As we wait in Advent for Christ’s coming, who is Christ for you?

The Triptych of the Baptism of Christ in the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday 17 December 2017,

The Third Sunday of Advent.

11.30 a.m.: Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin (Tarbert), Co Kerry, The Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion).

Readings: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; the Canticle Magnificat; I Thessalonians 5: 16-24; and John 1: 6-8, 19-28.

Saint John the Baptist and the Prophet Isaiah … a window in Saint John’s Church, Wall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Part 1: Lighting the Third Candle on the Advent Wreath (the Prophets):

Two weeks ago, I explained here in Tarbert that on each Sunday in Advent, instead of preaching one long sermon, I plan going to offer three short reflections: looking at the Advent Wreath and Candles; looking at the Gospel reading and our hopes for the Coming of Christ; and looking at the meaning of Santa Claus.

In Year B in the Lectionary readings, we are focussing on Saint Mark’s Gospel.

On the first Sunday of Advent, we heard his account of the Coming of the Son of Man (Mark 13: 24-37). Last Sunday, we returned to the beginning of his Gospel (Mark 1: 1-8).

But this morning, we skip over to Saint John’s Gospel, and his account of the Baptism of Christ by Saint John in the River Jordan (John 1: 6-8, 19-28).

Indeed, there is no Christmas story in either Saint Mark’s Gospel or Saint John’s Gospel.

The prayers at the Advent Wreath on the Sundays in Advent can help us to continue our themes from the Sunday before Advent [26 November 2017], which we marked in these dioceses as Mission Sunday, supporting projects in Swaziland in co-operation with the Anglican mission agency, the United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG).

As we light our Advent candles in anticipation of celebrating the coming of the Christ child, USPG is inviting churches and parishes to pray for mothers and children who are served by the USPG in the world church in Tanzania, Ghana, Bangladesh and Palestine.

The first candle to light on the Advent Wreath on the First Sunday of Advent was the Purple Candle, recalling the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, our fathers and mothers in the faith, like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob. The second purple candle, which we lit last Sunday, represents the Prophets. The third, pink candle, which we light this morning, represents Saint John the Baptist, who is also the theme of our readings and some of our hymns.

USPG suggests this prayer when we light this third candle:

Saint John the Baptist:

O God of justice,
whose servant John prepared the way for Jesus’ coming;
we pray for the medical mission of the Church of Bangladesh
as it prepares the way for prematurely born children.
Bless the babies from different faiths who share the warmth of a common incubator.
May their world become a fair and just home for all. Amen.

The Holy Spirit descending as a dove … part of a triptych in the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Part 2: Waiting for Christ

May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

This Sunday [17 December 2017], the Third Sunday of Advent, is known in many parts of the Church as ‘Gaudete Sunday.’

Gaudete Sunday takes its name from the Latin word Gaudete (‘Rejoice’), the opening words of the traditional entrance antiphon or introit for the day, which may be translated as:

Rejoice in the Lord always.

In many churches, rose-coloured vestments are worn on Gaudete Sunday instead of the violet of Advent, hence the Pink Candle this morning.

In some Anglican traditions, ‘Sarum Blue’ is used instead, and blue as a liturgical colour represents hopefulness.

The Old Testament reading (Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11) looks forward to the hope of the total salvation of God’s people – bodily, spiritually, individually and socially. These verses (1b to 2) are quoted by Christ when he preaches in the synagogue in Nazareth (see Luke 4: 18-19). ‘The year of the Lord’s favour’ (verse 2; see Leviticus 25:10) refers to the jubilee year, a year dedicated to God, when all shall be free to return home to their families, and a year of rest when the land produces without being sown or worked.

Isaiah tells us (verses 4-7) that strangers or foreigners from all nations are to contribute to the restoration of righteousness on earth. They will be double blessed and have eternal joy, and God’s agreement will last for ever.

The prophet speaks (verses 10-11) of the renewed Jerusalem, where all will rejoice, and the people will praise God as an example for ‘all the nations.’

In our New Testament reading (I Thessalonians 5: 16-24), Saint Paul tells the early Christians in Thessaloniki that God’s plan for them, realised in Christ, is to rejoice always, to make their lives a continual prayer, and to be thankful to God, whatever happens to them.

