O Come, O Come Emmanuel, featuring Shane and Shane
Now don’t go running for the hills, I haven’t joined the growing rank of celebs' trend of putting up the Christmas decorations or going all mushy and Christmassy on you too soon! However in church we are beginning to record ready for a Christmas which will possibly be like no other we have had in our generation's living memory.
Traditionally choirs, schools, and even the very roughest of Ruff Recorder players start practicing from November onwards at the very latest (aided by mulled wine and mince pies of course - just to get your hand in don't you know). Christmas is special, a gift to us and we want to ‘do it right’; we love the old hymns, the songs, the belting out of (certainly for me possibly unattainably high and accurate) descant lines, and the genuine desire to actually try and follow the commission to love one another…
‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34
...has become a challenge as restrictions bite deeper, and we look back at what was once familiar and secure with a feeling of uncertainty.
When I looked up ‘songs for Advent’ I was really cheered and a smile has grown into a cheesy grin! For me I love the traditional renditions of O Come, O Come Emmanuel, O Holy Night etc ...
Jussi Bjorling “O Holy Night - O helga natt; Swedish version
or if you really want Enrico Caruso from 1916....https://youtu.be/xFKrQ41oDLM (it's beautiful isn't it?)
a real ‘sing and play fest’ for singers and musicians alike. When I happened upon the attached youtube clips my grin was in danger of venturing into a cheshire cat one! Oh how lovely to hear different versions and for me this morning this one….
O Come O Come Emmanuel (featuring Sleeping at Last)
oh and this one....
Saviour of the Nations, Come
It made me think. It is so easy to fall into the rut of familiarity with the seasons, the patterns of our lives, one another and our prayers.
The Church of England since the 4th of November have issued a call to prayer for our nation.
at 6pm each evening we are invited to prayer. I love the fact that we are virtually present with each other (like we are on a Friday morning and indeed on Sunday) each of us in our little space sending up a fragrance of prayer in love for one another. So easier said than done though, eh?
This week I had a bit of a ‘sticky wicket’ so to speak, my ‘wheels fell off a bit’ and I ‘tripped over and fell out of my halo’! See I am human…in other words a ‘black dog of gloom’ cast it’s shadow over my head and I felt not so much ‘blue’ but deep purple. However, this time I did pray for the clouds of SAD to be lifted and be shifted out of my gloom. Seasonal affected disorder is no joke at this time of year, but our current predicament has moved it up a notch! The trigger was having to cancel the venue bookings for my daughters wedding in April as they have had to postpone it until they can celebrate safely. Gina and Ollie handled the Cathedral (its still on but later)! First world problems I know, but one too many postponements for joyous occasions which were supposed to be held can ‘up end’ the most cheerful and positive “Polly-Anna’s” of this world! However, and I know this wasn’t just a coincidence but a God-incidence as within a few moments of that prayer my phone rang. It was my good friend Lucy of the Stamford Fabric Company sending me free face covering elastic for the 100 face coverings that I have to sew for the NOT 1 Light Project Peterborough, and a really good chat ensued. That lifted me, you have no idea how much that lifted me and I sent up several prayers of thanks. I had a catch up zoom meeting with Stephen and we prayed and that lifted me too. Then Pam my good friend from Harpenden contacted me, again how wonderful these unexpected gifts of friendship that happen into your ‘inbox’! The next day I had a zoom coffee morning with some more good friends and we sat and chatted with each other boosting our collective feelings of friendship and we felt not so much alone. A restoration in fellowship with like minded souls. Yesterday Erica rang (holding you in prayer my friend) and we talked until we had to get drinks of water! God is with us even when we think we are on our own. I mean that in the sense that the God-nudge to call a friend is the Holy Spirit working with and in us. The heart nudge to speak up and call someone and to offer the hospitality of listening, for us in the midst of a pandemic the perhaps 'ear of friendship'?
I’m not deluded as I know my problems are not great ones, but it does highlight how easy it is to slip into really low troughs without even noticing. I can’t even imagine what it is like for the thousands who have shifted from good mental health into poor mental health and are living alone and without support networks. My son is living alone, and has openly said how difficult working from home has been for his mental well being; he is ok, but it doesn’t stop the worry when you can’t physically visit your loved ones and know that their distancing of themselves is their way of self protection and coping. We talk via the family WhatsApp group, but it is no substitute. This pandemic is affecting us in more ways than we can imagine. We don't need to imagine; as we can see the statistics in the news everyday and the numbers contacting the SAMARITANS https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/if-youre-having-difficult-time/signs-you-may-be-struggling-cope/ and MIND https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/helplines/
are growing.
The Light Project, Peterborough NOT 1 campaign is one of our local front line organisations dealing with homelessness. Often homelessness is the result of a trigger from good to poor mental health stability; a persons’s world crumbling around them and their inability to get back ‘on track’ or to blot out the realities of this world in some cases, often as not, but not always. A combination of factors and added into this mix financial failings and 'slipping through the net' incidences, anyone could end up on the streets. I think of Job:
6 ‘God has made me a byword to everyone,
a man in whose face people spit.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.
Job 17: 6-7
We say "There but for the grace of God go I..." attributed to John Bradford (1510–1555) who was an EnglishReformer, prebendary of St. Paul's and martyr. It is a phrase steaming from 1 Corinthians 15: 10 "...yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me..."
In our warm homes and our relative security we need very much to ask for prayer for those who call the streets their home. Perhaps that listening ear of hospitality could extend further, I wonder where you will be able to offer an ear of hospitality?
A few of us (some Material Girls 'retired' For the love of Scrubs stitchers) have been sewing covid-19 safety kit bags and face coverings a 100 of each. Luckily I have been able to use use left over scrub fabric and convert excess scrub wash bags into the smaller covid mini kit bags (small PE bags really) and we haven't needed any fabric as we had plenty left. We have until the 26th November to do it, they are all cut out now and just need making up, I’m sure we can do it but it’s a challenge! Again we have seen such generosity from the gift of elastic and some cord and time from people willing to step up. We are grateful and thankful and glad to be able to do such a small thing to help out. It is the small things again, the overlooked and easy things such as prayer that are so much needed, simple gifts indeed. The link is below...
I will catch up with you virtually my friends tomorrow morning at 9am
During our prayer time perhaps these prayers taken from the Cofe call to prayer booklet might be considered...
'Lord the one you love is ill....’ John 11 v 3
We bring to God all those who suffer in body, mind, spirit or with grief. We ask that in God’s great loving kindness they might know God’s sustaining presence amidst their pain. We pray for those who are stretched beyond their own capacity to cope and remain hopeful – that in the roar of these waterfalls God would bring a sense of coherence, comfort and strength.
Peace be with you friends, have a good week and listen out for that ear of hospitality :)
Caroline x
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