NearlyMarthaAgain

This morning was our church Nativity. It is very comforting that, in an ever changing world, church Nativities remain the same. Barely controlled chaos often gives way to chaos that isn’t controlled at all. There often seems to be more unicorns than shepherds these days and ours had clips from Aladin and The Lion King but the basic message was rock solid. This was not the case at my friend’s child’s school where an astronaut went travelling all over the world at Christmas with her friend – The Robin. No one had the faintest idea what was going on – you know where you are with a baby in a manger.

Anyhoo, the place was teeming with shepherds, wise men (eight of them I think – but the Bible is very non specific on numbers here), stars, sheep, cows, inkeepers and angels all of whom played their very important parts with total conviction. And I was thinking, about how there are no bit parts with God. Shepherds were poor, insignificant, uneducated idiots – and they wouldn’t expect to be part of any Nativity story. The Wise Men were foreigners, outsiders, heathens. They were strangers in a strange land. They wouldn’t expect their visit to be an important part of the Christian narative.And yet here they all are – centuries later – front row and centre of one of the greatest stories ever told.

The birth of Christ is a walking, talking template for how God sees things. And again I say unto you that God does not see things the way that we see them. He does not measure things the way that we do. His idea of status is totally at odds with ours and maybe, unless we reboot our judgement goggles and become like little children who know nothing of status or marginalising those who don’t fit in, then we may never get the hang of Christianity at all.

Aged Parent, however, has Christmas priorities sorted.

AP                So you’re not doing Christmas Dinner this year.

Me               No, lots of us are working, and I won’t have time.

AP                Couldn’t agree more. You’ve got enough on. So what were you thinking of to eat?

Me              I thought possibly, a buffet, I’d buy most of it.

AP             Oh no, no don’t go to all that trouble. Just a chicken pie, a bit of mash and some broccolli will do for me. You do a very nice chicken pie – especially with your own pastry.

It’s nearly Christmas appparently and among the chaos and the lists which I shall immediately lose, there is the joy that is the Mariah Carey Christmas Album. You know Mariah Carey – she of the fantastic pipes and the propensity to dress like a woman of ill-repute. (Although she does have the bosoms for it to be fair) I love the Mariah Carey Christmas Album. As loud as possible. All perfectly possible at the moment – no neighbours. 

I’m singing along to “Jesus – What a Wonderful Child” and having a very good stab at the high notes – if I say so myself. 

The virgin Mary was His mother
And Joseph was His earthly father

I have sung stuff like this since I was a little girl. Mary gets called Jesus’ Mother but Joseph always gets called his “earthly” father or his guardian on earth – every time he is mentioned, his description as a father gets a qualification. Imagine being a walking, talking caveat. I am not for one moment questioning the Son/Father/Jesus/God dynamic – just thinking about Joseph – the man. So here are some thoughts about Joseph, presented in handy bullet points because everyone has a short span of attention at this time of year.

• When Joseph hears that Mary is pregnant, he does not demand the normal spurned husband rights which sometimes involved a big rock and a lady’s head. He ponders about how to do the right thing – how to help Mary – without shaming her. He was a man looking for a way to show grace rather than vengance. Sound familiar? Makes you wonder if God saw something in him no?
• Joseph was as good at listening to God as anyone else. When he is told to not divorce Mary he doesn’t. We are not told whether he did this, completely believing Mary and the angel or whether he did it with the occasional side eye at his beloved wondering whether it could possibly be true. Doesn’t matter really. He acted on what he was told to do and worried about the rest of the stuff later. Still counts as faith.
• He takes his young pregnant girl to his home to register for a census He obediently names the child Jesus as intructed in the dream. Still listening.
• Joseph faithfully does all the things a Jewish father and husband is supposed to do – taking his wife and the new child to the temple and obviously noting the shepherd carry on and Simon and Anna’s declaration over the child, followed a couple of years later by a visit from Wise Men from a completely different country and culture. And possibly ignoring a lot of nasty gossip, you know how people are.
• He sleeps again and is told to flee for his family’s life to Egypt of all places. He does so, probably feeling more confident, with all that he has seen, that it is best to do as instructed in these dreams. He leaves behind a killing spree by a King looking specifically for the child he is looking after. 
• We hear very little else about him except when, years later, Jesus is left behind at the temple and we see that Mary and Joseph are frantic with worry – suggesting that he loved this boy as if he was his own.

This does not strike me as a man who who should be shoved to the back of the nativity set, just behind the third camel. This is quite a man. Trying to do the right thing but always keeping an ear out to see what God wanted. Ignoring the muttering and choosing to believe that God might have something special in mind. Being man enough to step back and let history take its course without demanding his place in it. Quite a chap I think.

This has been part of A Pause in Advent. Why not pop over to Tracing Rainbows to link to all the top writing on this subject there. I thank you.

Luke 1

^5-7 During the rule of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest assigned service in the regiment of Abijah. His name was Zachariah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. Together they lived honorably before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God. But they were childless because Elizabeth could never conceive, and now they were quite old.

