Christmas begins with Christ

I have not braved much Christmas shopping this year. Nearly all of my shopping has been done online. Whilst I have ‘shopped’ around I have some wonderful delights that maybe you have stumbled on too...

For the devout PA - there is a 4gb memory stick in the shape of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It even has a little heart that flashes when you plug her into your USB port. Her halo has a prayer - ‘O Maria keep my data safe.’

Or show how devout you are, you might want a Spirit Filled bible - like this one...


There are also the items of a more intimate nature printed with sacred images, marketed simply as ‘thongs of praise.’

Alternatively as I scoured the net I also found a wooden nativity scene. It’s made in Bethlehem. Placed down the middle of the scene separating wise men from the holy family is a wall. It is a stark reminder of the 370 km long, 6 metre high, barbed wire topped wall encircling Palestine and which causes hardship to many thousands.

When I did venture out into Hemel I was really struck by the quite frankly facile advertising campaign in the Marlowes shopping centre this year -

love life. love gifts. love christmas.
love life. love style. love christmas.
Christmas, it’s in the bag.

All of that is in stark contrast to the Christmas advertising we have used at church this year which you might have seen. The poster is of a scan of a be-haloed baby - clearly meant to be Jesus. The tag line reads - Christmas begins with Christ. I wonder which of these two visions of why we are celebrating you buy into?Amongst the trivia and the kitsch, the laughter and the celebration, tonight we are reminded that Jesus was born into a world then as now that was a messy place, a place where injustice lives alongside privilege, poverty in the shadow of obscene wealth and where violence so often prospers despite the peace-loving goodwill of great numbers.

It’s a reminder that the world foreseen by Isaiah that we heard about in our first reading tonight, seen some 800 years before the events we recall tonight, is still to be fully realized. Today we celebrate the fact that glorious light does indeed shine on us in the dark times of our lives and in the dark places of our world. But we do also acknowledge that Jesus, the Prince of Peace’s reign of justice has begun, yet it is far from being fulfilled. God’s vision of the world, shared through Isaiah, is a magnificent vision and the child to be born is the gift beyond all gifts, offering us life beyond what life so often is, showing us love deeper and more meaningful than we ever thought possible. It’s that reality that inspires us to let the light of God shine forth in our lives.

When we look into the manger tonight, what do we see? The warm romantic glow of a proud new family unit, or a new family seeking refuge in a stranger’s barn? We see new life, God’s New Life, begun in the depths of our sometimes messy and sometimes frivolous realities and we see the vulnerability of a God who reaches into human life in the most intimate of ways - by becoming one of us.

When we look at this baby, we see right into the heart, into the life, into the purposes and hope and dreams of God himself. And in that heart there are no barriers. It is a heart that isn’t put off by barbed wire, barbed comments, roadside bombs, religious intolerance, environmental abuse. A heart doesn’t waver when enemies want to nail it to a cross. A heart that continues to love no matter how much we might take advantage of his vulnerability.

When we look into the crib tonight at this baby, we see a whole cinema of images, every one which points us to the passion that God has for each of us. Every one of them points towards God’s absolute determination to show us that the messiness and frivolity of human life is ultimately no match for divine extravagance of His vulnerable love.

God’s love isn’t such that offers quick fixes, magical protection or emotional anaesthesia: it isn’t infantile love. God’s love is far stronger because it stands with us when things are at their very worst and holds us when life verges into the intolerable. Through the baby in a manger God offers us a powerful, grown up, real kind of love whose light shines with glory even as it challenges us to give birth to that same birth ourselves in our lives, lifestyles, words and actions.
So what do we see as we look into the crib? Shopping bags crammed with love gifts for those who matter to us? A baby? As importantly though, I wonder what God sees as he looks out at us?

He sees what we don’t expect Him to see - he looks past self obsessed X-factor desire to be famous, and instead sees deep down a longing in each of us to be recognized and loved for who we are. He looks past our self obsessed National Lottery desire to be rich, and instead sees deep down a longing in each of us to be secure and safe. He looks past our self obsessed Apprentice desire to be the best at all costs no matter who gets trodden on on the way up, and instead sees deep down a longing in each of us to know that we reaching our God-given potential.

We don’t like a God who messes with us. This is why Christmas has become about shopping. But there are not enough presents in the world to obscure the God who looks for us tonight. Many of us say things like ‘I believe in God’ but then not allow that belief to touch the sides of our lives and just pass straight through leaving us unchallenged, unchanged. It’s easy to deal with a God who doesn’t deal with us because we don’t have to deal with Him, but a God who come to the muck and mire of our lives forces us to face the fact of the manger we gather at tonight - if this is God’s response to me then how should I respond to Him?

God in the muck and mire of the manger sees our vulnerability and sees each one of us as irreplaceable, precious and lovable, irrespective of what we may feel about ourselves. As He looks out of the manger tonight and recognizes each of us as His own son or daughter because of Jesus. Because of this baby looking back at us, we all children of God and in His heart, there is space for all of us.

love life. love gifts. love christmas.
love life. love style. love christmas.
Christmas, it’s in the bag.

