Planning Christmas

Had lunch with the people of St Mary's Shenley so that we could plan the Christmas services. Most of the arangements will stay the same but there are some significant things in the pipeline, including:

• A Sing-a-long-a-Shenley-Nativity with a Kareoke version of the video in the Church
  
• Live video feed of the four O'clock service on Christmas Eve in the graveyard so that the hundreds of extra visitors don't break the fire safety limits...
  

Plus a number of details that needed to be agreed...

Alison Baird did an excelent job with this. It's good to know that everything has been thought through in good time! (Shame we couldn't meet on the 25th June...)

Happy Christmas

On Christmas Day I presided at communion at St Mary's Shenley. Christmas Day services are always interesting round here since many regular members are away, but our congregations are hugely supplemented by visitors from other churches or elsewhere in the country. This makes Christmas congregations quite unique!

On Christmas Eve at All Saints' for instance, the congregation included a number of members and ministers from other local churches who don't do midnight services themselves. Hence more than half the congregation were members of Loughton Baptist Church, New Life West and Shenley Christian Fellowship.

At St Mary's on Christmas Day the congregation included a number of people who were visiting family - and a few people from local Anglican churches who didn't have Christmas Day services of their own.

At the end of the service I asked everyone to wave and wish you all a happy Christmas. Here are a few of them:
Although it's a real pleasure to worship with such a wide range of fellow Christians, it is a bit tricky to plan for such services - since you never know who you're going to get! Are there going to be any children? Will people take communion? and so on...

On Christmas Day I improvised on the theme of "missing bits":

1. We all have Christmas traditions and if we don't do them for some reason we may feel that we haven't done Christmas properly... I asked people to think about some of the things that they do at Christmas...
2. As a family, we like to watch the Muppet Christmas Carol - this is the moment when we know it's Christmas. This year we purchased a new copy on DVD since our old VHS was no longer playable. We sat down and enjoyed the movie - right up to the point when Scrooge was about to loose the love of his life in his worst Christmas flashback ever! The only problem was that the bitter sweet ballad "When love has gone" didn't happen! This is the turning point of the film when Scrooge reaches his lowest point and begins his ascent to self-knowledge and revelation. This is also Isla's favourite song from the movie. Apparently Disney didn't like the song and felt that it was too sad for a family movie! It's not in the theatrical version - or the DVD - only on the VHS release - which must mean that VHS viewers can cope with a bit of sadness...
   Christmas can become a festival of sweetness and happiness - which is fine - but without a bit of sadness it's a bit flat. Unless you accept that there is brokenness in the world there is no need for salvation. Unless you are willing to face the reality of your own faults and failings there is no need for redemption. Christmas is meaningless without the cross.
3. One of my Christmas presents was a small blue box - a TARDIS. The only problem was that it didn't come with batteries and we didn't have any in the house. A TARDIS without batteries won't go anywhere - or won't make the appropriate groaning noise...
   Christmas presents often need battery power to make them work and God's people also need power if they are to be capable of genuine change or become the people God intended them to be. Our journeys in time and space are not powered by tripple As but by the Holy Spirit. Christmas without the Holy Spirit is just a pretty story.
   

The Scratch Band

For the first time in five years I didn't do the 2:30am service at All Saints' Loughton. It seemed strange not to be constructing a giant advent calendar, crackers or snakes and ladders game. There was no visit from Father Christmas and no opportunity to get a whole congregation to dress up... This was the end of an era... or error depending on your point of view...

This was not the end of the 2:30 service however and Liz Baker produced a great service which told the Christmas story.

So rather than attempt to upstage myself with another OTT visual aid I joined the scratch band. For most of the songs I played bass but hammered out some power chords for "See him lying on a bed of straw" - which Isla thought improved the song...

Kilkenny Carols

The Kilkenny Carol Service is always one of the highlights of my Christmas. There's something about celebrating Christmas in their lounge that feels more authentic than many of the staged productions that must take place at this time of year. Colin played his mouthorgan for O little Town - in a slightly different key from the one we were singing - which was great. I croaked my way through the carols and out came the sherry. Merry Christmas one and all!

Tuesady

Long day:
Took kids to school - Iona forgot lunch so headed home...
Went home, picked up Iona's lunch, went back to school...
Spoke to Heather and Nigel on phone - missed team space...
Long session with Paul - discussed deanery...
Had bite of lunch, wrote emails...
LSM project group...
Met Nigel to discuss the service on Sunday...
Ate something... (fish)
Made start on family Christmas card...
Went to Ecumenical Pastoral and Sponsoring Committee...
Typed up notes of LSM meeting...
Called it a day...

By the way, Ebay estimate that we give £35 worth of "unwanted presents" to each person in the UK. Their busiest day is the 27th December when many of these presents are put up for sale.

It seems sad to speak of "unwanted presents" - what about unwanted friends or unwanted love? What else do we want to return?

This reminds me of the observation that Jesus was an unwanted gift and his sacrifice on the cross was the greatest act of unwanted service. We may wish to send him back on the 27th of December but the gift has already been given... (is there a Christmas sermon here for someone?)

Baby Jesus Blog

At a Voices editorial meeting we briefly discussed asking the baby Jesus to do the minister's letter. We decided not to go for it, but someone has posted his blog. See The Baby Jesus Blog or Baby Jesus gets a Blog

Celebrating with Christ the Sower

The Christmas party season has begun!

We joined the staff at Christ the Sower for their Christmas party tonight at the Grange. It was amazing to see how many staff this school now employs - compared to the small group who launched the school in the Green Building four years ago. How fast things can change!

