This was the moment when Before Turned into After, and the future's Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.
This was the moment when nothing Happened. Only dull peace Sprawled boringly over the earth.
This was the moment when even energetic Romans Could find nothing better to do Than counting heads in remote provinces.
And this was the moment When a few farm workers and three Members of an obscure Persian sect Walked haphazard by starlight straight Into the kingdom of heaven.
Be-Attitude: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, who are the true children of God.
Prayer
Almighty God, you make us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of your 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 is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Picture
Luke Frontispiece, from the St John's Bible, Donald Jackson
Music
"For unto us a Child is born" from Messiah, by G F Handel; Stephen Cleobury, The Brandenburg Consort and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb, Now leaves His well-belov'd imprisonment, There He hath made Himself to His intent Weak enough, now into the world to come; But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room? Yet lay Him in this stall, and from the Orient, Stars and wise men will travel to prevent The effect of Herod's jealous general doom. Seest thou, my soul, with thy faith's eyes, how He Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie? Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high, That would have need to be pitied by thee? Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go, With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe.
Be-Attitude: Blessed are the peacemakers who are the true children of God.
Prayer
Blessèd are you, Sovereign God, our light and our salvation, eternal Creator of day and night, to you be glory and praise for ever! As we look for your coming in glory, wash away our transgressions, cleanse us by your refining fire and make us temples of your Holy Spirit. By the light of Christ, dispel the darkness of our hearts and make us ready to enter your kingdom, where songs of praise for ever sound, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Blessèd be God for ever! — Celebrating common prayer.
Picture
"Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go, With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe."
Russian icon of the Flight into Egypt; the bottom section shows the idols of Egypt miraculously falling down before Jesus and being smashed (17th century).
Music
The King's Singers perform "This is the truth sent from above" a Hertfordshire folk tune preserved and popularized by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.
Reveal among us the light of your presence, that we may behold your power and glory.
Antiphon O Rex Gentium
O King of the nations, and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay. (cf Isaiah 28.16; Ephesians 2.14)
"an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream."
Amiably at home with virtue and evil — The righteousness of Joseph and Herod's Wickedness — I'm ever and always a stranger to grace. I need this annual angel visitation.
— this sudden drive by dream into reality — to know the virgin conceives and God is with us. The dream powers its way through winter weather and gives me vision to see the Jesus gift.
Light from the dream lasts a year. Through Equinox and solstice I am given twelve months
Of daylight by which to build the crèche where my Redeemer lives. The fetus of praise grows
deep in my spirit. As autumn wanes I count the days until I bear the dream again.
Be-Attitude: Blessed are the pure in heart who really clan up their act.
Prayer
Intimate God, we yearn for the light of your coming and the warmth of your embrace; focus our hearts on the truly important and keep us centred on that still point, Jesus our Emmanuel, who is alive with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen. — Bosco Peters
Picture
"And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home."
Frank Wesley (1923-2002), The visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth.
Music
There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue, anon. medieval (c.1420) English carol, sung by The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers, introduced by Simon Russell Beale.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.
Reveal among us the light of your presence, that we may behold your power and glory.
Antiphon O Oriens
O Morning Star, splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness: Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. (cf Malachi 4.2)
No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need even of God—for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God. Emmanuel. God-with-us. Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God.
Be-Attitude: Blessed are the merciful who treat others like themselves.
Prayer
As we wait for the coming of Jesus Christ, kindle your light in our hearts to keep us watchful and hopeful, to open our lives to Christ's coming in many ways through all our days —even in the least expected ways, to witness to Christ's ministry and love to our neighbours, to work together for peace and reconciliation with our neighbours, to pray for our concerns in this congregation and in our lives. In the name of Christ.
Pictures
Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice." Song of Songs 2:9. James Tissot (1836 – 1902) Jesus Looking through a Lattice, 1886-94, Brooklyn Museum, New York
— 21 December — The Feast of St Thomas. John Granville Gregory. Still doubting (1990s) in Bangor Cathedral, North Wales, after Caravaggio's, The incredulity of St. Thomas. (1601).
Music
Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists in "Jauchzet, frohlocket" (Exhalt! Rejoice!)from Bach's Christmas Oratorio BWV 248.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.
Reveal among us the light of your presence, that we may behold your power and glory.