In our Gospel reading, Saint John tells us of Saint John the Baptist, who is sent to ‘testify to the light’ (verse 7), who is Christ (verse 8)

Saint John says simply he is the one who prepares ‘the way of the Lord’ (verse 23), who announces the Messiah’s coming, fulfilling the promise of the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 40: 3). He is self-effacing about himself, and all he says about himself is that he is the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, words first spoken by the Prophet Isaiah.

The Lamb seated on the Throne … a fresco on a ceiling in a Greek Orthodox monastery in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint John would have said it is more important to understand who Christ is. Outside this Gospel reading, he uses a number of terms to describe Christ. They include:

● ‘The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’ (John 1: 29 and 36).

● ‘The one who existed before John’ (verse 30).

● ‘The Son of God’ (John 1: 34), for we here a revelation of God as Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

But who do the disciples say Christ is? Later, they give three very different descriptions from those given by Saint John the Baptist:

● Rabbi or Teacher (verse 38);

● the one to see and follow (verse (verse 39);

● the Messiah or the anointed one (verse 41).

Robert Spence (1871-1964), ‘Woe to the Bloody City of Lichfield,’ depicts George Fox preaching barefooted in the Market Square in Lichfield 1651 … George Fox challenged his followers to say who Christ is for them (Lichfield Heritage Centre)

Who is Christ for you? This is a question each of us could ask ourselves as we wait for the coming of Christ this Advent.

George Fox, the founding Quaker, challenged his contemporaries as he trudged barefoot through the winter snow in Lichfield: ‘You may say Christ saith this, and the apostles say this, but what canst thou say? Art thou a child of the Light and hast thou walked in the Light, and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God?’

Who is Christ for you?

Who is Christ for you, the Christ we are expecting this Advent, the Christ who is coming to you this Christmas?

A jolly Santa outside a shop in Little Catherine Street, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Part 3: Waiting for Santa Claus

Each Sunday during Advent, I am telling a different story about Saint Nicholas of Myra, the real Santa Claus, and why he is important, why he should rescued from commercialism and Coca Cola, for the Church and Christmas.

One of the oldest stories in which Saint Nicholas is the protector of children takes place long after his death. The people of Myra were celebrating his feast day when Arab pirates from Crete arrived in the town. They stole treasures from the Church of Saint Nicholas, and as they were leaving town, they also too a young boy, Basilios, to make him a slave.

The emir selected Basilios as his personal cupbearer, thinking Basilios would not understand what the king said to the people around him in his court or palace. For a year, Basilios waited on the king. But back in Myra, his parents were filled with grief at the loss of their only child.

As the next Saint Nicholass’ feastday approached, the boy’s grieving mother did not join in the festivities. She stayed at home, praying for his safekeeping. Miraculously, the boy Basilios was suddenly whisked away from the emir’s throne. Saint Nicholas appeared to the terrified boy, blessed him, and set him down at his home back in Myra, before his parents, still holding the emir’s golden cup.

This is the first story told of Saint Nicholas protecting children, and this became his primary role in the West.

Another story tells of three theological students, travelling on their way to study in Athens. A wicked innkeeper robbed and murdered them, hiding their remains in a large pickling tub or barrel. It so happened that Bishop Nicholas, traveling along the same route, stopped at the same inn. In the night, he dreamt of the crime, got up, and summoned the innkeeper.

As Bishop Nicholas prayed earnestly to God, the three boys were restored to life and wholeness. And so, Saint Nicholas became the patron and protector of children.

Whatever you may think about these stories, they are stories too that point to the Resurrection, emphasising that Christmas has no meaning without Easter, that our faith in the Incarnation must always be linked with our faith in the Resurrection.

And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Priest-in-Charge, the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes. This sermon was prepared for the Third Sunday of Advent, 17 December 2017.

Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

The Advent Collect:

Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Penitential Kyries:

Turn to us again, O God our Saviour,
and let your anger cease from us.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Show us your mercy, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.

Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Your salvation is near for those that fear you,
that glory may dwell in our land.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Introduction to the Peace:

In the tender mercy of our God,
the dayspring from on high shall break upon us,
to give light to those who dwell in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1: 78, 79)

Preface:

Salvation is your gift
through the coming of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and by him you will make all things new
when he returns in glory to judge the world:

Post Communion Prayer:

Father,
we give you thanks for these heavenly gifts.
Kindle us with the fire of your Spirit
that when Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Blessing:

Christ the sun of righteousness shine upon you,
gladden your hearts
and scatter the darkness from before you:

This afternoon’s Service of Nine Lessons and Carols in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton

Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton … the venue for this afternoon’s Service of Nine Lessons and Carols (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

We are holding a traditional Service of Nine Lessons and Carols in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, at 3 p.m. this afternoon [Sunday 17 December 2017].