No, Christmas is not in the bag. Christmas is is in the manger, in the crib, because Christmas begins with Christ.

~~~~~

With grateful thanks to Brett Ward's sermon in 'The Preacher' issue: Oct 2010 no. 139

Nativity: God out of the bottle

This post comes originally from Bishop Alan Wilson's blog...

~~~~~

Tony Jordan knows a good story when he sees one. After twenty years and more scripting soaps, including EastEnders, he has an ear for how ordinary people communicate. Invited to pitch for a BBC Nativity, he tried a Mickeytake. Once he got the job, he buckled down to a bit of serious research, and a personal exploration of the story as a story, and its real background. The result has been mesmerizing — four half hour episodes of the Nativity on BBC1, that Lucy and I have been following avidly.

I notice the way in which a good scriptwriter allows the embarrassing, open-ended, confusional bits of the story that often get skated over in school or church nativities, to have their full weight in the characters’ lives. Joseph’s basic mistrust of Mary’s story lasts two episodes, but no scene takes longer than ninety seconds max. Every part of the story tells us something we needed to know more than we realised. Mr Jordan is no paid-up religionist, but he obviously feels the story’s power and draws us in accordingly.

So what did writing this stuff do for him? I was interested to hear his interview with Aled Jones on Radio 2. As well as challenging secularist complacency and stereotypes, he challenges religious equivalents. It would be worth the religious contemplating Tony Jordan’s comments about what we are communicating and how in the light of Christ:

I still have a hasty distrust of organised religion. I generally do and that’s the thing that hasn’t changed at all. My faith has changed and I have changed as a person because of the nativity, but not my feelings when I look at organised religion and different denominations all fighting about which foot his sandal’s on and blessed are the cheesemakers, I just think of the life of Brian, and it drives me insane and I dislike the thought of somebody saying to me “If you come through those doors and you walk down that aisle, and you sit on that wooden bench, quietly, and you sing these hymns in that order, and I've put the order up so you don't get it wrong, and you listen to what I’m saying, I’ve got God in a little bottle under the pulpit, and I’ll take the lid off and let you have a little look, and then I’ll put the lid back on and then I’ll see you again next week, and if you're good I’ll let you have another look. Christ doesn’t belong to them. I don’t have to go there to get him. And actually he told me to go away and pray in my wardrobe. That’s what he says, in his teachings. He says don't go to the Church to be seen, go and sit in your wardrobe and say “Daddy” because that’s what the relationship should be, and what’s really strange for me is the change in me was a tangible one because I suddenly realised, half way through my research I started arguing God’s corner, which is something I’d never thought I’d do...

O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)

Some of the titles given to Jesus are awkward to negotiate in a democratic world, let alone a world concerned with political correctness. To call Jesus “King of the Nations” and to allude to his role as the Judge of all needs a bit of thought if it isn’t to sound domineering and overbearing. “The authority rests on his shoulders,” wrote Isaiah (9:6) and, “He shall judge between nations.” (2:4) But can we still accept a God who claims to have authority and the right to judge?

Today’s antiphon reads:

O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.

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

It’s right to demand justice of our authority structures, it’s reasonable to be outraged when election promises are broken, when justice breaks down, when policing favours the privileged and treats the young and the invisible badly. But the fact that we readily insist that “they” should be doing something about it doesn’t suggest a move towards anarchy, but a deep seated desire for authority to be handled properly and fairly, and wielded on behalf of all the people. Authoritarianism is ugly, but authority is good; Judgemental is ghastly, but someone who ushers in true justice would surely be welcomed by the vast majority of people.

Isaiah’s words suggest that the Messiah qualifies as Rex Gentium precisely because only he can handle power and authority without becoming corrupt; only he can be a judge who is unbiased in his concern for true justice, and not open to coercion. He is a counsellor, an arbitrator, the prince of peace, under whose governance war will end and true peace be established. He does not favour the rich over the poor, but lifts up the needy from the ash heap.

“For unto us a child is born us, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and he shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”

He shall judge between the nations,
and arbitrate for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isa 2:4)

~~~

This post comes from Maggi Dawn's wonderful blog with thanks for the continued inspiration

winter solstice, lunar eclipse, dawning of love

Just before dawn on the shortest day of the year the eclipse and winter solstice conspired to diminish the light and challenge the dawn. In the freezing darkness of this winter's morning the lunar eclipse brought a startling absence of light, until the dawn broke and the sky brightened into the deep beautiful blue of a new day.

Darkness and light, the solstice of the soul, the joyful dawning of hope; Advent gifts vital themes to the embrace of Christmas. Once again the birth of love melts the frozen denials of secularism, and the radiance of grace illuminates the hard edges of life.

In these darkest times the love-light of Jesus awaits our gaze and our welcome.

~~~~~~

From Dave Perry's 'Visual Theology' blog

A Social Network Christmas

What if this timeless story had been set in a digital age?