Antiphon O Clavis David
O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel; you open and no one can shut; you shut and no one can open: Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house, those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. (cf Isaiah 22.22, 42.7)
Mosaic of the Nativity (Serbia, Winter 1993) Jane Kenyon
On the domed ceiling God is thinking: I made them my joy, and everything else I created I made to bless them. But see what they do! I know their hearts and arguments:
"We're descended from Cain. Evil is nothing new, so what does it matter now if we shell the infirmary, and the well where the fearful and rash alike must come for water?"
God thinks Mary into being. Suspended at the apogee of the golden dome, she curls in a brown pod, and inside her the mind of Christ, cloaked in blood, lodges and begins to grow.
Be-Attitude: Blessed are those who seek righteousness to do right by others.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, who chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of the promised saviour: fill us your servants with your grace, that in all things we may embrace your holy will and with her rejoice in your salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Picture
"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth" Luke 1:26
12th-century icon of Archangel Gabriel from Novgorod, called 'Golden-Locked Angel', currently exhibited in the State Russian Museum, St Petersberg.
Music
The South Sudan Toronto Choir singing on Christmas Eve, 2010.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.
Reveal among us the light of your presence, that we may behold your power and glory.
Antiphon O Radix Jesse
O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples; before you kings will shut their mouths, to you the nations will make their prayer: Come and deliver us, and delay no longer. (cf Isaiah 11.10, 45.14, 52.15; Romans 15.12)
A poem for Christmas From Nativity Poems by Joseph Brodsky (translated from Russian by Seamus Heaney).
Imagine striking a match that night in the cave: use the cracks in the floor to feel the cold. Use crockery in order to feel the hunger. And to feel the desert—but the desert is everywhere. Imagine striking a match in that midnight cave, the fire, the farm beasts in outline, the farm tools and stuff; and imagine, as you towel your face in the towel's folds, the bundled up Infant. And Mary and Joseph. Imagine the kings, the caravans' stilted procession as they make for the cave, or rather three beams closing in and in on the star; the creaking of loads, the clink of a cowbell; (but in the cerulean thickening over the Infant no bell and no echo of bell: He hasn't earned it yet.) Imagine the Lord, for the first time, from darkness, and stranded immensely in distance, recognising Himself in the Son, of Man: homeless, going out to Himself in a homeless one.
Be-Attitude: Blessed are the meek who practise self-restraint and self-control.
Prayer
Eternal God, as Mary waited for the birth of your Son, so we wait for his coming in glory; bring us through the birth pangs of this present age to see, with her, our great salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Picture
"Imagine striking a match that night in the cave"
Poster by Andre Gadd displayed in 1,000 bus shelters across the UK in December 2008.
Music
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). In dulci jubilo, Introduced by actor Simon Russell Beale and performed by The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.
Reveal among us the light of your presence, that we may behold your power and glory.
Antiphon O Adonai
O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm. (cf Exodus 3.2, 24.12)
Helpless and human Deity in the dirt, Spirit married with flesh We couldn't make it to you, But you come to us.
You always come to us. In our stubbornness and desire, Entitlement and shame Remind us that we need you, Merge your untamed Spirit with our flesh.
We try to forget those Years of wandering. Shackles and masters, An eternity of doubting And still, you come to us.
A divine intrusion Through our scheming and chaos — Coats of armor, angels and armies. Do some wrecking here, And gently come to us.
Disturb us this day Through sorrow and through dancing, The bliss of joy and sting of death Past hands that would threaten and tear, You come to us extravagantly.
From your manger lowly, Mighty and mysterious You come to us, Seed of Heaven Spirit wed with flesh, These broken hearts to mend.
Be-Attitude: Blessed are those who mourn who wail, lament and cry out loud.
Prayer
Jesus, how clearly we see you at Christmas-time, cradled by Mary, protected by Joseph, worshipped by shepherds, honoured by kings, enshrined on the altar, and loved by the world.
But, oh Lord, help us look for you, too, among the taxes of life, and the wanderings of rootless travellers. In the world's smelly stables, and in makeshift mangers. In sweat-like drops of blood and rough-hewn crosses, humanly fashioned. Help us look, Lord — and help us find!
Not only at Christmas, but throughout a new year that it might become indeed 'the year of our Lord. — Mary Sue H Rosenberger, Sacraments in a refrigerator, Brethren Press, 1979.
Picture
"how clearly we see you at Christmas-time . . . worshipped by shepherds, honoured by kings" Giotto di Bondone (1267–1337), Adoration of the Magi, Cappella Scrovegni, Padova
Music
The Coventry Carol (Anon. 15th c. or 16th c.), sung by Collegium Vocale Gent, conducted by Peter Dijkstra.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.
Reveal among us the light of your presence, that we may behold your power and glory.