Our service this afternoon is adapted from the traditional Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, made popular by Christmas Eve broadcasts from the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge. This is a service celebrating the birth of Christ, and that tells the story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus in nine short Bible readings from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choral music.

The tradition probably dates back to 1878, when a service of carols was held by the choir of Truro Cathedral in the cathedral, instead of singing carols in the homes of the choir members.

Two years later, the original service of carols and lessons was first created by the Bishop of Truro, Edward White Benson (1829-1896), later Archbishop of Canterbury, for use in the temporary wooden structure that then served as his cathedral, at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1880.

The idea had come from Somerset Walpole (1854-1929), curate of Saint Mary’s, Truro, and later Bishop of Edinburgh (1910-1929).

Archbishop Benson’s son, Arthur Christopher Benson (1862-1925) – author of the lyrics of Elgar’s ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ – later recalled: ‘My father arranged from ancient sources a little service for Christmas Eve – nine carols and nine tiny lessons, which were read by various officers of the Church, beginning with a chorister, and ending, through the different grades, with the bishop.’

Over 1,500 people attended that service that Christmas Eve. Almost immediately other churches adapted the service for their own use.

But the best-known form of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is the one broadcast by the BBC each year on Christmas Eve from the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge.

The first Service of Nine Lessons and Carols in King’s College Chapel took place on Christmas Eve 1918. It was planned by Eric Milner-White (1884-1963), later Dean of York. He had just been appointed Dean of King’s after his experience as an army chaplain had convinced him that the Church of England needed more imaginative worship.

Many of those who took part in the first service must have recalled those killed in the World War I when it came to the famous passage in the Bidding Prayer that recalls ‘all those who rejoice with us, but on another shore and in a greater light.’

The Order of Service was revised in 1919, when the lessons were rearranged, and from that date the service has always begun with the hymn ‘Once in royal David’s city.’

In almost every year, the choice of carols has varied, and some new ones have been introduced by successive organists. But the core of this service, the lessons and the prayers, has remained virtually unchanged.

A wider frame began to grow when the service was first broadcast in 1928 and, with the exception of 1930, it has been broadcast annually, even during World War II, when the ancient glass – and also all heat – had been removed from the chapel.

In the early 1930s, the BBC began broadcasting the service on overseas programmes. It is estimated that there are millions of listeners worldwide, including those who listen to it on Radio 4 in the United Kingdom.

In recent years it has become the practice to broadcast a recording of the service on Christmas Day on Radio 3, and since 1963 a shorter service has been filmed periodically for television. Recordings of carols have also spread its fame, and so in many ways the service has become public property. From time to time, King’s College receives copies of services held, from the West Indies to the Far East, and these letters show how widely the tradition has spread. The broadcasts, too, have become part of Christmas for many far from Cambridge.

One letter writer told how he heard the service in a tent on the foothills of Mount Everest, another, in the desert. Many people listen at home, while they are busy with their own preparations for Christmas. Visitors from all over the world are heard to identify the Chapel as ‘the place where the Carols are sung.’

The demand for seats always exceeds the number available in chapel. Members of the public are admitted to King’s College through the main gate on King’s Parade from 7.30 a.m., but people usually start queueing the night before.

Those who join the queue before 9 a.m. usually get in, although this is not guaranteed. As they queue, they are often entertained by members of Collegium Regale, Choral Scholars of King’s College Choir, singing carols.The doors of the chapel open at 1.30 p.m., and the service begins just after 3 p.m., ending around 4.30 or 4.45 p.m.

As Dean Milner-White pointed out, the pattern and strength of the service derive from the lessons and not the music. ‘The main theme is the development of the loving purposes of God …’ seen ‘through the windows and the words of the Bible.’

The centre of the service is still found by those who ‘go in heart and mind’ and who consent to follow where the story leads.

The Chapel of King’s College Cambridge … provides the model for today’s Service of Nine Lessons and Carols (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

An Askeaton adaptation:

This is the order of service we are using this afternoon. The hymn numbers are those in the Irish Church Hymnal (5th edition):

Processional Hymn:

177, Once in royal David’s city’ (CF Alexander; melody, HJ Gauntlett).