^8-12 It so happened that as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. The congregation was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the incense offering. Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was paralyzed in fear.

^13-15 But the angel reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God.

^15-17 “He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.”

¹⁸ Zachariah said to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.”

^19-20 But the angel said, “I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time.”

^21-22 Meanwhile, the congregation waiting for Zachariah was getting restless, wondering what was keeping him so long in the sanctuary. When he came out and couldn’t speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless and had to use sign language with the people.

Before the birth of Jesus there was another miracle child. Different sort of miracle. Fewer consequences over time, space, man’s place with God etc. but amazing nontheless. Zachariah was a priest – a man from a long line of priests. His wife Elizabeth had the same sort of lineage. They were people of God. They served, they took their place, they were well thought of. It wasn’t an act. It was who they were. Yet there was a prayer –  a request perhaps long forgotten – but maybe not. There was no child. In the time of Elizabeth and Zechariah, this was a sadness beyond explanation. Initially, I suppose prayers for a child were pursued enthusiastially, with great faith – naming, claiming, calling down promises, waking each morning believing that this was the day. But, despite everything, no baby. Hope fades. There is a sadness, something missing but blessings were counted and life went on. Then Zechariah is performing his priestly duties, alone in the temple and the Angel Gabriel appears, at the right side of the altar. Now, with hindsight, if we were watching this in a film we would say all the clues were there. It is Zechariah’s one time in his whole life doing this. He is alone in the very epicentre of God’s place on earth and the Angel Gabriel appears with such splendour and force that Zechariah is paralyzed with fear. We would say  that when the Angel gave notice that the promise was at hand and everything, every prayer, every petition had been fulfilled and the time was here – now, we would say of course we would believe the angel straight away.  But, despite the evidence of his own eyes and his wobbly legs, Zechariah ignores all the signs and states that he doesn’t believe it. I like him. 

At this point Gabriel is possibly a bit naffed off. (I have no idea if angels get naffed off) He has come bringing great and joyful news. He has also conveyed detailed instructions about the child’s diet and lifestyle. This son will be an amazing son. He tells Zecharaiah that he will be literally jumping for joy. Zechariah is not jumping for joy. I sometimes imagine Gabriel now curling his top lip onto his teeth the way that Eric Morecambe did when he was losing patience with Ernie. And patience is truly lost along with Zechariah’s power of speech. Gabriel is probably not used to being contradicted and he takes away the trembling but incredulous Zachariah’s ability to argue with him.

Everyone outside is now restless. How come he is gone so long? As soon as Zechariah appears, they are in no doubt. He has seen some kind of a vision but he cannot tell them what it was.

Although, Zechariah does not win any Brownie points for his unbelief, it doesn’t change God’s mind. The time is still now and Elizabeth is soon pregnant with John the Baptist who would distinguish himself in many ways – including managing to recognise the Son of God when both of them were in different wombs. Elizabeth, it seemed dealt with the faith issues a lot better than her husband. (Maybe that’s the morning sickness – it can focus the mind wonderfully)

When we wait for something, when we know something has been promised and it doesn’t happen, then not so much doubt but a dull acceptance creeps in. We pretend that everything is alright really. But God doesn’t really do dull acceptance and the time for the miracle came in God’s time. After such a long time it was maybe to be expected that Zechariah’s receptors to the true nature of God had become a little fuzzed over, yet a promise is a promise. I don’t for a minute think that giving birth to John the Baptist had been what this couple had in mind but the wait came to an end. I think we all get a bit fuzzy about God’s plan for us, especially as time goes on and not much seems to be happening but Gabriel is very firm on this – the time does come and when it comes God will show up as promised. And I think the last thing any of us want to do is upset Gabriel so probably best to believe what he tells us. 

This has been part of a Blog thing called A Pause in Advent. Please go to http://angalmond.blogspot.com/ to read to some top notch Advent thinking pieces. We will be having a go at this all through Advent. You have been warned.

Sorry – not trying to be dramatic. This is a reference to an old David Cassidy song because of the documentary on BBC4 on Friday night. At eleven years old, I was probably more Team Michael than team David – posessing all the Jackson 5 records and not a single solitary Partrige Family one. However, facts is facts and that was a mighty fine face he had there and a girl in possession of eleven year old raging hormones was certainly happy to give it the respect it was due.

Anyway, the documentary was much sadder than expected, revealing that all he really wanted was to be Jimi Hendrix and that he just wanted to be loved by his dad. We got through the whole thing with just ten seconds of “I think I Love You.” and not even a nod to The Puppy Song. And I was hoping at least that Shirley Jones (his step-mum) might have been given a chance to belt out a few tunes from Oklahoma – but no. We just watched an old, ill man struggling with alchohol induced dementia.  

Speaking of last – this is my last book round up of the year as I am hoping to do the Pause in Advent. More of which later. I am currently reading the Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles which was a present from last year but it had to be put swiftly to one side when the whole house developed throwing up-itus and reading about chocolate covered stollen was turning me green. It is a lovely book though. Not just descriptive about food but he writes so well about his garden, his travels and Christmas traditions. I would probably never make anything he describes as I am unlikely to win the pools anytime soon  – everything has about 300 ingredients –  but that doesn’t stop me appreciating his lovely world. 