Advent 4 - Word as a Wordle

This Sunday's Gospel reading - Wordled!

Matthew 1:18-25...

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah^* took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ ²²All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
²³ ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ ²⁴

When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son;^* and he named him Jesus.

The Digital Story of the Nativity

The Christmas Story

Dorothy Mary Daniell - May She Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory!

I needed to include this somewhere, so I thought I would blog it here, but below is the sermon I preached at the memorial service for Dorothy Daniell. The readings are from Romans 8:31-15, 37-end...

³²³³³⁴What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.^* Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

and St. John 14:1-6...

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe^* in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?^* And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’^* Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ^{3537383923456}

~~~

In the name of Jesus Christ, who carries our burdens, and gives us rest. Amen.

The Dorothy Daniell that we are here today to remember was in death as she was in life - gracious, graceful and generous. A slight frame belying a wisdom accumulated through a full and diverse life and a passion for people. Time spent with Dorothy was time well spent. It was time that was rewarding, sometimes challenging but always enriching.

Dorothy’s graciousness, gracefulness and generosity I believe, rose out of her quiet, still God-filled centre. It is that centre in others that she spent her life helping articulate, accept and respect whether in social work or psychotherapy and in friendship and relationship. She graciously listened like you were the only person in the world. She was graceful in her dress, her manner and her words were full of the grace and compassion of Christ. She was generous of herself, of her time and her talent, all arising from her trust in a God who was ‘for her’, to use Paul’s words, and for those with whom she spent her life working.

What can we say about the faith in God that lay at Dorothy’s centre? She trusted in a self-giving God - who shared His very self with us in Jesus Christ. Calling us into a life-changing love relationship through Him. She trusted in a God who justifies, who shows us to be worthy of love and respect, who does not judge or condemn us. She trusted in a God, who when we turn to Him, will never turn from us and from whose life transforming love will never be separated - not in hardship, persecution or distress. Dorothy, with us, will not even be separated from God’s love in life nor in death.

It is that quiet certain faith that was Dorothy’s centre and it is that same faith that calls to us as we celebrate her life today. ‘Do not be troubled’ says Jesus to His closest friends as they are confronted with the realisation of his imament death. ‘Continue to believe in God and all that you have seen and heard in me.’

‘Do not be troubled’ says Jesus to us as we are confronted with Dorothy’s death. Continue to believe in the same God she did. Continue to listen to and live out in your lives, all the things she saw and heard in her relationship with me.

I am in no doubt my friends that Jesus has prepared a place with Him, for her. How can I be sure? Because in her graciousness, gracefulness and generosity we met again and again a remarkable woman in every way. In those encounters we met a woman at whose heart, in whose quiet centre was a graciousness - the kindness and simple human courtesy that found a place in all of her relationships, but which has it’s roots in God. In those encounters we met a woman at whose heart, in whose quiet centre was a gracefulness - the favour, the attention she showed you as you spent time in her company - true in all her relationships, but which has it’s roots in God. In those encounters we met a woman at whose heart, in whose quiet centre was a generosity - the giving of herself in every way that found a place in all of her relationships, but which has it’s roots in God.

Dorothy’s faith was no intellectual exercise. It impacted her life and therefore ours whether we recognise it or not. As God made his way into our world in Jesus Christ, revealing the truth of God’s life transforming love for us, and offering each of us the chance to have our lives transformed by love - so He did also in Dorothy. We are not the same because of her and better for it thanks be to God!

With St. Paul I am sure that ‘...neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord...’ Love we have come to know in Dorothy. Amen

Pain Killers and Hope Killers

I’m handing out pain killers tonight. You can take it if you want. You always have that option. But Advent asks you to wait just a minute, before you do, and consider this:

Painkillers don’t do what they say they are going to do. They might immediately mask the pain, but they don’t kill the pain. They numb our sense of the pain, but they don’t address the source of the pain. Now I’m not saying that there aren’t good reasons to numb your pain. And it seems like Advent brings a lot of these reasons to light.

Earlier we read in Isaiah about a time when everyone comes running to God to teach them how to live, about a time when the world forgets how to fight, a time when every tool to make war is repurposed into a tool to make food. And yet the present reality is that most of our children cannot remember a time when our country was not in two wars. The drastic disparity between what God promise for the future and what we experience now is hard to bear. And Advent seems to bring these differences out. So it makes sense that during the season of Advent we encounter so much pain-killing, like… excessive eating… excessive drinking… excessive shopping… excessive entertainment… the list goes on because your pain-killing is as unique as your pain. Making the connection is scary – but it could change everything.

Karl Marx said, “religion is the opiate of the masses”, “Religion is the people’s pain killer.” And that is definitely one of the many shadow-sides of religion, but tonight Jesus is calling us out of our opiate stupor. Advent is the smelling salts of the masses; wakes you up to all that is around you, wake you up to all that is within you even if it hurts, because there is some pain that is linked directly to your hope and if you kill that pain, you kill your hope. Making the connection is scary – but it could change everything.

There are times when we feel so drugged, so groggy, so numb that we need something to surprise us into hope. The salvation of God always comes as a shock.

This year, you’ll know it’s Advent if there is desire awakened in you tonight. You’ll know it’s Advent if you face the possibility of becoming horribly disappointed, but you risk to hope anyways. You’ll know it’s Advent if you are beginning to feel the discomfort of reality and you know that you were meant for more. You always have the option of taking a pain-killer, but this year Advent is asking you to wait, confront your pain, and be shocked by the closeness of your God.