This hymn was originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), then Cecil Frances Humphreys. She is also known for her hymn ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful.’ The carol was first published in her Hymns for little Children (1848). The English organist Henry John Gauntlett (1805-1876) came across the poem a year later and set it to music.

Meanwhile, in 1848, Cecil Humphreys married the Revd William Alexander, later Bishop of Derry and Archbishop of Armagh.

Since 1919, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge, has begun with ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ as the processional hymn. The first verse is sung by a boy chorister as a solo, the second verse is sung by the choir, and the congregation joins in at the third verse.

Bidding Prayer (Canon Patrick Comerford):

Beloved, be it this Christmas Time our care and delight to prepare ourselves to hear again the message of the angels; in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and the Babe lying in a manger.

Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child; and let us make this Church, dedicated to Mary, his most blessed Mother, glad with our carols of praise:

But first let us pray for the needs of his whole world; for peace and goodwill over all the earth; for unity and brotherhood within the Church he came to build, and especially in this our land, Ireland:

And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us at this time remember in his name the poor and the helpless, the cold, the hungry and the oppressed; the sick in body and in mind and those who mourn; the lonely and the unloved; the aged and the little children; all who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.

Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light, that multitude which no one can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one. These prayers and praises let us humbly offer up to the throne of heaven, in the words which Christ himself has taught us: Our Father …

Carol 1:

155, Ding Dong! merrily on high (George Ratcliffe Woodward; melody Thoinot Arbeau).

The tune of this carol first appeared as a secular dance tune under the title ‘Branle de l’Official’ in Orchésographie, a dance book written by Jehan Tabourot (1519-1593).

This carol is particularly noted for the Latin refrain: Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!. The lyrics are by the English composer George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848-1934), and the carol was first published in 1924 in his The Cambridge Carol-Book: Being Fifty-two Songs for Christmas, Easter, And Other Seasons. Woodward’s interest in church bell ringing inspired him in writing this carol.

The tune was harmonised by the Armagh-born composer Charles Wood (1866-1926), whose students in Cambridge included Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Lesson 1:

Genesis 3: 8-19.

Adam has lost Paradise, but his progeny will bruise the serpent’s head

Carol 2:

135, O come, O come, Emmanuel (tr John Mason Neale; melody, Thomas Helmore).

The version we are singing this afternoon is an adaptation of John Mason Neale’s mid-19th century interpretation of the Latin text, Veni, veni, Emmanuel.

This is a metrical version of a collation of various Advent Antiphons, the acrostic O Antiphons, which may date from at least the eighth century, and certainly from the 12th century. The traditional music associated with this hymn may come from a 15th century processional sung by French Franciscan nuns, but may even have its origins in eighth century Gregorian chant.

For some, this is one of the most solemn Advent hymns. But Advent is not meant to be a penitential season like Lent; rather, it is supposed to be a season of preparation and anticipation, reflection and hope. As Percy Dearmer wrote: ‘The tendency of the present day to make another Lent of Advent is much to be deprecated. The O Sapientia [the first of O Antiphons] in our Kalendar and the use of Sequences in the old English books may remind us of the spirit of joyful expectation which is the liturgical characteristic of Advent.’

The refrain in this hymn is based on the prophecy in Isaiah 7: 14, ‘the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.’ According to Matthew 1: 23, this promise is fulfilled at the incarnation of Christ in Bethlehem.

The first English translation of Veni, veni, Emmanuel was made by John Henry Newman in 1836. Some years later, the Revd John Mason Neale (1818-1866), a Victorian authority on mediaeval liturgy and hymnody, published the five Latin metrical stanzas in his Hymni Ecclesiae in 1851. Neale’s English translation was published that year in his Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences, with the opening line: ‘Draw Nigh, Draw Nigh, Emmanuel.’

A slightly revised version was also published in 1854 by Neale and the Revd Thomas Helmore (1811-1890), a one-time curate in Saint Michael’s, Lichfield, and a priest-vicar in Lichfield Cathedral, who helped revive an Anglican interest in plainsong or Gregorian chant, in The Hymnal Noted. Seven years later, in 1861, it was published in Hymns Ancient and Modern, but with the more familiar opening words: ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel’ – and with the note: ‘Altered by the Compilers.’

Lesson 2:
Genesis 22: 15-18.

God promises to faithful Abraham that in his seed all nations shall be blessed.

Carol 3:

133, Long ago, prophets knew (F Pratt Green; melody, Piae Cantiones).

