Christmas Eve     

I Am There 

Now God says to us
What He has already said to the earth as a whole
Through His grace-filled birth:

I am there. I am with you.
I am your life. I am your time.
I am the gloom of your daily routine. Why will you not hear it?
I weep your tears - pour yours out to me.
I am your joy.
Do not be afraid to be happy; ever since I wept, joy is the standard of living
That is really more suitable than the anxiety and grief of those who have no hope.

I am the blind alley of all your paths,
For when you no longer know how to go any farther,
Then you have reached me,
Though you are not aware of it.

I am in your anxiety, for I have shared it. [Holiday Decorations at Xavier's Schott Hall]
I am in the prison of your finiteness,
For my love has made me your prisoner.

I am in your death,
For today I began to die with you, because I was born,
And I have not let myself be spared any real part of this experience.

I am present in your needs;
I have suffered them and they are now transformed.

I am there.
I no longer go away from this world.
Even if you do not see me now, I am there.

My love is unconquerable.
I am there.
It is Christmas.
Light the Candles! They have more right to exist then all the darkness.
It is Christmas.
Christmas that lasts forever.

by Karl Rahner, S.J., "The Eternal Year"

23rd December 

The Coming

by R S Thomas

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.2960.churchinsight.com/9ae7b5ad-a3b2-41c7-9f79-a626cb274b3c.mp4
 

4th Sunday of Advent  

My Soul Magnifies the Lord 

God might have chosen many ways in which to take human form and become known to us. By inhabiting the womb of Mary a very clear message is made about where God's priorities lie. There is no bias towards respectability, wealth, prestige, indeed all of things which we might value seem to have been deliberately avoided. Imagine today an unmarried peasant girl praising God for honouring her with a child in this way, would any of us listen?
Perhaps one of the things which we need to learn from Christmas is to expect God in unlikely places. 

Song - Magnificat by Nathan Drake (Reawaken Hymns)

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.2960.churchinsight.com/d72cb5b7-379f-4567-914e-b1669f2cc3c4.mp4
 

December 21st         

Good News 

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.2960.churchinsight.com/024dce9c-f642-4d35-8907-e62b94d352e7.mp4
 

December 20th     

Christmas Dreams 

by Elena Markova (Russian, 1967–)


 

“Advent Moon” | Words by Angier Brock

Let the coming of the One
who arranges Orion and the Pleiades
begin in darkness.
Let the night be cold, with drifts of snow.
Let there be one lily blooming,
and whispered messages, and kneeling.

The fierce earth spins in expectation
beneath the long night’s moon, Advent moon.
Like the restless fox crossing frosted meadows,
the silvered owl in focused, silent flight,
each of us is hungry.
In rooms of untold longing,
we sing our seasoned carols,
watch, and wait.

Let the coming of the One
who kindles fires of hope,
whose faithfulness runs far beyond our sight,
be like the coming of a child.
Let there be milk, forgiveness, quiet arms.
Come quickly, Love, our dearest deep
and sweetest dawning.
Come, fill us with your light.

 

December 19th 

Winter Tree and Me

by Jan Griffin



Waiting,
within inherited landscape 
open and exposed
to winter’s chill wind
and heaven’s tears
Waiting,
impotent, little to offer
starkness into darkness
Nothing there
Nothing there
Wait, 
Wait see:
tree’s scars harbour beetles
bare branch, rest for rooks’
black flapping fingers
and underneath,
in the great unseen, 
fallen leaves release
wondrous life in their decay
nourishing invisible strands 
of communication 
in the waiting of this great
created rhythm
in presence and absence
in longing and hope
in God who was already
always there, 
Waiting.
 

December 18th 

Diboo ning Maloo

(Darkness and Light)

This song by Elfi Bohl, a missionary with WEC International, combines three short, Advent-themed scripture passages—two from Isaiah, one from the Psalms—in the Mandinka language of West Africa, which Bohl sings to her own kora and flute accompaniment.

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.2960.churchinsight.com/5be58947-437c-458e-9340-dbac4e7df6ec.mp4

The people who were wandering in darkness
Have seen a great light
On those living in the land of death
A light has dawned

Refrain: To us a child is born,
to us a Son is given
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father (2×)
Prince of Peace

Then the blind will see
The deaf will hear
The lame leap like a deer
The mute tongue shout for joy

Open the doors and the ancient gates
That the King of Glory may come in
Who is this King of Glory?
It is God, the Lord, strong and mighty
 

December 17th  

O - Antiphons 

Today the journey of the great Antiphons of Advent begins, these are the set of name of Jesus that are recited in the run up to Christmas as Christians prepare for the coming of the Christ born as the child Jesus. We end on the 24th with that famous hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, which is based on this journey.