Antiphon O Sapientia
O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to the other mightily, and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence. (cf Ecclesiasticus 24.3; Wisdom 8.1)
The Risk of Birth (Christmas, 1973) Madeleine L'Engle
This is no time for a child to be born, With the earth betrayed by war & hate And a comet slashing the sky to warn That time runs out & the sun burns late.
That was no time for a child to be born, In a land in the crushing grip of Rome; Honour & truth were trampled by scorn— Yet here did the Saviour make his home.
When is the time for love to be born? The inn is full on the planet earth, And by a comet the sky is torn— Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.
Be-Attitude: Blessed are the poor and those who are with them in spirit. ('Be-Attitudes', from David Andrews. Plan Be. Authentic, 2008.)
Prayer
Holy God, your prophets call us to look forward to the dawn of a new day; may we who witness the promised springtime prepare the way for the coming Sun of Justice, Jesus your Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen. — Bosco Peters
Picture
"That was no time for a child to be born, In a land in the crushing grip of Rome" Detail of map from A.J. Johnson. Roman Empire in the Time of Christ and His Apostles. New York. 1874, pp.120-211 (David Rumsey Historical Map Collection)
O Sapentia (O Wisdom), the Great Antiphon for 17 December sung by the Dominican student brothers at Blackfriars, Oxford.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.
In Bethlehem From Christmas Carolles, A.D. 1550; attributed elsewhere to James Ryman, 1492
In Bethlehem, that noble place, As by the Prophet said it was, Of the Virgin Mary, filled with grace. Salvator mundi natus est. (1) Be we merry in this feast, In quo Salvator natus est.
On Christmas night an Angel told The shepherds watching by their fold, In Bethlehem, full nigh the wold, "Salvator mundi natus est." Be we merry in this feast, In quo Salvator natus est.
The shepherds were encompassed right, About them shone a glorious light, "Dread ye naught," said the Angel bright, "Salvator mundi natus est." Be we merry in this feast, In quo Salvator natus est.
"No cause have ye to be afraid, For why? this day is Jesus laid On Mary's lap, that gentle maid: Salvator mundi natus est. Be we merry in this feast, In quo Salvator natus est.
"And thus in faith find him ye shall Laid poorly in an ox's stall." The shepherds then lauded God all, Quia Salvator natus est. Be we merry in this feast, In quo Salvator natus est.
Prayer
Blessèd are you, Sovereign God of all, to you be glory and praise for ever! From the rising of the sun to its setting your glory is proclaimed in all the world. You gave the Christ as a light to the nations, and through the anointing of his Spirit you established us as a royal priesthood. As you call us into his marvellous light, may our lives bear witness to your truth and our lips never cease to proclaim your praise, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Blessèd be God for ever! — Celebrating common prayer.
Justice, mercy and peace
The Refugee Council of Australia is the national body for refugees, organisations, and the individuals who support them. It promotes the flexible, humane and practical policies towards refugees and asylum seekers both within Australia and internationally.
Picture
"On Christmas night an Angel told The shepherds watching by their fold"
MusicSir William Walton (1902-1983), Make we joy now in this fest (First published: Christmas Eve, 1931) Introduced by actor Simon Russell Beale Sung by The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.
They all were looking for a king To slay their foes and lift them high; Thou cam'st, a little baby thing That made a woman cry.
O Son of Man, to right my lot Naught but Thy presence can avail; Yet on the road Thy wheels are not, Nor on the sea Thy sail!
My how or when Thou wilt not heed, But come down Thine own secret stair, That Thou may'st answer all my need— Yea, every bygone prayer.
Prayer
Blessèd are you, Sovereign God, our light and our salvation, to you be glory and praise for ever! In the beginning you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. To dispel the darkness of our night, you sent forth your Son, the first-born of all creation. He is our Christ, the light of the world, and him we acclaim, as all creation sings to you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Blessèd be God for ever! — Celebrating common prayer.
Justice, mercy and peace — Reconciliation:
Reconciliation Australia is the peak organisation promoting reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the broader Australian community. Its vision is for an Australia that recognises and respects the special place, culture, rights and contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; and where good relationships between First Australians and other Australians become the foundation for local strength and success; and the enhancement of our national wellbeing.
Picture
"In the beginning you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands." Genesis Frontispiece, from the St John's Bible, Donald Jackson with contributions from Chris Tomlin
Music>
There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue Anon. medieval (c.1420) English carol Sung by The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers Introduced by actor Simon Russell Beale
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.