The Revd Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000) was an English Methodist minister who wrote numerous plays and hymns. His hymns reflect his rejection of fundamentalism and show his concern with social issues. Many were written to supply the liturgical needs of the modern Church, looking at topics or events for which few traditional hymns were available.

He also translated a poem by Dietrich Bonhoeffer as the hymn, ‘By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered.’ His poem ‘The Old Couple’ was included by Philip Larkin in The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century English Verse (1973).

The tune for this carol is the much older Personent hodie, from a Christmas carol first published in 1582 in a Finnish collection, Piae Cantiones. It was first translated into English by Jane M Joseph (1894-1929).

Lesson 3:

Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7.

The prophet foretells the coming of the Saviour.

Carol 4:

174, O little town of Bethlehem (Philips Brooks, melody arranged by Vaughan Williams).

The words of ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ offer commentators with ready illustrations for Christmas-time editorials wondering when ‘glad tidings’ may come to towns like this in the Middle East, meeting ‘the hopes and fears of all the years.’

The text was written in 1868 by the Revd Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), an Episcopal priest and the Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia. He was inspired by visiting the village of Bethlehem near Jerusalem in 1865. Later he became Bishop of Massachusetts (1891-1893). br />
The tune for this popular hymn, ‘Forest Green,’ was arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams. This is an English folk tune associated with the ballad ‘The Ploughboy’s Dream.’ Vaughan Williams turned ‘Forest Green’ into a hymn tune for The English Hymnal (1906), which he co-edited with Percy Dearmer, using the tune as a setting for ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem.’

The melody was collected by Vaughan Williams from a singer, Henry Garman, of Forest Green, near Ockley, Surrey, in 1903, and combined it with the words of ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ in the English Hymnal in 1906.

Lesson 4:

Micah 5: 2-5a.

The place of the Redeemer’s birth is Bethlehem

Carol 5:

160, Hark! the herald-angels sing (Charles Wesley and George Whitefield; music, Felix Mendelssohn).

The first version of this carol, written by Charles Wesley, was published in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems. The popular version we sing today is the result of alterations by various hands, including Wesley’s co-worker George Whitefield, who changed the opening couplet to the familiar one, and by Felix Mendelssohn, whose melody was used for the lyrics.

In 1840, 100 years after the publication of Hymns and Sacred Poems, Mendelssohn composed a cantata to commemorate Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, and it is music from this cantata, adapted by the English musician William H Cummings to fit the lyrics, that accompany the words of the carol as we know them today.

Lesson 5: Luke 1: 26-35, 38.

The angel Gabriel salutes the Blessed Virgin Mary

Carol 6:

164, It came upon the midnight clear (EH Sears, traditional melody, Arthur Sullivan).

This carol is based on a poem by the Revd Edmund Sears (1810-1876), pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts, and an outspoken campaigner against slavery.

The tune is a traditional melody adapted by the composer Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900), who was born in London to Irish parents. One of Sullivan’s most influential teachers, while he was a chorister in the Chapel Royal was the master of the choristers, the Revd Thomas Helmore, who co-wrote our second carol, ‘O come, O come, Emmanuel.’

Sullivan is best known for 14 operatic collaborations with the WS Gilbert, including HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado.

Lesson 6: Luke 2: 1, 3-7.

Saint Luke tells of the birth of Jesus

Carol 7:

158, God rest you merry gentlemen (English traditional).

This traditional carol is one of the oldest surviving carols, and dates from the 16th century or earlier. The earliest known printed edition of the carol is in a broadsheet from about 1760.

The carol is referred to by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol (1843): ‘... at the first sound of ‘God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!’, Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.’

Lesson 7: Luke 2: 8-16.

The shepherds go to the manger

Carol 8:

152, ‘Come and join the celebration’ (Valerie Collison).

This children’s song for Christmas Day was written by the English Anglican and medical secretary, organist and hymn-writer Valerie Collison. It is loosely based on Luke 2:15-18. It was first published in Carols for Children (1972), and is now included in many mainstream hymnals and widely used in primary schools and at family services.

Lesson 8: Matthew 2: 1-11.

The wise men are led by the star to the Christ Child.

Carol 9:

149, Away in a manger (WJ Kirkpatrick).

This carol was first published in the late 19th century and has become one of the most popular carols. It was long claimed it was written by Martin Luther for his children, and was known as ‘Luther’s Cradle Song.’ But, while research has not yet identified the original lyrics or lyricist, it is now thought to be wholly American in origin.