~~~~

This post featured originally on Christine Sine's excellent Godspace blog

I see Dead People

This very famous scene comes from M. Night Shyamalan's excellent film 'The Sixth Sense' but personally I can empathise with Haley Joel Osment's character, Cole Sear. At the moment I feel like I see dead people.

This feeling has much to do with a significant number of requests to minister to the dead and dying in recent weeks.

This blog post is not an opportunity to bemoan that ministry, for it is all too rare a privilege. Nor is this an opportunity to comment on the cost of that ministry on me personally, even though there is one but it is nothing compared to the cost of being a grieving relative in the first place.
Death is one of the things that Christians have traditionally meditated on during this holy season of Advent, along with Heaven, Hell and Judgment. Advent is, in the context of Christ's longed for coming amongst us and promised return, an opportunity to prepare ourselves for a holy death.

Death though is something that as a society, we try to avoid. Everything from extreme dieting, through rigorous exercise, plastic surgery and even anti-wrinkle face creams are all, at various levels, forms of coffin dodging, of death avoidance. Death more often than not no longer happens at home, but in hospital, the funeral no longer in the local church but in an out of town crem. Funeral services are no longer simply 'The Burial of the Dead' but 'Thanksgivings' and 'Celebrations.'

Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was…

These words were written by Henry Scott Holland when he was a Canon of St Paul’s cathedral. But they weren’t written as a poem, these words were part of a sermon. Scott Holland fashions these words to encapsulate one response to death, a response which often comes in the immediate wake of a death but which swiftly evaporates. Alongside this response to death he expressed another view,

Death ‘makes all we do here meaningless and empty…. It is the cruel ambush into which we are snared... It is the pit of destruction. It wrecks, it defeats, it shatters It makes its horrible breach in our gladness with careless and inhuman disregard of us. We get no consideration from it. Often and often it stumbles in like an evil mischance, like a feckless misfortune. Its shadow falls across our natural sunlight, and we are swept off into some black abyss. There is no light or hope in the grave; there is no reason to be wrung out of it.’

Though from the same Scott Holland sermon, this extract is not read at funerals.

But death for the Christian is neither ‘nothing at all’ nor is there ‘no light or hope in the grave.'

Paul writes in Rom 6:23 '...the wages of sin is death'. Death is a serious thing, it is not a trivial or illusory as the first scenario from Scott Holland suggests. But Paul’s verse continues ‘...but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord...' Therefore the second scenario from Scott Holland is also wide of the mark. For us as Christians therefore we can own on the one hand the seriousness of death, but also to our hope that it does not have the final word; hence Paul can taunt death, I Cor 15:55 '...Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O grave, is your sting?'

And yet the words 'earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust', part of the committal prayer, can so often sting. For whilst we rejoice as Christians in the knowledge that death itself is conquered by Christ's own death and resurrection, the reality that the person we have known and loved will be with us no longer is the harshest of realities, it is something.

Jesus knew this. 'Father if it is possible for this cup to pass from me...' Jesus didn't want to face what he ultimately willingly chose in the Garden of Gethsemene and turned his face to Jerusalem and his crucifixion. Confronted with the death of his great friend Lazarus '... Jesus wept...'

Death is nothing at all? No, death is something. God knows. This priest feels surrounded by death and dying at the moment. I see dead and dying people.

Advent reminds us that in a sense we all see dead people.

We are all made from dust and ash - from the ground, from the elements around us. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, reminds us of our mortality and failing and gives us permission to cry out to God for redemption, salvation and change.

God's Messiah comes to be enfleshed in dust and ashes with us, calling us to be transformed into glory.

Advent reminds us of our mortality, to prepare for our death's well and to long for God's transforming glory in our midst.

The Gospel for Christmas Shoppers

I dislike Christmas shopping. I don't dislike the thought that goes into choosing a present for someone I love. What I find hard is that you are all there when I want to go and buy it!

God offers us good news good news from Isaiah's prophecy (Is. 35:3&4)...

'...Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
‘Be strong, do not fear!...'

In this season of goodwill, I am rejoicing that whilst our wallets might get exercised, our hands might get tired from bag carrying, God's all transforming love promises to transform the landscapes of our lives - even in the mayhem of Christmas shopping.

Perhaps that same good news is better expressed or demonstrated another way...

Christmas Can [Still] Change the World

The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love.

So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists.

And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas?

