At last! I made it to Church, still somewhat wobbly on my pins. Fortunately the rain held off. Had to get to the disabled parking bay at 10am, and got the last space even at that. Intended waiting till 10.30, but noticed quite a few going in, so made my way slowly. It is good to hear the choir at rehearsal.
Today was one of the quarterly Communion Services, and additionally we had 5 people being admitted for their First Communion, which is always moving and reminds all of us of our vows. The 5 comprised one mature gentleman, one member of the Bible Class and one young Chorister as well as two others. We have a very large congregation on Communion Sunday.
With today being the Second Sunday in Advent, the service was looking forward to the birth of Christ. Having recently followed elder son’s visit to Israel, I could not help but compare the descriptions in The Gospels according to St Matthew and St Luke with the photographs from son of modern day Bethlehem.
The 3 shepherds are easily understood, but I had not thought much about the 3 wise men or magi. Our minister reckoned that they were probably learned astrologers from Persia.
This was also the first day with our new hymn book (CH4). With the time of the Church year, most of the hymns were well known, but one was new, so the choir sang the first verse and chorus and then all stood and sung the hymn from the beginning.
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5 comments:
"3 shepherds / 3 wise men" - how the mythology gets hold of us. Luke tells us there were "some shepherds" in the field that night when Jesus was born. No-one says how many. Matthew, who doesn't mention the shepherds, tells us about the wise men 'from the East' - Persia is a good guess as it was always a centre for astrology (much more of a science than today's hocus pocus). Again, it's 'some men' - the three comes from the three kinds of gifts brought. Could have been 53 wise men... and they probably never met the shepherds. Given that Herod went for every child under 2 years, we can assume some time has passed since the actual birth, and Jesus, Mary and Joseph are living a little more comfortably. Matthew doesn't mention the manger either.
Glad you got there - and enjoyed it!!
So glad you got to church!! How are the sexy stockings?
A very peaceful weekend here, but a pleasant one.
Anna xxx
ummm, I think I put in the "3" from childhood, and later, memories. I am pretty sure that the sermon didn't give any numbers!
To Anna - DEFINITELY not sexy!
Will send you some fish nets for xmase if you like..(evil giggle) Im sure Amazon sell them...
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