This was officially my day off, but I've got so behind over the past few weeks with extra jobs and ill people that I needed to work. Not sure I made any progress, but I did clear my emails and choose some hymns for Sunday...

Christmas is here!

Friday is my day off so we popped into town for the morning. We sat in M&S (contemplating the 34.1% profit slump) and the effects of recession. From our point of view this seemed to mean that the coffee shop was quieter than usual and the coffee was actually hotter...

We made a list of essential Christmas present targets and then went hunting... By the end of the morning we had managed to find most of the necessary gifts for family and friends... Not bad for the 7th November!

This was also the first day of the Christmas displays in Midddleton Hall. We popped along to check that the nativity scene was on view. It was, so there won't be any complaints in the Citizen this year...

This years displays include twelve foot mushrooms, fairies, a train, a heltascelter and a tree with mirrors in it. We estimate that a family of four would bankrupt a minor high-street bank if they tried to do everything...

Merry Christmas one and all!

Shenley Nativity

The Shenley Nativity is an imaginative project which aims to create a lively, dramatic and contemporary retelling of the Christmas story using popular music, outdoor drama, video, lights and action - aimed at the teens and twenty somethings who sometimes get forgotten at Christmas. Those who remember the Liverpool Nativity may find the idea familiar - but there will be no Beatles songs!

The team came together tonight for a walk-through and envisioning session. It's going to be hard work but worth it! Paul is a musical genius! Mike is a mad genius! Can't wait!

The Shenley Nativity

You've heard of the Manchester Passion and the Liverpool Nativity - this year we'll be having a Shenley Nativity. I met with LIz Baker and Mike Geaney this evening to pull our thoughts together. Mike has produced a song list and the beginnings of a script. All we need is a team!

We're having a get together on Sunday 19th October in the evening to see who might be willing to get involved. We need cast, crew and some good technical people. This should be fun!

We're planning to target our invitations at teens and twenty somethings rather than do mass advertising. If it works well this year, we might suggest moving the project to a larger location, perhaps elsewhere in the city - MK Nativity 2009?

Esther and Jason

Congratulations to Esther and Jason who got married at St Mary's on Saturday. They were both teahers at Christ the Sower, so it was great to do this wedding - even if it was on the Saturday between Christmas and New Year...
Iona came with me because Esther had been her teacher in year 2 and Esther's mum had been the TA when she was in Foundation at Glastonbury Thorn.
Unfortunatley this meant that I couldn't get to Catherine's wedding in Essex - which is a really big shame. Catherine, Andrew and I were the Edinburgh Root Group in 1989-90 and this was the last of our weddings. It would have been good to have been there, so many apologies to Cartherine. We'll need a reunion at some point...
Good News: The organ's reconnected at St Mary's! Sounds great!

Celebrating Christmas

During the last few days we've been to Kent and Nottingham. This included twelve hours of motorway driving(!) a couple of Christmas meals and a pantomime - with 3D goggles...

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas to you all. I'm taking a break from the blog until New Year. Have a good Christmas. See you soon...

Happy Christmas

Christmas proper began with midnight mass at St Giles. This was Liz's first midnight sermon, and I'm afraid I missed most of it. A lady fainted soon after Liz started. We took her outside and I returned as the sermon was ending. Apparently it was very good... Well done Liz!

Christmas Eve

This was a fairly full Christmas Eve.

I had a funeral this morning - which is unusual for Christmas Eve - although I wasn't the only vicar at the crem this morning...

On the way to the crem I dropped off the six giant crackers at All Saints'. I was suprised to find two white vans, a pair of ladders and a dozen men on the roof. I nearly phoned the police (assuming I had interupted the gang of desperate lead theives) - it turned out to be a team off roof repairers who were doing some work for us...

The 2:30pm service was busy and a bit wild, but the band were great! Best yet! The girls decided to be stars this year...

Giving up Power

This week, two stories caught my eye.
The first was the letter the Castro sent to the Cuban people announcing that he was thinking of stepping down. Whatever you think about Castro, it's clearly a big thing for someone in his position to lay down power...
The second was the sale of one of the seventeen surviving copies of the Magna Carta - for 19 million dollars! The Magna Carta is the first legal document that limited the power of kings...
The issue of power is one of the central ones in our society. Some are trying to hold on to it - others are trying to get it. It is useful because it enables us to get things done - but it has a tendency to currupt...
The Christmas story has a lot to say about power. It's about God choosing not to be powerful, but to be powerless. Not to stop being God, but to be a different kind of God from the one we expect. It's about the lifting up of the humble and the pulling down of the mighty. It's about God with us - and our response.
We all have power - even if it is only power to effect the lives of those who love us. In relationships you loose if you try to win...
Love is only worth anything if we give it away. So is power...

Nearly Christmas

Iona and Izzy discuss presents with a man in a red suit...

Firday

The last friday before Christmas...
"The Great Christmas Get - away begins" - apparently you'ld be mad to travel at 3:00pm this afternoon....

Quiet Thursday

Have finished six giant crackers - now sleeping in our spare room - they fill a double bed!

Planning Christmas Eve

Big tasks of today:
Planning the Nativities for Wigglies
and a Christmas Eve Funeral...

So far I've made one giant cracker - five to go...
Still feeling a bit under the weather, so may give the prison carol service a skip...
Iona has another Vocalis concert this evening...
(They didn't get back till quarter to 11! - but apparently it was great)