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again? Go to the Advent Conspiracy website to take part

Advent encourages me to believe that love will appear where the need is greatest

Dave Perry writes, '...With temperatures down to -16C our snow-bound village has been blessed with a spectacular display of frost. One sight in particular caused me to stop and think, an image which quite unexpectedly visualised my expectation of Advent and the Christmas season.

I came upon a barbed wire fence adorned along its entire length with a translucent fringe of delicate ice crystals. It was as though a decorative strip of tinsel had been unwound and very gently and deliberately put in place to counter the barbs with beauty. And what beauty.

The frost was growing by the hour, and to me it had the quality of a determined and irresistible protest at that which is designed to harm. Materialising out of thin air, the frost made visible the front line of love's work. Where else would I expect love to be if not where life's barbs are the sharpest and its boundaries the cruelest and most intransigent?

Where the tools and techniques of violence and oppression separate us from each other, where hatred divides and the innocent are denied freedom, that is where love materialises. Advent tells me this is so.

And so in the frosty miracle of love's incarnation in Bethlehem, God's crystal clear protest at all that bedevils and belittles the beauty of our humanity is made manifest for all to see. Such translucent grace makes a mockery of our barbed wire world. It encourages us to believe that love will always appear where the need is greatest...'

~~~~

From Dave Perry's moving and enlightening Visual Theology blog...

Arvo Pärt - Magnificat Antiphons

I have already blogged on the importance of the Advent Antiphons this year already. I love this setting by Arvo Part. They move me. I hope they move you too. Last year, I wrote about the Antiphons and said...

From at least the eighth century the antiphon before and after the Magnificat at Vespers (Evening Prayer), for the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve, has greeted Christ with a title starting with “O”. These became the basis of the popular carol “O come, O come, Emmanuel” (see below). The initials, when read backwards, form the Latin “Ero Cras” which means “Tomorrow I come.”

They are now also used, in shorted form, in the Alleluia verses before the days’ Gospel readings.

Here are reflections and musical settings (sung by the Dominican student brothers at Blackfriars in Oxford) for these wonderful antiphons that you can use day by day until Christmas Eve:

O Sapientia – O Wisdom – 17 December
O Adonai – O Lord of might – 18 December
O Radix Jesse – O Root of Jesse – December 19
O Clavis David – O Key of David – December 20
O Oriens – O Dawn – December 21
O Rex Gentium – O sovereign of the nations – December 22
O Emmanuel – December 23

There is also a really good resource of reflections on these antiphons, the 'jewels of the church' here.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

God in the Darkness...

God in the darkness, God beyond our knowing,
patient creator, seed in secret growing,
rock of the living water ever flowing:
come and renew us.

God in the darkness, God in all our grieving,
friend of our tears, companion never leaving,
drawing us past the limits of believing:
come and renew us.

God in the darkness, God of holy dreaming,
giver of hope, and pledge of our redeeming,
Spirit of truth, our memory and meaning;
come and renew us.

Elizabeth J Smith from Run, Shepherds, Run Poems for Advent and Christmas by L William Countryman

Taken from the excellent Love Blooms Bright blog...

---

Advent Word as a Wordle

From Isaiah 35:1-10...

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,
and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the ²Lord,
the majesty of our God.

³ Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.’ ⁴

⁵ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,^*
the grass shall become reeds and rushes. ⁶⁷

⁸ A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it,^*
but it shall be for God’s people;^*
no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray. No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the ⁹¹⁰Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Shepherds star in BBC’s The Nativity

From the BBC website...

The writer who brought Kat and Alfie to life in EastEnders has been working on another tempestuous relationship this year – Mary and Joseph.

Tony Jordan, lead writer on EastEnders and writer of Life on Mars, has been adapting the story of the Nazareth couple whose lives were thrown off course by an unexpected pregnancy. The result of his extensive research and writing is The Nativity, which will be shown on BBC One in the week leading up to Christmas.

Over four half-hour episodes, the familiar story is given a contemporary twist, as the drama follows Joseph (Andrew Buchan) and Mary (Tatiana Maslany) from their initial courtship – Joseph desperate to win the heart of Mary – to his emotional turmoil at her mysterious pregnancy.

Tony Jordan says, ‘The challenge for me was to retell a story that has been told countless times before, a story that everyone knows intimately, yet to do so in a way that will still surprise and move you, to see parts of the story you’d never seen before.’

Rich in colour and humour, the remarkable events that led up to Jesus’ birth will unfold across the four nights, from the epic journey of the wise men (one of whom is played by Peter Capaldi from The Thick of It) to the poignant tale of Thomas, a poor shepherd, whose waning faith in God is revived as he kneels beside the crib of the newborn king.

Of all the characters in the drama, Tony Jordan feels most affinity with Thomas.

‘The Magi are there to watch the fulfilment of Balaam’s prophecy, Mary is there because she has been chosen by God, and Joseph has been chosen by God to look after Mary and the child. Everybody is there for a reason, but the question still remains, “Well, what does this mean to me? Why is this important to a normal working bloke?” And Thomas is there to represent all of us.’

The Nativity, BBC One, starting Monday 20 December at 7pm.

For a gallery of pictures from the production released today by the BBC, visit our Facebook photos page.

An Environmental Advent

Advent is about the justice of God and the revealing of His kingdom.

Our readiness for it's revealing is shown in how we live our lives now - in how we treat each other and our planet. The Archdeacon of Worcester, Roger Morris, reminds us of this fact... (from the CofE's excellent Advent website.)

Christ is Coming

From Christine Sine on the Godspace blog...

Word as a Wordle - Advent 2

Isaiah 11:1010
A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. ²³

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins. ⁴⁵

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea. ⁶⁷⁸⁹

10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

December 1st - an absent presence

Presence in absentia: the photograph represents both an absence which is unmissable and a presence which is unmistakable. The snow lying on the ground is clear evidence that something substantial was there while the flakes were falling from the night sky. That something was gone by daybreak but no one could argue with the fact of its having being there in the first place. The vehicle was a very tangible reality and a fact beyond disputation.

For me Advent has this same sense of presence in absentia: we wait, we hope, we feel longing and expectation; there is a tingling sense of promise in the chilly air. God is on the move again. The Spirit of Divine love is stirring up wistfulness, wonderment, remorse and regret. Darkness is prepared for enlightenment, evil for surrender, yearning for fulfilment.

All around us the quiet work of love, compassion and prayer leaves an outline of presence in our common experience. Unseen, elusive yet tangible is God's being with and amongst us. The sense of 'in retrospect' clarity is characteristic of God's presence in absentia. The poet-priest R.S. Thomas understood this aspect of God with us better than most and expressed it par excellence. Just a few of his lines unpack the truth to which the photograph points:

He is such a fast God, always before us and leaving as we arrive...


It is this great absence that is like a presence, that compels me to address it without hope of a reply, It is a room I enter from which someone has just gone, the vestibule for the arrival of one who has not yet come...


Advent conveys this presence in absentia with marvellous imagination and such resolute faith. So we are encouraged to trust and look forward. The presence of God is unmistakable.

