Chaplaincy Nativity and Carol Service

I'm, sure many of us are missing out on a traditional nativity and carol service this year so we'd like to welcome everyone to our Chaplaincy carol service which you can enjoy from your desk! This will unashamedly mirror the sort of family crib service Andrew and myself might have in our parishes, or maybe the Nativity plays your children or grandchildren have taken part in.

We're going to sing some much loved Christmas carols and hear what happened all those years ago on that first Christmas. We begin with O Little Town of Bethlehem

Let's set the scene for how our story begins.

Luke 2:1-5: In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to register. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.

So the journey has begun, a perfect opportunity to sing Little Donkey.

Our little donkey has taken Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem and Mary is very close to giving birth. Let's see what happens next in the story.

Luke 2:6-7 :While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Now Jesus has been born, not as you’d expect a king to be born in a palace or castle but in the place where the animals sleep. To reflect on that we sing Away in a Manger.

Let's hear about some other unexpected characters who join in the story of that first Christmas.

Luke 2:8-16: In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them: ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another: ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.

As the shepherds have come to worship Jesus we’ll sing our next carol, See Him Lying on a Bed of Straw

Now anyone familiar with the Christmas story knows there are some more guests yet to arrive in Bethlehem. 

Matthew 2:1-2 and Matthew 2:10-12: In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking: ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Of course we now need a carol about the wise men, it has to be We Three Kings

And so that was the first Christmas. Mary and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born and visited by some unlikely guests. But it’s not the end of the story, not by a long way, in fact it's just the beginning. Jesus is going to do amazing things, and Christians believe he still does amazing things in our lives and through our lives. To prepare for some prayer time we sing Silent Night.

Let us pray

Jesus Christ, born in a stable,

Be with the poor and homeless this Christmas time.

As we pray, live and give;

shine your everlasting light.

 

Jesus Christ, born of Mary,

Be with young mothers across the world this Christmas time.

As we pray, live and give;

shine your everlasting light.

 

Jesus Christ, visited by Shepherds,

Be with all who have to work this Christmas, and those who long to work.

As we pray, live and give;

shine your everlasting light.

 

Jesus Christ,

who became a refugee,

Be with those who fear for their lives, and those who have left homes and families this Christmas.

As we pray, live and give;

shine your everlasting light.

Amen.

 

This is the story of our first Christmas. We wish you all a joyful, peaceful Christmas filled with love. As we go back to our work we go with joy in our hearts, singing Joy to the World.

Go in peace,

We go in peace

Go in joy

We go in joy

Go in love

We go in love

Amen.

The 9th

I am not here to pass judgement
or point the finger at anyone.
My name was written in the sand
as one who is forgiven.
Strengthened with hope, impervious to shame,
I will walk freely like the freshness
of the dry lands after rain.

Let light spill out of heaven
through my life,
dispelling mediocrity and silent blame.
Too many people, guilt-stricken, wounded,
walk in regret,
feeling bad about failing,
apologise even for breathing.

Raw belief, a passion for others
grows in me,
encircling each moment
with instinctive prayer.
I will carry the freshness
of the dry lands after rain.
Compassion lives in me again.

Andy Raine

I want compassion and passion for others to be my defining qualities. I want who I am on the inside to be shaped by my response to the world and people around me.
I think it would be really easy to resent people around me celebrating Christmas whilst I keep Advent, but I love the joy I see in people; I see God reflected in them. I've seen a trend amongst some religious people- to be very pompous about Advent, to have an air of superiority (ok, I may have been a bit that way myself at times) about not celebrating until Christmas Day, but in the words of Mr Emerson in Forster's A Room With a View "Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there?"

Today I found joy in having a lie-in, was thankful for having a warm home and felt helpless about people feeling overwhelmed by Christmas.

Scripture

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.

Jeremiah 29:11-12

Day 14

When we speak about celebration we tend rather easily to bring to mind happy, pleasant, gay festivities in which we can forget for a while the hardships of life and immerse ourselves in an atmosphere of music, dance, drinks, laughter, and a lot of cozy small-talk.  But celebration in the Christian sense has very little to do with this.  Celebration is possible only through the deep realization that life and death are never found completely separate.

Celebration can really come about only where fear and love, joy and sorrow, tears and smiles can exist together. Celebration is the acceptance of life in a constantly increasing awareness of its preciousness. And life is precious not only because it can be seen, touched, and tasted, but also because it will be gone one day.

When we celebrate a wedding we celebrate a union as well as a departure; when we celebrate death we celebrate lost friendship as well as gained liberty.  There can be tears after weddings and smiles after funerals.  We can indeed make our sorrows, just as much as our joys, a part of our celebration of life in the deep realization that life and death are not opponents but do, in fact, kiss each other at every moment of our existence.

When we have been able to celebrate life in all these decisive moments where gaining and losing - that is, life and death - touched each other all the time, we will be able to celebrate even our own dying because we have learned from life that those who lose it can find it (Matt. 16:25)

from Creative Ministry by Henri Nouwen

A suggestion for your prayer and meditation:

Consider how life and death have kissed each other in your life.
Is it possible for you to celebrate this experience of gaining and losing?
Hold each of these considerations in mind and offer them to God using this abbreviated prayer written by Henri Nouwen:

Dear Lord, today I thought of the words of Vincent van Gogh: "It is true there is an ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea". 