The best-known setting is by the American Methodist composer William James Kirkpatrick (1838-1921), who was born in the Parish of Errigal, Keerogue, Co Tyrone.

Lesson 9: John 1: 1-14.

Saint John unfolds the great mystery of the Incarnation

Closing Hymn:

162, In the bleak mid-winter (Christina Rossetti; music, Gustav Holst).

The hymn ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is based on a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). The poem was published in 1872, under the title ‘A Christmas Carol,’ in Scribner’s Monthly. Her poem was first set to music in 1906 in The English Hymnal, edited by Percy Dearmer and Vaughan Williams, when it was accompanied by the tune ‘Cranham’ written by Gustav Holst.

Collect and Blessing:

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Let us pray.

O God,
who makes us glad with the yearly remembrance
of the birth of your only son, Jesus Christ:
Grant that as we joyfully receive him for our redeemer,
so we may with sure confidence behold him,
when he shall come to be our judge;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end. Amen.

Christ, who by his incarnation
gathered into one things earthly and heavenly,
grant you the fullness of inward peace and goodwill,
and make you partakers of the divine nature;
and the blessing of God Almighty,
+ the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be with you and remain with you always. Amen.

Hymn:

172, O come, all ye faithful (Adeste Fideles), translated, Frederick Oakeley; melody John F Wade.

Our closing hymn, ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful,’ was originally written in Latin as Adeste Fideles and has been attributed to various authors, including the English hymn writers John Francis Wade (1711-1786) and John Reading (1645-1692) and King John IV of Portugal (1604-1656). The original four verses of the hymn were extended to a total of eight, and these have been translated into many languages.

The English translation of ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ was written by the English priest Canon Frederick Oakeley (1902-1880) in 1841, and the present harmonisation of Wade’s tune is from the English Hymnal (1906).

The most popular version of this hymn begins with the opening words by Frederick Oakeley, who ended his days as a Roman Catholic priest. He spent his childhood in Lichfield, where he was brought up in the Bishop’s Palace. He was a canon of Lichfield Cathedral in the 1830s and 1840s, when he wrote this hymn, and when he became a Roman Catholic priest he returned to Lichfield to say his first Mass.

This afternoon’s collection:

Part of this afternoon’s collection is being divided among a number of agencies and funds supported by the parish, including: the Church of Ireland Bishops’ Appeal, Christian Aid, the Leprosy Mission, Limerick Protestant Orphan Society, Rathkeale NS No 2, and the United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG).

The former bishop’s palace in Lichfield in the snow last weekend ... the hymn writer Frederick Oakeley spent his childhood there (Photograph: Steve Johnson, 2017)

Praying in Advent with USPG and Lichfield Cathedral (15): 17 December 2017

Student nurse Deepa Roy at the USPG-supported Bollobhpur Hospital, with a patient, Kumodini (Photograph: USPG/Leah Gordon)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent, and as next Sunday is both the Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve, today marks the beginning the last week of Advent this year.

This morning’s theme, as we light the third, pink candle on the Advent Wreath in many churches is ‘Saint John the Baptist.’ This theme may also run through the readings, hymns, prayers and sermons in churches.

Later this morning [17 December], I am preaching and presiding at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin (Tarbert), Co Kerry at 11.30, and in the afternoon leading the Carol Service in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick, at 3 p.m.

As we light the third, pink candle on the Advent Wreath, the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) suggest this prayer:

O God of justice,
whose servant John prepared the way for Jesus’ coming;
we pray for the medical mission of the Church of Bangladesh
as it prepares the way for prematurely born children.
Bless the babies from different faiths who share the warmth
of a common incubator.
May their world become a fair and just home for all.

Throughout this season of Advent, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar from Lichfield Cathedral.

USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.

Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current prayer diary (22 October 2017 to 10 February 2018), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.

This week, the Prayer Diary continues its Advent series, looking at how the church is reaching out to mothers and babies. This week, it continues with reflections and prayers from Bangladesh.

The Prayer Diary today includes an article by Sister Gillian Rose, a former USPG mission partner, who oversees the USPG-supported Bollobphur Hospital, which is owned by the Church of Bangladesh. She writes:

Despite political unrest that upset the country and horrific terrorist activities, here at Bollobphur we remain a little oasis of peace. Families of different faith backgrounds – Muslim, Hindi and Christian – live and work together in peace and harmony..

