Sunday surprise and delight

There's a lot to be said for medication packs which print the day of the week to be taken on the foil cover of each pill. Not all prescription medicines bought in bulk offer this, as it's more costly to print this information trivium. This morning, I came to the end of one pack of blood pressure pills, then retrieved another pack from storage, and absent mindedly took a second dose after extracting the long multi-lingual information sheet to consign to the bin. 

Yes, I know, it's Sunday. I don't have trouble remembering which day of the week it is. Occasionally, I may omit the pill for the day, or maybe end up taking it twelve hours later than usual. I don't think I've ever before taken a double dose. The medication information sheet, hastily retrieved by Clare from the bin, spoke of contacting hospital emergency services if you overdose. Oh no! Not more hours waiting to be officially told I don't need pumping out. I can, after all, take my own blood pressure readings and act if it plummets catastrophically. As it is in any case, higher than the GPs consider desirable currently, I decided it's not worth the fuss.

As I was checking my blood pressure after breakfast, finding it was within the acceptable range, the doorbell rang. It was Reverend Emma's husband Nick, asking if I could cover the St Catherine's Eucharist at ten thirty. Naturally, I agreed, and immediately set about preparing a sermon. Well, I had to raid my Year C archive, and edit/update a used text. Often, Advent Three, of not Four is a Sunday when a Sunday School Nativity Play is performed in the service, instead of a sermon, so I didn't have many to choose from in files committed to the Cloud since returning to the UK in 2002. The one I adapted  for today was fifteen years ago!

Mid-Advent is a time for ordinations, and Advent 3 aka Gaudete Sunday has ministry as the theme running through it. I was delighted that the choir sang 'Gaudete, Christus natus est as their anthem of the day. We used to get a Bishop's Advent letter for today about ministry and vocations to read out or issue but the occasion for this moved, even though the Collect for the day hasn't. I can't remember where it's been relocated in the Calendar, I'd have to look it up. Fifteen years ago, reflecting on the teachings of John the Baptist from today's Gospel led me to consider not ordained ministry, but the ministry towards post millennials seeking baptism and confirmation, unfolding not only through Alpha and Cursillo programmes, but also the European New Catechumenate movement.

Later standing at the Communion rail, a couple of dozen Sunday School children came up for a blessing along with half a dozen adults who also bowed their heads for a blessing, either because they weren't confirmed or maybe not baptized. In times past, parents would quite likely stay seated at the back and send their kids up for a blessing, if they came into church at all. The Benefice has worked hard on nurturing its Messy Church and Sunday School projects, and it's lovely to see that parental participation is one of the fruits. What I preached about seems as relevant now as it was back in 2003. What else can we do I wonder, to enable these adults to engage and grow in faith?

Early evening I returned to St Catherine's for the service of Lessons and Carols by Candlelight with Sunday School Nativity tableau as part of it. There was an augmented choir, which sang a number of modern carols using poems I didn't know that caught my attention. There were over a hundred and fifty present altogether. The choir and sanctuary are decked out with potted red poinsettias as well as a Christmas tree for the festive season, making it look homely and welcoming. The children, nearly all under sevens, were charming. Baby Jesus didn't stay in the manger for long as one of the toddlers wandered us and extracted him for a cuddle, not to be easily parted with by low lying adults, keen to avoid howls of annoyance. This happened more than once. Everybody smiles. It's a live instance of 'Godly Play' after all.
   

Weathering wnter

This last few days the weather has been unusually bad, overcast with rain and winds driving up the lake, producing white crested waves from time to time. I've walked each day into town to shop for food, but not felt inclined to spend much more time outdoors. 

Tuesday afternoon Monica invited a small group of us to her house above Fontanivet for afternoon coffee and cake, and a discussion about matters of faith and discipleship which emerge for daily life. It's meant to be a bible study, and while we refer to biblical themes, getting around to consulting scripture is a more elusive task. It seems to me that often what people need to wrestle with is clarifying the questions confronting them and need to take to a study of scripture.

This set me off remembering and telling about the Geneva adult Christian education programme established before my time as Chaplain there, and apparently still continuing today - The Atelier Oecumenique de Théologie. This two year course invites participants to set the agenda for learning and enquiry, identify together the issues of faith, and then explore them from whatever angle will help discussion and understanding. Participants develop their own expertise, as well as being helped by the course facilitators, and over the course of time, it covers everything you'd expect a course of Christian catechesis to cover, though not necessarily in any expected order. 

I think this is what reliance on the Spirit of Truth leading us into all Truth really means. I'd love to be with a group of learners for long enough to work with this experimental educational model, but as I don't settle in any community for long enough these days, the opportunities are no longer there. Inevitably, old age is full of hindsight!

This morning, none of the regulars were able to come for the midweek BCP Holy Communion, but a celebration was nevertheless possible because a lady who used to attend regularly who now lives the other side of Lausanne arrived, having come on one of the less than frequent trains which stop at Territet gare. There's something to be said for being there and available in case of the unexpected arrival of someone who wants to worship, even if this happens only very occasionally. Being a priest is about having the time to be available, opening and listening, even if most often its a matter of just being there listening to God, listening for God.