O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

I cannot think unless I have been thought,
Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken.
I cannot teach except as I am taught,
Or break the bread except as I am broken.
O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,
O Light within the light by which I see,
O Word beneath the words with which I speak,
O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me,
O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me,
O Memory of time, reminding me,
My Ground of Being, always grounding me,
My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me,
Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring,
Come to me now, disguised as everything.

by Malcolm Guite

December 16th

The Joy of the Shepherds

Seeing Shepherds by Daniel Bonnell

I’m pretty sure Daniel Bonnell wants your eye to be drawn to the astonishing sweep of the angelic host, but I love looking at those two shepherds.

Their arms are outstretched, their heads have lolled back, they are lost in exultation and joy.

To be sure, the appearance of a sky-full of celestial beings would have been terrifying. And the first thing the angel has to say is, “Do not be afraid.”

But shepherds were tough guys. They slept rough, needing to stay beside their flocks on the hills well outside human society. They had to contend with thieves and wolves, wind and cold and baking heat. They were wild men, hardened, practical, not easily ruffled.

As a result, they were not usually trusted by the general population. In fact, their reputations as raconteurs and charlatans meant their testimony was often considered inadmissible in a court of law. How strange that God should choose so unworthy an audience to announce the birth of the Messiah.

But having allayed their fears, the angel continues, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

Wily shepherds, ready for anything, have never seen anything like this. Who would believe that they should receive so wonderful a message, so lavishly presented!  Great joy? Of course, a message of great joy would be received gleefully by outliers like shepherds. They have nothing, they are outcasts, despised and rejected by society. When they hear, “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord,” they know they too are included in his kingdom.

Yesterday in our Churches, the third Sunday in Advent, we lit a rose-colored candle rather than the usual purple one. The intention is to depict the delight, the sheer wonder of this moment.

Look again at those blissed out shepherds in Bonnell’s painting.

Can you sense their joy?

Can we fully appreciate the excitement experienced by the excluded when a genuine offer of inclusion is presented to them? 

3rd Sunday of Advent     

Come Thou, Long Expected Jesus 

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.2960.churchinsight.com/5b7eac11-b056-4dbd-b027-0741f6f590a2.mp4

December 14th     

Mystic Nativity 

Sandro Botticelli (1500)

December 13th 

Advent Oratorio 

Paul Spicer & N.T. Wright 

Come, Lord, and cleanse us from our sin;
Your new, glad work in us begin.
Remove our idols from our sight;
Let us in you alone delight.

Prepare us for your coming reign
By washing us from every stain;
Make known to us your holy Name;
Let us no more turn back to shame.

Call us to you from every land,
And guide us with your powerful hand;
Show us the path that we must tread,
Let us by you with joy be led.

Implant your Spirit in our heart,
That, with your Breath, new life may start;
Take from our flesh the heart of stone,
Let us rejoice in you alone.

For your own sake your love display,
That we may worship and obey;
Rebuild the wild and desert place;
Let us acclaim your sovereign grace.

December 12th      

Santa vs. Jesus 

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.2960.churchinsight.com/8a53a975-dc85-4a5a-9935-1fd795cc3796.mp4

 

December 11th

Faith

The Nativity by Gari Melchers (1860-1932) 



No angels or shepherds.

No wise men or donkeys or camels or sheep.

No snow-covered gables or partridges or pear trees.

Only an exhausted new mother and her pensive husband. And of course her extraordinary newborn child.

Melchers chose to paint the trio alone in a darkened room, either before the shepherds appeared or after they’d left. The tone is sombre, the colour palette monochrome. A faint light comes in from the open door, but Joseph and Mary are mainly lit by the glow of the Christ-child. There is a sense of respite, a calm before the impending storm – the arrival of the strange men from the east, and Herod’s vicious slaughter of the innocents.

As she lay there – spent, depleted – did Mary reflect on her earlier words to Elizabeth, her joyous song of faith and fire?

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour…” 

December 10th 

The House of Christmas

by G.K Chesterton 



There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay on their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost – how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.