~~~~

From Dave Perry's marvelous Visual Theology blog with thanks

Waiting for God

And so once more the wheel of the year has turned

and we are back at the beginning,
at this time of waiting.
Four weeks of waiting.
…
We have turned aside to this patch of holy ground
to sit and wait
at this time precisely set aside, like Lent,
for waiting.

Four weeks now of waiting.
Four weeks!
the insistent world in which we live
would have us want things now,
with the click of a button
and the blink of an eye.
But we have turned aside to wait,
in God’s good time.

So what are we waiting for?
waiting for God to come and take us home,
to lead us up her garden path,
past trees of Wisdom and of Life,
to open wide the door,
to cheer our spirits
chase off the gloomy clouds of night,
to close the path to misery,
put on the kettle,
sit us down to tea and cake
and make us laugh.
…

Waiting for God is surely a strange occupation,
for God is all about us
in the wild skies,
the clouds unravellled by the wind,
the sun that turns the trees to to gold and sea to duck-egg blue,
in the gorse that flowers even in frost,
the shades of winter bracken,
the lifted wings of swans,
the cries of whiffling geese,
in the kindness of strangers,
in acts of unexpected courtesy,
in the fresh companionship of old friends,
…
How can we wait for a God who has already arrived?

Because things are not all sweetness and light.
…
We have other tales to tell, if we dare tell them,
and we, we are not shivering in the cold of Kashmir,
nor striving to survive Mugabe’s madness,
nor are we high-walled and roadblocked in Bethlehem.
Sometimes it seems God is more than just four weeks away.

And so we wait.
We all wait.

