Christ Church

“When all things were in quiet silence
and the night was in the midst of her swift course,
then, thy almighty Word leapt down from heaven, from thy royal throne.”

These wonderful and wise words from the Book of The Wisdom of Solomon capture prophetically the wonder and the mystery of Christmas night and bring us into the holy quiet of Christmas morn. They refer, in their context, to political judgment; the Word of God is the heavenly warrior who comes to bring justice and peace. But theologically, the leaping down of the Word of God who takes flesh and is born of Mary is our peace and justice. “The Lord our Righteousness,” as Jeremiah says. He is our redeemer. He is Jesus our Saviour. Christmas morn holds us in the quiet wonder of God’s being with us in the intimacy of Christ’s holy birth.

Bethlehem is the humble scene of the redemption of our humanity. It is judgement, inescapably. It is the divine judgement upon our wounded and broken humanity, torn apart by sin and pride, bloodied and terrible in the cravings for power and domination. The occasion of Christ’s holy birth, as St. Luke makes clear, is entirely political – a census dictated by the Roman powers, a census taken for the purposes of taxation and control, as all censuses are. Yet God uses the powers of the world to effect his greater will and purpose for our humanity. All the wheels of the great power of Rome are turned by God to bring Joseph and Mary, heavy with child, to the lowly stable in little Bethlehem. A myriad of prophetic statements begin to find their newer and deeper truth in what unfolds in the birth of the Child Christ.

It confounds the politics of the world. A child born to be king, not in any worldly sense of power and majesty, but in the far greater sense of overruling ourselves in our selfishnesses and self-preoccupations, in the far greater sense of overturning a world turned in upon itself, and in the far, far greater sense of turning the world back to its truth in God. God wills to engage our humanity to bring redemption, a redemption that is cosmic in scope.

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The collect for today, the Nativity of our Lord, or the Birth-day of Christ, commonly called Christmas-day, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: Hebrews 1:1-12
The Gospel: St John 1:1-14

Artwork: Niccolo Betti, Adoration of the Shepherds, 1581. Oil on canvas, Chiesa di Sant’Agnese, Montepulciano. Photograph taken by admin, 25 May 2010.

“And the Word was made flesh”

Christmas Eve! And yet, not a mention of the name of Jesus or Christ either in the great epistle reading from The Letter to the Hebrews or in the great gospel reading from the Prologue to The Gospel according to St. John! Plenty of mention in the carols, of course, but doesn’t seem a bit strange that on Christmas Eve, there is no mention in the Scripture readings of the name of Jesus Christ? No mention of Santa Claus, either, I suppose! And yet, this text is the great and definitive Christian Christmas message. “And the Word was made flesh.”

Christmas means the Mass of Christ; in short, the celebration of Christ. We celebrate the birth of Jesus in the simple and lowly scene of little Bethlehem. What does that mean? Why all the fuss and bother about another birth of another child from another time and in another world; long ago and far away, as it were? “What mean ye by this service?” Moses, in The Book of Exodus, asks in relation to the Passover. A question that defines the worship of Israel, it carries over for us, I think, into this and every service. What do we mean by the celebration of Christ and his nativity?

We could respond historically to say that His Birth quite literally changed the world, which is quite true. It placed the world upon an entirely new foundation, shaping cultures and generations yet to come, including even our own, despite its rage and spite against all things religious, despite its demand that religion, if it is to be allowed at all, serve our own immediate and practical concerns and interests. Whether His Birth will change you, make you look at yourself and one another in a new way, is another question.  The answer is really up to you in the sense of either pondering this mystery in your heart or running away from it in disgust, dismay, and denial. But the mystery remains. But what is that mystery?

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Prelude:
(1) “In Dulci Jubilo”, Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
(2) Siciliana (The Holly and the Ivy) from Christmas Suite, Alec Rowley (1892-1958)
(3) Pastoral Symphony from Messiah, Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759)

Music during Communion:
(1) Prelude on “From Heaven Above”, Gordon Young (1919-1998)
(2) Prelude on “This Endris Nyght”, Healey Willan (1880-1968)
(3) Berceuse on “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, Mary Gifford (b. 1951)

Postlude: Fantasy on “He is Born”, Richard Hudson (b. 1924)

The collect for today, Christmas Eve (source):

Almighty God,
who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance
of the birth of thy only Son Jesus Christ:
grant that, as we joyfully receive him as our redeemer,
so we may with sure confidence behold him
when he shall come to be our judge;
who liveth and reigneth with thee
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: Titus 2:11-15
The Gospel: St Luke 2:1-14

Artwork: Stefan Lochner, Nativity, 1445. Oil on panel, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

“Christmas Eve”
(a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti)

Christmas hath darkness
Brighter than the blazing noon,
Christmas hath a chillness
Warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas hath a beauty
Lovelier than the world can show:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

Earth, strike up your music,
Birds that sing and bells that ring;
Heaven hath answering music
For all Angels soon to sing:
Earth, put on your whitest
Bridal robe of spotless snow:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

The collect for today, the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who for the more confirmation of the faith didst suffer thy holy Apostle Thomas to be doubtful in thy Son’s resurrection: Grant us so perfectly, and without all doubt, to believe in thy Son Jesus Christ, that our faith in thy sight may never be reproved. Hear us, O Lord, through the same Jesus Christ, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 2:19-22
The Gospel: St John 20:24-29

Click here to read more about St Thomas.