This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

December 9th    

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXpWNvHDDpo

Second Sunday of Advent

The Journey   

On this day of Advent, perhaps reflect on how your Advent journey is going?

Has there been space?

Has there been rest?

How have you met with God?

What have you noticed God doing in and around you, and in others?

 

Come, Lord, come down come in, come among us.
Enter into our darkness with your light.
Come fill our emptiness with your presence.
Dispel the clouds and reveal your glory.
Come refresh, renew and restore us.
Come, Lord, come down, come in, come among us.
Amen 

December 7th 

In Mary-Darkness 

I live my Advent in the womb of Mary
And on one night when a great star swings free
From its high mooring and walks down the sky
To be the dot above the Christus i,
I shall be born of her by blessed grace.
I wait in Mary-darkness, faith’s walled place,
With hope’s expectance of nativity.
I knew for long she carried me and fed me,
Guarded and loved me, though I could not see,
But only now, with inward jubilee,
I come upon earth’s most amazing knowledge:
Someone is hidden in this dark with me.

by Jessica Powers

December 6th

Saint Nicholas

The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara in Asia Minor.
He was a fourth-century bishop who went on to live in the ancient Roman town of Myra, now Demre in Turkey, and was reputed to be neither plump nor jolly, but did earn a longstanding reputation for charity and gift-giving.

His reputation as a worker of wonders was enhanced by a ninth-century author of his hagiography and he is now best known through these stories. Many of them concern his love and care for children, how he fed the hungry, healed the sick and cared for the oppressed. He saved three girls from a life of prostitution by providing them with dowries and so developed the tradition of bearing gifts to children on his feast day, a practice appropriated for the Christmas celebrations. Nicholas is also one of the patron saints of Russia.

Nicholas it seems was also an ardent defender of the faith, and legend has it he lost his cool at the Council of Nicea in AD325, and slapped Arius across the face in a theological disagreement about the nature of the Trinity!



Almighty Father, lover of souls,
who chose your servant Nicholas
      to be a bishop in the Church,
that he might give freely out of the treasures of your grace:
make us mindful of the needs of others
and, as we have received, so teach us also to give;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

December 5th

 

Haiku for an Advent Calendar 

Dawn in my distance,
the wise watchers will see him,
star of their searching. 

by Richard Bauckham


 

December 4th 

Christ, come into our world of darkness
Light up our lives with your coming.
Fulfil all our longings with the joy of your birth
Strengthen our resolve to work for change in our world
And to share the hope of your birth that each Advent brings.
Amen.

Sr Bridgetta Rooney/CAFOD 

December 3rd 

The Living Crib - St. Francis of Assisi

One of the joys of Christmas for me has always been setting up the nativity set. Carefully putting the figures out, moving the Magi closer each day and waiting for Christmas night before placing the baby Jesus in the manger. In more recent years the crib in our house has become home for a more eclectic bunch of characters – barbies jostling with shepherds for a space near the stable. But this messier nativity continues to spark wonder and joy.

It is around 800 years since St Francis of Assisi created the first nativity in the Italian village of Greccio in 1223. Inspired by visiting Bethlehem in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Francis arranged for a manger scene in a nearby cave with hay, live barnyard animals and local villagers to play the biblical characters. Francis hoped the staged nativity would help people recognise Christ’s coming in poverty and humility. He reportedly said:

“I want to do something that will recall the memory of that Child who was born in Bethlehem, to see with bodily eyes the inconveniences of his infancy, how he lay in the manger, and how the ox and ass stood by.”
The Life of St. Francis, by St. Bonaventure.




 

December 2nd

Where the Light is Gone

 
https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/media.2960.churchinsight.com/bd0a8f37-813a-495a-b925-7b6b75ca2a56.mp4

Where the light is gone
There to us be born

Come, O come, light the shadows
Unto us like an arrow
Make a way, O Emmanuel
Through the night, through the night

In the scars that we carry
From the wars of our families
Make a way, do not tarry
In the night, in the night [Refrain]

In the weight of addiction
In the shame of its mission
Make a way from the prison
In the night, in the night [Refrain]

In the years of our sorrow
When the griefs leave us hollow
Make a way, we lie fallow
In the night, in the night

Final Refrain:
Where the light is gone
There to us be born
Where the light is gone
There may Christ be born

Advent Sunday