A cold, damp and cloudy start to Advent. I woke up thinking about devising a simple ceremony for giving Basma the New Testament in Arabic which arrived yesterday, just in time. I did this after breakfast, and I left a little later than I usually do, but fortunately arrived at St German's at the same time as Basma with then minutes to spare, in which to brief her and get ready to celebrate Mass.
She stood arm in arm with Hilary presenting her just after the blessing of the first Advent Candle and said her few lines clearly and confidently. I had wrapped the book in a beautiful patterned silk handkerchief that has been in a bedroom drawer unused over half a lifetime. It's common for Arab Muslims to keep their copy of the Qu'ran wrapped up and in a special place at home. I knew she would realise the significance of this, and that such special treatment applied equally to biblical texts. She was in tears after the ceremony, and I too was much moved. The beginning of the new Christian Year will be for Basma a milestone in a journey that has lasted twenty five years so far.
The liturgy was a little longer than usual, with the additional elements, but also because it took me longer than usual to pray my way through it, and preach. It's one of my favourite moments in the Christian Year.
I gave Basma a bible commentary as well, based on the New English Bible text, and she was given an English New English Bible to go with it. The Arabic text is a translation of the Good News Bible, and one is being ordered so she has exactly what she needs to study in, albeit confusingly in two versions of text. The first question that came up was about the Chapter and Verse numbers in the text. Thankfully they are fairly consistent, across different versions, even the Arabic, but it needed explanation. It was gone half past one by the time I got home for dinner. Clare is getting used to me arriving this late for lunch while I'm at St German's, ever patient with me, fortunately.
After lunch I slept in the chair for more than an hour, then walked in the park for an hour, in the drizzle as it got dark, returned for tea, then we both went out to the St Catherine's Advent Service of Light, attended by four dozen people, a dozen of them in the choir. There were mince pies and mulled wine in the church hall afterwards and we stayed, though not for long. We went home and listened to the Archers on catch-up. Then I watched the first episode of a twelve part Italian crimmie called 'Off Grid', about a banker who is forced to go into hiding with his family after the bank he heads collapses. He is framed for the murder of his colleague and both receive death threats. I have the early impression that this is a matter of infiltration by organised crime into working of the bank. How and why is going to take a lot of episodes to describe!