Artwork: Leandro Bassano, Incredulity of St Thomas, c. 1595. Oil on canvas, Chapel of the Holy Trinity, Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo (San Zanipolo), Venice.  Photograph taken by admin, 12 May 2010.

“The Lord is at hand. In nothing be anxious”

Are we ready, really ready, for Christmas? Do we really know what it means to be ready? Ready, exactly, for what? Perhaps that is why we are often so anxious.

Therein lies the problem and the necessity of the Advent season. The problem is that in so many ways, Advent is anticipatory of Christmas. There is the sense of impending fulfillment such that the celebrations already seem to have begun. Yet Advent is the season of expectancy, a season of hope in the realization of what has come to pass, “this thing that has happened,” the holy birth of Christ.

Advent looks to Christmas and so it seems that Christmas has already come. We find it hard to remain in that mode of holy waiting, of holy expectancy. We rush on to what we think is the celebration. We forget the message sounded so profoundly and so importantly in the scripture readings for this day.

“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.” What powerful words, words, too, which have shaped our liturgy, words which inform the blessing at every service of the Holy Eucharist. “The Peace of God which passeth understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The Peace of God! This seems so diametrically opposed to the mad rush and busyness of this season, a holy season that threatens to become anything but holy, anything but peaceful and calm. Read the rest of this entry »

Friday, December 24th, Christmas Eve
7:00pm Children’s Crêche Service
9:30pm Christmas Eve Communion Service

Saturday, December 25th, Christmas Day
10:00am Christmas Morning Communion Service

Sunday, December 26th, St. Stephen/Sunday After Christmas
10:30am Holy Communion

Monday, December 27th, St. John the Evangelist
10:00am Holy Communion

Tuesday, December 28th, Holy Innocents
10:00am Holy Communion

Thursday, December 30th
10:30am ‘Prayers & Praises’ at Dykeland Lodge

Saturday, January 1st, 2011, Circumcision of Christ/New Years’ Day
10:00am Holy Communion, followed by Levée in the Hall

Sunday, January 2nd, Second Sunday after Christmas
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Christmas Lessons & Carols

Thursday, January 6th, Epiphany
7:00pm Holy Communion (in the Hall)

O God, who makest glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that as we joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, we may with sure confidence behold him when he shall come again to be our Judge; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever. Amen.

When Mary the Mother kissed the Child

When Mary the Mother kissed the Child
And night on the wintry hills grew mild,
And the strange star swung from the courts of air
To serve at a manger with kings in prayer,
Then did the day of the simple kin
And the unregarded folk begin.

When Mary the Mother forgot the pain,
In the stable of rock began love’s reign.
When that new light on their grave eyes broke
The oxen were glad and forgot their yoke;
And the huddled sheep in the far hill fold
Stirred in their sleep and felt no cold.

When Mary the Mother gave of her breast
To the poor inn’s latest and lowliest guest,–
The God born out of the woman’s side,–
The Babe of Heaven by Earth denied,–
Then did the hurt ones cease to moan,
And the long-supplanted came to their own.

When Mary the Mother felt faint hands
Beat at her bosom with life’s demands,
And nought to her were the kneeling kings,
The serving star and the half-seen wings,
Then there was the little of earth made great,
And the man came back to the God’s estate.

From The Book of the Rose,
Charles G.D. Roberts, 1903

Tuesday, December 21st, St Thomas
3:30pm Holy Communion – The Elms
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-7:30pm Brownies/Sparks Mtg.
7:00pm Holy Communion
7:30pm Parish Council Meeting

Friday, December 24th, Christmas Eve
7:00pm Children’s Crêche Service
9:30pm Christmas Communion

Saturday, December 25th, Christmas Day
10:00am Christmas Communion

The collect for today, the Fourth Sunday in Advent, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

RAISE up, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: Philippians 4:4-7
The Gospel: St John 1:19-29

Artwork: Guillaume de Périers, St John the Baptist, 1492. Basilica di San Giovanni Laterano, Rome.  Photograph taken by admin, 29 April 2010.