You are the sea.

There are days of sadness and days of joy;
there are feelings of guilt and feelings of gratitude;
there are moments of failure and moments of success;
but all of them are embraced by your unwavering love.

O Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the storms and winds of my daily life, and let me know that there is ebb and flow but that the sea remains the sea.  Amen.
Pastor Patty Fox 40 days with 40 Christian mystics

The next few days might have me posting at odd times due to night shifts.

I think one of the most harmful ways we've evolved as a society is by ignoring that we will one day die. Part of Lent is acknowledging our death but also figuring out how we live in the "now", fully embracing this gift we have. Life and death are completely intertwined, I see this clearly in ministry and nursing.

Advent word - celebrate

Celebrate
Christmas is a feast of the senses! It is a celebration of our ability to see and know and taste and touch the power and glory and revelation of God. It is not just about a birth that happened long, long ago and far, far away. It is about the way in which God manifests himself to us in the person of Jesus as friend and food and hope and love. It is a celebration of our ability to grasp God and to sense him with all our being.

-Br. James Koester

24th December

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. -John 1:14

I've just heard those words read by Revd. Alex at midnight mass. It's Christmas morning now and Jesus has indeed been born - our little knitted Jesus in church now lies in his manger, as does the larger one in the nativity scene outside the church. Jesus, God, has come to dwell amongst us.
For many people Christmas will be over as soon as tomorrow is, we've been Christmassed for the last 6 weeks, after tomorrow that's it for another year. For me it's just the beginning. The best thing about keeping advent as a time of waiting is that now Christmas is here I want it to stay, I want to celebrate and I want to give thanks to the God who, as the Message bible puts it, moved into the neighbourhood. He lived with us, knew us and understood us. One of us.

I wish you a joyous and peaceful Christmas - there's 12 days of it remember! Or if we're getting really technical we could keep going all the way to candlemas in February!!

Celebrate More

First day of Love Life Live Lent for 2014. My aim, as last year, is to follow the LLLL challenges and (briefly) blog each day about my experiences. My children are following the challenges too, but this year we've really stepped things up as a whole group of us from St Michael's have decided to follow LLLL and we're doing our best to get other folks from school and church to join in too.
Today's challenge is to celebrate more- and to do so by throwing a pancake party. Last year I took a couple of packets of ready made pancakes to work to share with my lovely colleagues. I decided that I needed a bit more oomph this time to really kick things off so I decided that we'd have an all day pancake party on the ward. I went armed with ready made pancakes, scotch pancakes, syrup, lemon, Nutella...and I even made sure there was plenty left for the night shift.
We should celebrate more- and there doesn't always have to be a reason. Lent starts tomorrow and I think that's something to celebrate because even though it's the longest period of reflection and quiet in the church calendar it's also a time of preparation and of spiritual renewal. Sometimes I feel at my closest to God during Lent as I look at myself, my relationship with God and with the world around me.

luke 15.6: And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”

Bring God's glory to the heart of man

Something that really hits me at this point between Christmas and new year, when many people are back in work for a few days, is the belief that Christmas is done with- all over for another year.
The joy of celebration should encourage us to keep on celebrating as long as we can! In the church there are so many times to be solemn, and so much 'ordinary time' that I love having this joyous time- yes 12 days from Christmas day to Epiphany- but also 40 days from Christmas to Candlemas, which is basically the first week in February. Lent will be here soon enough, abstinence will be on our minds, so eat, drink, feast, celebrate, make merry!! Enjoy Christmas to it's fullest!
I think the problem is- stop me if you've heard this one before- we celebrate too soon. Advent isn't Christmas. My Christmas celebrations kick off on Christmas eve, so I'm not sick of it by the 30th- I've only just started.
Many people find January a miserable slump following the festive period- no chance of that in our house- with 2 major birthdays before we hit twelfth night, then my daughter's birthday on the 11th Jan and mine on the 19th we have multiple opportunities to keep celebrating throughout the extended festive season. Even without these added celebrations, Jesus alone is worth the continued festivities.

O come to us, abide with us.

One thing I want to get across with my festive blog is that my Advent was preparation for, not celebration of, Christmas. I didn't really start to celebrate until midnight mass. The other thing I want to remind people of is that Christmas is not over now it's the 26th of December- it's only just begun. I want to celebrate- for days!! Each day until Epiphany I want to share in what way I've celebrated that day. If I was super keen I'd blog the 40 days up until Candlemas, because Christmas isn't over until then!
Boxing Day is the biggest day in our house- my mum returns from my brother's, with my Bro and his family in tow. Our other parents also join us, we have another feast and exchange gifts. It's a day I've managed to avoid working throughout my career- quite a feat, but I do my fair share elsewhere.
I have to admit that Jesus has been a little out of mind today, after 4 days of spending more time at church than home!  My plan is to spend a few quiet moments in prayer now, before I go to sleep, just being really thankful for all the ways in which I am blessed.