excerpts from ‘Waiting for God’ by Trevor Dennis from his book The Christmas Stories

~~~

Original post from the excellent Love Blooms Bright Blog...

Advent Antiphons - White as Snow

And so Advent begins. This afternoon we sang the wonderful carol 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel' which is in turn based on the traditioanal 'O Antiphons.'

The O Antiphons are Magnificat Antiphons used at Vespers of the last seven days of Advent.
Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. They are:
• December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
• December 18: O Adonai (O Adonai)
• December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
• December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
• December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)
• December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)
• December 23: O Emmanuel (O Emmanuel)

The importance of the "O Antiphons" is twofold. First, each one is a title for the Messiah. Secondly, each one refers to the prophesy of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah. It's one of my fave hymns of all time. It took me back also to a song by U2 called 'White as Snow' on their 'No Line on the Horizon' cd. The melody of the song echoes the melody of the hymn we sung today.

A quick google search found an article that I remember reading on The Guardian Music Blog
which I copy below:

When I interviewed Bono in Dublin back in January, as part of my marathon tracking of the new U2 album, No Line On the Horizon, for Sunday's Observer Music Monthly, he described it as "essentially a big fat rock album". The most dramatic exception is a track called White As Snow, the quietest, most intimate, and arguably most arresting song that U2 have ever made.

"There are a couple of songs from the point of view of an active soldier in Afghanistan," Bono told me back in June 2008, at the group's Hanover Quay studio in Dublin, during a break in recording, "and one of them, White As Snow, lasts the length of time it takes him to die".

Of all the character songs on the album, White As Snow is the most moving. Much of this is to do with its sense of quietude – not a mood one normally associates with U2. The song is almost ambient in its musical pulse, suggesting the presence of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and Bono's voice sounds markedly different here, more restrained, more plaintive, the emotion suggested rather than strained for.

The song's melody is based on an old hymn, Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel, that, according to The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal, was composed by "an unknown author, circa 1100". (Surprisingly, the original has been faithfully covered by both Sufjan Stevens and Belle & Sebastian and, less surprisingly, by Enya and 2006's BBC Young Chorister of the Year, William Dutton).

The idea of a song based on the dying thoughts of a soldier initially came to Bono after he read William Golding's ambitious novel, Pincher Martin, which is told from the point of view of a British sailor who appears to have survived the torpedoing of his ship. As he approaches death, his thoughts roam back over his life, and the moral choices he made or avoided. (The novel's denouement, though, suggests that the soldier died at the moment his ship went down and that the preceding narrative recounts his soul's struggle to stay in the material world.)

After watching Sam Mendes's film, Jarhead, Bono decided the song should evoke the thoughts of a soldier dying from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Intriguingly, you don't really need to know the context for the song to work. It stands alone. Initially, I had assumed it was sung in the voice of a young Middle Eastern man who had been driven into exile, but there you go.

I am not typically taken with songs that require prior knowledge or context to be fully appreciated. I remember interviewing Elvis Costello on the release of his dense and difficult album, Spike, and being baffled even more by his explanations of the songs than the songs themselves. Springsteen, on the other hand – and, in particular, Springsteen the quiet balladeer – is a master of setting and context: "My name is Joe Roberts, I work for the state, I'm a sergeant out in Perrineville, Barracks number 8" . There is something about writing in character – putting yourself in someone else's place and seeing the world though someone else's eyes – that requires a certain craft and economy for that shift in perspective to be credible.

"We were going to start White As Snow with an explosion," recalled Bono. "An early version had this industrial noise that sounded like the aftermath of a bomb." Now, that would have been one way of getting around the problem of context. It may have worked, too, but the song is fine the way it is, unadorned, evocative, suggestive. You don't have to know what it's about to feel its quiet power or sense its sadness. "It's kind of pastoral,"
said Bono. It bodes well for the album that will follow No Line On the Horizon, which has, he says, "the idea of pilgrimage at its centre", and is made up of the "quieter, more meditative songs" that did not make it on to this one. "Intimacy is the new punk rock," Bono added, laughing. But is it the new stadium rock?

The 'O Antiphons' as special because, '...[i]n English as it is spoken in our communities, the vocative O is never used in the same way we see it here. Thankfully, liturgical language preserves a kind of impatient address for us with the O, opening our mouths and our eyes at the same time as we talk to a person. When we sing and pray, the O is followed often by the petition for someone to come and join us: O come, let us sing unto the Lord. O come, O come, Emmanuel. O come, all ye faithful. The O — and these Os — arranges our mouths and hopes around specific persons and special ends. We had not noticed before this year that in addition to bringing together Hebrew prophecies about the coming of the Christ Child, the antiphons include a substantial pre-Christmas wish-list. When we pray them, we ask — not always disguising our impatience very well — for instruction in the way of prudence; for redemption with an outstretched arm; for deliverance; for the release of prisoners out of the prison house; for enlightenment and for salvation. There is not a bicycle or toy train set in sight, nor a giftcard, nor clothing, nor even an iPod....' (that snippet is taken from here)

But perhaps they do sum up the hopes of a dying soldier or the longings of a war-torn and suffering world...



Where I came from there were no hills at all
The land was flat, the highway straight and wide
My brother and I would drive for hours
Like we had years instead of days
Our faces as pale as the dirty snow

Once I knew there was a love divine
Then came a time I thought it knew me not
Who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not
Only the lamb as white as snow

And the water, it was icy
As it washed over me
And the moon shone above me

Now this dry ground, it bears no fruit at all
Only poppies laugh under the crescent moon
The road refuses strangers
The land, the seeds we sow
Where might we find the lamb as white as snow

As boys we would go hunting in the woods
To sleep the night shooting out the stars
Now the wolves are every passing stranger
Every face we cannot know
If only a heart could be as white as snow
If only a heart could be as white as snow

~~~~

For more on this, see my post last year on the O Antiphons here

Advent

Here is the gospel reading for Advent Sunday from Matthew 24:36-44, as a seasonally coloured Wordle...

‘...But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son,^* but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day^* your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour...'^{3738394041424344}

It is interesting to note that the Wordle highlights the words son, man, one and coming. The Son of Man is one who is coming.

