abbotsford.org.uk

New Year Advice

Wondered if folk would like to share some new year advice with the world. Just wee thoughts that would possibly make the world a better place.

I'll start, you carry on (and that isn't the first piece, though perhaps it ought to be...)

Go memorise your favourite poem.
Approach forgiveness the same way you approach cooking - with reckless abandon.
Let there be change but let there be values too.

Incarnation

It is done
heaven has let go
God is crying and vulnerable
in the arms of a never before mother
God is here
the light has broken through

Midnight

So here we are at the precipice of midnight
the edge of promise
the threshold of the light
just at the moment when everything gives way
and mountains are levelled and valleys filled in

And look around at who is standing here:

the poor waiting for a rebalance of the world
the hungry ready to dine
the frightened seeking a place of love
those who live on the underside of history
the silenced
the displaced
the disappeared

Gathered here at the turning of the hour
are those who believe
the truth about incarnation
that God in skin is a match for this world
and justice is on its way

This is the moment of incarnation

The Fairy at the top of the Christmas Tree

Please don't let it be thought that our carol service is anything but the deepest and most profound theology. Even still, some other things seem to slip in. But perhaps the sacred and profane all tangled together make the earthiness of Chritmas real and the incarnation even realler! Here's one folk have wanted a copy of. I don't know who wrote it but we edited it a little...

I am a little fairy

On tap o' the Christmas Tree

It's no' a job I fancy

Well how would you like tae be me



A tarted up wi' tinsel

It's enough to mak ye boak

An a couple o' they jaggy branches

Rammed up the back o' your frock



An' these wee lights a'roon me

I canna get to bed

An' there's the yearly visit

Fae that big guy in red.



On Christmas Day I'm stuck up here

While the turkey you’re about
An' naebody says "Hey you up there

Could you go a brussel sprout?



It's nae joke bein' a fairy

The job's beyond belief

You've got to go roon' the wean's beds

An' lift their rotten teeth 



But o' a' the joabs a fairy gets

An' I've mentioned only some 

The very worst is sitting up a tree

Wi' pine needles up yir……… bottom 



When a' the fairies meet again

By the light of' the silvery moon 

Ye can tell the Christmas fairies

They're the wans that canna sit doon



The Christmas tree's a bonny sight

As the firelight softly flickers

But think o' me I'm stuck up  here

Wi' needles in my knickers 



So soon as Christmas time's right by

An' I stop bein' sae full o' cheer

I'll get awa back tae Fairyland 

An' I'll see yous a' next year

The 12 Days of Christmas (Abbotsford version)

The final version we used last night. I am quite sure we could do a million other versions. Any suggestions for next year...

On the twelfth day of Christmas
my elder sent to me

12 Sunday schoolers
11 CAOS workshops
10 book-clubs clubbing
9 datfies crafting
8 badmintoners
7 eco warriors
6 watchers slimming
5 OAP’s (and the rest!)
4 organ-grinders
3 BB Leaders
2 gappers gapping
a biscuit with a fairtrade cup of tea

The Big One

This is the weekend with most to gain or lose. I get really stressed about the services we have on this weekend: the nativity Service and the carol Service because these are major shop windows. You are more likely to get people not normally at church at these services and so the pressure is on. However, today went well I thought. There were some deep moments and excellent reactions from children which interpret the whole thing for adults who engage more with reaction to the nativity than the nativity itself, as it should be.

I thought the nativity play went well. When it was first put together I wondered if it was all a bit long winded because it wasn't written for children to read but adults however I think it worked well. And of course, there is always the highest of expectations at this service so it generally goes fine. People like being together. Why we don't all do it more often I really don't know.

The other service is the carol service which has become a serious tradition for us of a very contemporary version of the nine lessons and carols but with the lessons all contemporary and usually completely original material. Here expectations are even higher than the morning but whn it goes well it is often one of the best services we do. I'd really love far more people to come along for that reason (even though there is always a good number there: it isn't exactly quiet!) but if we could get more in the door perhaps they may come more regularly to church or at least see that as a possibility.

How do we sell it bette?  To me it is a service for folk to really see the church at it's best: an excellent mixture of theology and laughter, pointing out  true meaning as well as being a bit profane. A good holy combination.

Nearly

Here's the call to worship for Sunday. It's all that's been prepared for the whole weekend.

Is there stardust among the hay?
Are there angels singing in the corners of the sky?
Is there a glint of polished halos in the sunlight?

Not yet
Not yet

Are the hunger seated round the tables of the rich?
Are the homeless settled in a stable with others?
Are the powerful pacing their corridors of power worried?

Nearly
Nearly

Is the journey joined
Is heaven preparing
Is Incarnation ready

Just about
Just about

Welcome to the fading minutes of the waiting time
the last of the darkening nights
and know the light will begin to stretch the days once more
for God is on the way

It’s time to hold your breath
and start the rumour

Soon
and very soon
God is here
“Emmanuel”

All quiet

Sorry it has been so quiet on the blog recently which is so unlike the rest of life at the moment. Breathing is a luxury.

However we still can breathe and that's a good thing.

How do stars move?

There are various wee things I need to find out for the weekend and particularly the Carol service on Sunday night.

What sound do angel wings make?

I've the blue christmas service tonight and haven't done anything about it yet.

How do you make starlight?

So I'd better get on with some preparation...

Reflection on Today

Hasn't Advent been awkward and difficult this year? I don't quite know why but the readings the church gives us in this season are some of the most difficult because there is a lot about justice when we really want it to be about Christmas. It can be very hard to hear about justice at the best of times, let alone Christmas.

Personally, I feel the difficulty in the preaching at this time of year. The words we are given are very clear and stark: justice, lifting up the poor, feeding the hungry. It doesn't get more basic than that and every word from every passage we hear this season says the same thing. If only it was Christmas and we could hurry past all the awkward, uncomfortable, restless feelings we have when we hear this Word Justice. But with the same token, this proves to me each Advent the gospel is alive. It really has something to say. it's not just a spiritual word, spiritualised, but is earthy, dangerous, fearless and in your face.

So please don't shoot the messenger if you've been disturbed this season. I'm just as bad as everyone else at getting justice right. But this is The Word in season. Though somehow I don't think the season when Jesus is born is going to make it any easier.

Interested in you have found this season more uncomfortable than usual...

Hint for tomorrow

X factor may have taken the word
and ruined it
turning it into a populist version of a song
but they cannot say it with conviction

only one person can speak the word
with integrity
with full knowledge
and with everything in her depending on it

a pregnant mother
a teenage bride
a lowly handmaid
chosen by God
who sees the crack in the future
where the light breaks in
and knows the revolution has begun in her

Only she can sing
Hallelujah