The Priory Church, St. Bees

Here are a couple of photos from our midnight holy Communion service (click on each photo for a larger version). We did something a bit different this year. We read the Christmas Gospel (John 1.1-14) from the middle of the church by candlelight. David (our new assistant priest–more on this to follow when we get a photo of him) read the Gospel while Jim and Tim helped with lighting. Lars held the lectern Bible. Overall the Christmas services have gone very well this year so far. They were well attended and everyone enjoyed themselves (and nobody accidentally set themselves on fire).

Sunday night is our Christingle and Nativity service (we’ll post some photos from it when when we have time).  Christingles take a lot of work, so Saturday morning there was a small army of children and responsible adults building them.  Thanks to everyone who helped out.

We went on our annual parish caroling around the villages of Sandwith and St. Bees this last week. Sandwith went out on Monday night and had about 60 people come along (about a 6th of the population of the whole village) with great enthusiasm for next year. St. Bees went out on Wednesday and Thursday with about 50 people on each night. Loads of young people knocked on doors for charity with about £400 being raised. It was a lot of fun (though you can only see Neil’s smiling face in this particular photograph). Neil was a real die-hard in St. Bees due to the fact that the weather was quite crisp and he brought along his concertina both nights… Cold fingers, but a broad smile the whole night. Thanks Neil, and to John for organizing the caroling, as well as the Hawkins’ and the Hastie’s for hosting the after-celebrations with fine mulled wine.

On the way home we took this shot of the cross on the church tower…

At the beginning of Advent we started a new evening service at 7:30.  There has been a growing desire within the Priory and in the village to provide an opportunity for more informal prayer and worship.  In line with the Diocesan vision statement, as well as coinciding with the themes of conversion of heart during Advent we decided to call this service Survival to Revival.  We meet in the side chapel every Sunday at 7:30 (except over Christmas and New Year).  The basic theme is that we can only pass on to people that which we possess.  So revival must start first with us.  It is a bit more experimental than our other services.  It may or may not be the kind of thing you are in to, but you are welcome to join us if you wish.

From the start of Advent until Epiphany the children (and not a few Adults) have been engaged in a week to week search for the Wisemen. It is an opportunity for a bit of fun (and candy for children who are successful in finding them) as well as a reminder that the meaning of Christmas must be sought after. Last Sunday they were looking out upon the crowd that gathered in the church for our Holy Communion and healing service.

The commercialization of Christmas is an easy target for any “Vicar’s Letter” this time of year.  It is common to hear vicar’s banging-on about how Christmas is loosing its original emphasis.  It serves a two-fold purpose.  It gives the vicar something to talk about that is in the collective consciousness, and it gives the vicar an opportunity to reinforce the cultural stereotype that vicars are cranky and out of touch.  There are a lot of people that don’t particularly care about “the meaning of Christmas,” and they think that it is about time people (not just vicars) lighten up a bit about how they choose to celebrate holidays and what they spend their money on.However, statistics do seem to reveal a collective discomfort about the direction our society is going in.  When you pool all the data, and collect all the interviews, it is hard not to be left with the impression that we are, in fact, loosing our way as a society.  The way the Christmas season seems to magnify personal loneliness and alienation, and encourage excessive behaviour that demands a prolonged period of detoxification in the New Year does seem to relate to this overall loss of direction.The question among politicians, educators, religious leaders and so on isn’t “whether we have lost our way” (everyone seems to assume this) but rather, “How do we pull ourselves together?”  The battle lines are drawn up, politically and religiously, around questions of solution.  As wealth, entertainment, and free time increase, there seems to be an increase in our collective sadness.  It seems as though wealth, entertainment, and free time are things to be handled with care. Read the rest of this entry »