Who or what is the Son of Man? It seems that the phrase over the centuries has meant different things. In the very earliest times it referred most probably to a human being or one's self. For example in the Old Testament in Numbers 23:19

לא אישׁ אל ויכזב ובן־אדם ויתנחם ההוא אמר ולא יעשׂה ודבר ולא יקימנה

God is not a human being (איש : ['iysh]), that he should lie,

or a mortal/son of man (בן–אדם : [ben-'adam]), that he should change his mind:

Has he promised, and will he not do it?

Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Ben-adam. The son of Adam. The son of a man.

Later in the Book of Ezekiel in chapter 2:

He said to me, Son of man (בן־אדם : [ben-'adam]), stand on your feet, and I will speak with you. ² The Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard him who spoke to me. ³ He said to me, Son of man (בן־אדם : [ben-'adam]), I send you to the children of Israel, to nations that are rebellious, which have rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day. ⁴ The children are impudent and stiff-hearted: I do send you to them; and you shall tell them, Thus says the Lord YHWH. ⁵ They, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them. ⁶ You, son of man (בן־אדם : [ben-'adam]), don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: don’t be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. ⁷ You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are most rebellious. ⁸ But you, son of man (בן־אדם : [ben-'adam]), hear what I tell you; don’t be you rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that which I give you. ⁹ When I looked, behold, a hand was put forth to me; and, behold, a scroll of a book was therein; ¹⁰ He spread it before me: and it was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

Son of man here appears to be a title referring to the humanity of the author, much how the word "human" may suffice in English. It is not a respectful appellation, but a humbling one (in some cases, an arguably abject one), and this use is a consistent pattern throughout Ezekiel.

In other words, the son of man, is a downtrodden figure that the prophet Daniel then links with a divine figure, the coming Messiah, a theological link that was strengthened during the time before New Testament.

In the New Testament, Jesus uses the term in similar ways, but some think he might just be referring to humanity generally.

How do we deal with this this Advent? The Son of Man is coming - that's what Advent is about. Getting ready for the arrival of the Messiah figure - God's chosen leader who would forge a new relationship between humanity and God and free humanity from the oppressive regime that they were bound by. Then it was a longing for a Divine King freeing people from the rule of the Romans. Today it might be a longing to be freed from debt, from habit forming behaviours and led to a better way of living. Or if the Son of Man refers to the whole of humanity, then a longing that a better 'version' of humanity is coming, is made possible by God. Either way it is a hopeful vision indeed... God's take on things, is that He longs to free us and enable us to be the people that He and we (however deep down we may need to look) long to be...

When I posted this on Rectory Musings last week I had two helpful comments wheich I share with you here...

Ramtopsrac said:

Two questions:

surely it is (if you take the original meaning) the "new humanity" that is coming, not just a longing for it? Aren't we moving towards fulfilment in either meaning?

God wants us to be free to be the people we long to be... is I think what you say. But shouldn't we be hoping/longing to be the people that God made us to be, rather than letting our own desires dominate? Or am I reading you wrong.

James Ogley said:

'adam of course is not gender specific (see http://jamesthevicar.com/wordpress/2008/07/29/adam-male/) so ben-adam could be rendered "Son of humanity" or "born of human" or something along those lines. This brings to life the state of the whole of humanity and so the enormity of what is wrought by the "new adam" - the new human.

The Wating is almost over...

Advent Sunday is almost upon us. To help us get the most out of this holy season of preparation, I'd like to suggest tome resources below that might help you.


Firstly there is the St Albans Diocese Advent Challenge: Me, You, the World and God. You will receive a daily bible verse by email or text. The verses, which begin in Genesis and go through to the Nativity, offer an opportunity to reflect on our relationship with one another, with the world and with God. The themes of the weeks are Beginnings, Relationships, Visions and Encounters.

You can also download a leaflet for each week listing the verses. The leaflet, like the email, offers brief comments, questions for reflection and pointers for prayer. Sign up here. Tell your friends.

Secondly there is there is the Church of England's own initiative called 'Ready, Steady, Slow' which begins on December 1st. Daily reflections and an accompanying book can be accessed here.






Thirdly you might wish to take part in another online activity - a retelling of the Nativity. The Natwivity (the Twitter Nativity) takes advantage of social media’s unparalleled capacity to engage people as they go about their everyday life to re-tell the Christmas story in a fresh, personal way. Available on Twitter and Facebook, people will be able to pick up the ‘tweets’ online in their homes, in the high street using their phones and at work.

The Natwivity will give this famous story an immediate, real-life feel, transforming them from people 2,000 years ago to friends of the user, who are going through the drama now. Followers will be able to read Mary’s angst as she tries to come to terms with the birth of her child, and hear from the stunned shepherds after their encounter with an angel.

Each 140-character entry will be a thought or comment from Mary, Joseph, collective wisemen and shepherds, with further entries from Herod, an Inn Keeper (and his wife) and friends of Mary and Joseph.

Through this project we aim to…

• Reinforce the story of Christmas
• Allow the 21st century audience to engage with the story in a new way
• Create a space for Christians during a cluttered time of the year to remember the story
• Create a way for Christians to engage their friends with the story in a thought-provoking, yet fun way