised is at least £404, with two sizable donations included.

Throughout the year, the Enterprise Committee work on events to show the practical side of our faith, and in the course of that raise thousands of pounds for good causes. They in turn deserve a huge thank you for their hard work in organisation and in pricking our consciences.

Talking of raising money, Bill Kingston and his team persuaded hundreds of pounds from the pockets of those singing Christmas music in the Bold Dragoon last Thursday in aid of the visually handicapped. As Richie Benaud would have said...'Good effort!'


Tomorrow...

At 19.00 our Blue Christmas, a service for hope and healing. For many of us the approach to Christmas is tinged by sadness and regret. Here we take time to acknowledge those feelings on the shortest day of the year.



Annunciation     by John Donne

Salvation to all that will is nigh;
That All, which alwayes is All every where,
Which cannot sinne, and yet all sinnes must beare,
Which cannot die, yet cannot chuse but die,
Loe, faithfull Virgin, yeelds himselfe to lye
In prison, in thy wombe; and though he there
Can take no sinne, nor thou give, yet he will weare,
Taken from thence, flesh, which deaths force may trie.
Ere by the spheares time was created, thou
Wast in his minde, who is thy Sonne, and Brother;
Whom thou conceiv'st, conceiv'd; yea thou art now
Thy Makers maker, and thy Fathers mother;
Thou hast light in darke; and shutst in little roome,
Immensity cloystered in thy deare wombe.


The Advent Antiphons

The antiphons, or refrains, all beginning 'O...' were traditionally sung before and after the Magnificat at the service of Vespers on the seven days before Christmas Eve. They're addressed to God, calling for him to come as teacher and deliverer, with a tapestry of scriptural titles and pictures that describe his saving work in Christ. We too are using them each day this week.

Antiphon:

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.


Throughout this blog from time to time we use materials which are the copyright of the Church of England with thanks.

MONDAY 19th DECEMBER

                                                              In the Crispin Chapel


Blessed are you, sovereign Lord, merciful and gentle
to you be praise and glory for ever.
Your light has shone in our darkened world
through the child-bearing of blessed Mary.
Grant that we who have seen your glory
may daily be renewed in your image
and prepared like her for the coming of your Son,
who is the Lord and Saviour of all.
Blessed be God for ever.

               Take Note telling us that that they want some figgy pudding and they want it now!
                                                    Coffee: church hall  11.30 yesterday.


Yesterday...

It took a long time to distribute communion at the 10 o'clock service yesterday - after the choir had received and were back in their seats, two full hymns and a long piece of organ music - a measure of how many people were there to enjoy the worship a week before Christmas. And in the evening the church was full again to hear the Lessons and Carols. In a world where human frailty is so exposed, maybe God is back on the agenda...?  For Christians, as Robert Bridges once memorably wrote in a hymn, 'All our hope in God is founded...'


Today...

We'll be taking the Good News of Christmas to the mean streets of Weston Favell from 17.30 starting from outside the church. Viewed one way, it's guerrilla evangelism, viewed another we'll be raising money for the East Park Hostel for the Homeless Trust. Wrap up well, bring your voice and a torch. Carol sheets provided.


And tomorrow...

A new Prayer Space in the church for use during Open Church. Take ten minutes to calm the mind. You'll work all the more efficiently for it.


Intimacy

I only have brothers.
My sisters never made it to their teens.
A fever took Hannah.
Eliana? Oh, a wall collapsed.
I'll spare you the details.

So, a womanly cousin,
A confidante, a comforting companion,
Was what I wished for.
But what I have - is Mary.

Twenty-five years between us.
An accidental circumstance.
I as dry as dust.
She as dew on grass.

She copies me.
And yes, you'll say, this is flattery.
But understand this.
In speech, in style, the way I walk,
The things I like: everything is colonised,
So I am forced to be unlike myself.

I marry an older man. So does she.
And now, a final irony,
She also is with child.
My moment of triumph,
My completion, my affirmation,
She steals from me.
A miracle in my life
Outbid by a greater one in hers.

Oh, these two strange children, bonded in blood,
How will they be vindicated?
How be understood?

                             Vince Cross

Antiphon:

O root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples:
before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.