Indeed, tiny babies of different faith backgrounds share together the warmth and comfort of the incubators. Our largest incubator often has three babies growing up together. I always say these tiny babies do better if they have a companion – and, indeed, they keep each other warm when a sudden power cut shuts off the electricity supply to the incubator.

Also, before the programme, whenever I bought fruit and vegetables from the market, I wasn’t washing them. But not I wash them with a soap and salt solution before I use them to prepare food.

During the year, a total of 573 babies were born at Bollobphur. Of these babies, 38 were tiny and premature. The majority are very tiny on arrival, weighing only 800g, 900g or 1kg Several mothers brought tiny twin babies to us to care for. Our student nurses care for them, feeding them every two hours, day and night – and what a joy it is when the mother is able to take the baby home, weighing over 2g.

Your parish can directly fund this health programme through USPG’s Partners in Mission scheme. Visit www.uspg.org.uk/pim

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Sunday 17 December 2017, Third Sunday of Advent:

O God, whose servant John prepared the way for Jesus’ coming,
we pray for the medical mission of the Church of Bangladesh.
Bless the premature babies there, sharing a common incubator.
May their world become a fair and just home for all.

‘A Cathedral Illuminated’ returns to Lichfield Cathedral tomorrow, running from 18 to 23 December, featuring artwork by Luxmuralis (artists Peter Walker Sculptor and David Harper). Film by David Harper

Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:

Today, the calendar is headed ‘O Sapientia,’ referring to the first of the O Antiphons in the final week of Advent.

The ‘Late Advent Weekdays,’ 17 to 24 December, mark the singing of the Great Advent ‘O Antiphons.’ These are the antiphons for the canticle Magnificat at Evensong, Evening Prayer or Vespers day and mark the forthcoming birth of the Messiah. They form the basis for each verse of the popular Advent hymn, O come, O come, Emmanuel.

These antiphons, all beginning with ‘O ...,’ were sung before and after the Canticle Magnificat at Vespers from 17 to 24 December, the seven days before Christmas. They are addressed to God, calling on him to come as teacher and deliverer, and woven through with scriptural titles and images describing God’s saving work in Christ. This tradition was developed in the Sarum Rite in mediaeval England, and was reflected in The Book of Common Prayer, where the Anglican Reformers retained the title O Sapientia (‘O Wisdom’) as the designation for 16 December.

The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.

Today, the calendar suggests going to church and reading Matthew 1: 8-24.

The reflection for today suggests:

As we read the story of Joseph seeing the truth of what was happening to him in a dream, pray for insight to see beyond the superficial.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary):

Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126 or the Canticle Magnificat; I Thessalonians 5: 16-24; John 1: 6-8, 19-28.

The Collect of the Third Sunday of Advent:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end. Amen.

The Advent Collect:

Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post-Communion Prayer:

Father,
we give you thanks for these heavenly gifts.
Kindle us with the fire of your Spirit
that when Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow.

Victorian and Edwardian houses that contribute to Bray’s architectural legacy

Sidmonton House and Wentworth House form a Victorian pair on Sidmonton Road, Bray, Co Wicklow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

During my walks through the Victorian and Edwardian streets of Bray, Co Wicklow, late on Thursday afternoon [14 December 2017], I was in awe of some of the spending architecture of that era.

I was writing yesterday about Toner House, the former French School, which was built as a terrace of houses and was strongly influenced by the principles of John Ruskin (1819-1900), the leading English art critic of the Victorian era and the author of The Stones of Venice.

Some of the other houses from this period that I stopped to admire and to photograph include Laxton House, Wellington House and Sidmonton House and Wenworth, which form an interesting pair, and the former Presbyterian Manse on Quinsborough Road, which has been renovated in recent months.

Laxton House on Novara Avenue is a well-preserved mid-19th-century house, built in 1858 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Laxton House on Novara Avenue is a well-preserved mid-19th-century house, built in 1858. This is a detached, three-bay two-storey house, built in 1858. It retains its original setting, set well back in a mature garden, behind a curved gate screen with wrought-iron gates.

The house is finished in roughcast render with stone sills and string courses. But despite the addition of roughcast render, Laxton House maintains the Victorian character of the streetscape.

The panelled door is flanked by pilasters and is surmounted by a semi-circular headed fanlight. The opening for this front door is dressed with distinctive block and start quoins. A wrought-iron Regency Style screen sits in front of the door and rises to support a small balcony. To either side is a two-storey canted bay with a hipped roof.

The window openings are all flat-headed with either six-over-six or four-over-four timber sash frames. A French window opens from the first floor onto the balcony.

The hipped roof is covered with natural slate and clay ridge tiles. There are over-hanging eaves and the rainwater goods are cast-iron. The chimney-stacks are rendered with corbelled caps and clay pots.

Wellington House is a striking example of an early Edwardian house in Bray (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Wellington House is a 10-bedroom house on Novara Avenue. Built around 1905, it is a striking example of an early Edwardian house with mild Tudor overtones that add diversity and richness to the rhythm of the streetscape.

In 2001, Wellington House was on the market at €825,329, this was then reduced to €634,869.

This is a detached, three-bay 2½-storey house, built in red brick with granite dressings. The front door has a plain fanlight, all set within a flat-headed opening, below a stone balcony with turned balusters supported on a free-standing column and anta pilasters all of Tuscan order.

To the east side of the house is a two-storey gabled bay on which is placed a canted two-storey flat-roofed bay.

The house is slightly set back behind a low rendered wall with square gate pillars that have decorative pyramidal caps and a wrought-iron gate.

Wentworth House and Sidmonton House form a Victorian pair on Sidmonton Road, Bray, Co Wicklow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Sidmonton House on Sidmonton Road was built about 1890. This is a five-bedroom, semi-deatched, Victorian redbrick house with bay windows overlooking Sidmonton Park to the front and a ‘secret garden’ at the rear.

The ground floor accommodation includes a dining room, kitchen and family room. The family room to the rear leads to the utility and shower room. Upstairs is the formal drawing room with a bay window and balcony. There are two double bedrooms and a bathroom on this level, with another two double bedrooms, a study and a shower room on the top floor.

When it was being sold through Sherry FitzGerald in 2013, The Irish Times described it as a handsome Victorian three-storey house ‘with Bohemian interiors and Indian touches created by its writer and artist owners.’

The artist was Charlie Whisker, who has worked on music videos in the US for artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan; the writer was the novelist Julia Kelly, whose first, With my Lazy Eye won best Irish newcomer in 2008. They had reportedly bought Sidmonton House for over €1.75 million. When they put the house on market again through Vincent Finnegan in 2013, it had an asking price of €995,000.

Wentworth House next door is the matching pair of Sidmonton House, making a delightful set of semi-detached late Victorian houses.

The former Presbyterian Manse on Quinsborough Road is restored, decorated and waiting for Christmas (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

As I walked back into Bray along Quinsborough Road, it was good to see the former Presbyterian Manse has been refurbished by the recent buyers. Last year, this five-bedroom house at No 13 was on the market.

The former manse, beside Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, is a detached, three-bay two-storey house, built in 1850 before Dargan had completed his plans for Quinsborough Road.

The front elevation consists of three gables, with the gable to the centre smaller but projecting slightly, and with single storey canted bays to the outer ones. The façade is finished in painted render with moulded drip stones to the entrance and upper floor windows and small ‘arrow loop’ and quatrefoil recesses to the gables. The pitched roof is slated and has rendered chimneystacks and rendered parapets with corbels.

The entrance is set within a small recessed porch with a Tudor-style arch opening, and consists of a timber door with ogee-arched panels, pointed arch sidelights and a three-pane pointed arch fanlight. There are decorative spandrel panels between the porch opening and the drip stone above it. The windows are flat-headed and have two-over-two timber sash frames. The house has cast-iron rainwater goods.

To the west side of the house there is a gabled gate screen with a small pointed arch gateway, leading to a dentist’s surgery that is not affected by the sale.

In front of the manse, a small garden enclosed by decorative cast-iron railing separates the house from the street front.

This early Victorian manse with Tudor-style overtones is one of the more distinctive domestic properties in the centre of Bray. Until recently it has been well-preserved and it forms a picturesque grouping with the neighbouring Presbyterian Church that it once served.

When it was on the market last year, the estate agents Quinn Agnew said the main section of the property is in residential use with a living room, kitchen, dining room, and utility areas on the ground floor, and five bedrooms on the first floor. The rest of the ground floor and side mews area is let to the dental practice with separate pedestrian access.

Since then, the house has been sold and lovingly restored. There are Christmas lights and decorations in the windows, and another part of Bray’s Victorian heritage has come back to life at the right time of the year.