Slightly more negatively, I didn’t finish the Elizabeth Goudge book. I know, I know – it must be me. All the elements were there – heartwarming, churches, whimsical, mysterious. But blimey, I found it boring. I may go back and do it again and them come back and apologise.

Then two quite different books that I really liked. Catherine Fox – Unseen Things Above. She is a really good writer I think. I do lose track of who is who sometimes but I think that is my age rather than her problem. It is set around a fictional C of E parish and all the goings on within. It can be a bit raunchy, although, actually, that’s not true. A lot is suggested but very little actually described if you get my meaning. If I have a teeny tiny criticism, we do seem to be quite short of hetrosexuals in the parish – especially those with decent relationships. However, her characters are all done well enough for you to bother about them and she is very clever at suddenly clobbering you over the head with the Grace of God and making you a bit wobbly. Lastly, Making Marion by Beth Moran. This an old school lovely book. I love books about people discovering themselves. Marion turns up at a camp site to try and find out more about her father. She is shy, lost and lonely but, miraculously, the camp-owner/manager – an American powerhouse called Scarlett, almost immediately takes her under her wing and helps her change – well everything really. There is a romance you see coming about eight pages in and also the inevitable ugly duckling transformation but I didn’t care. There are also some profound things said about forgiveness and the introduction of church and a vicar never jars. (Although these days vicars who DON’T wear cowboy boots and invite everyone to “Share” during the meeting are very rare birds) There is a brave and unexpected development which is handled beautifully and when I closed the book at the end, I found I was smiling. 

From next week I am, as stated earlier, hoping to join in the Pause in Advent over on Tracing Rainbows. This means that I will be writing about Christmassy things on the Sundays in December. I need to have a think about what I’ll be writing this year. Previous entries have included – favourite Christmas films (which I tried to look at from a deep and spiritual angle obviously) and also favourite Christmas paintings. I tried going all deep with an NT Wright Advent book last year but that went pear shaped. Anyway, hopefully will be able to come up with something to stand on the side of those desperately trying to drag Christmas back from the morass of Black Friday, the John Lewis advert and Wishing it could be Christmas every flamin day! (Do you though? Do you really?)

Before I go, went to Aged Parent’s yesterday and she was sorting out her presents.

Aged Parent        You should see what I bought for “Insert name of   friend with tight socks.” It’s lovely. It’s from H&M.

Me                         H&M? That’s quite posh isn’t it? Was it something   extra nice?

Aged Parent       Did I say H&M? I meant the hospice charity shop. It’ll do.

Have a great week. 

We made it through Halloween (or at least the thing it has become where children pretend they are Hollywood offspring and dress up as characters from Marvel comics and sing the Spiderman theme through your letterbox). Bonfire Night has also passed with little reference to the historical detail and a lot of frankly quite depressing Brexit themed jokes. I live in the home of the British Firework Championships so we overdo it a bit here. Although, if I were twenty years younger, I might think it quite romantic to take a boat out into the harbour in the evening to watch the fireworks. I am, however, as old as the hills and hate the water so we stayed at home with a Jack Russell with fear induced flatulance. 

We have made our way uncertainly through these events only to find the John Lewis Christmas Advert lying in wait for us so I think we can safely assume that Christmas is on its way. This is the Diptyque Advent Calendar above by the way. It’s £320. For that amount of money, I would expect a personalised Wise Man complete with all the relevant gifts.

My earlier announcement that I would not be “doing” the usual Christmas this year has been supported by the releasing of Christmas Rotas. Head of House will be ministering the the sick for a good proportion of the day. FOW1 will be spending lots of it supporting his inamorata who will be working in the local pub/restaurant- trying to keep slightly drunk former sailors this side of completely legless. This leaves me, FOW2 (only for one day as her work beckons as well) and you know who. Aged Parent is still at the stage where she is pretending that she is happy as Larry with a reduced Christmas. I am considering softening the blow by offering Christmas Morning Church. I haven’t done one of those since we stopped working there but it could be a bit lovely in C of E. Time will tell.

With our usual impeccable timing, we are also dealing with house viewings. It has only been seven days and it is giving me bad nerves. I am not exactly Miss Congeniality at the best of times but, we had our first viewers on Saturday and it fell to me to show them round  – all the while trying to keep Morecambe quiet. Our dog likes to show his interest in new people by barking wildly and throwing himself at them. This can make things quite difficult when you are trying to be positive about the lack of central heating upstairs. (We never wanted it. Don’t like it in the bedroom) Eventually, a nine year old girl turned up from the Estate Agents to do the proper viewing. Unfortunately, she neglected to mention that we had a living room or a basement so I had to recall them from the front door. It’s all going very well. Are we supposed to be looking for a place to move on to now? It seems a bit bad mannered when you haven’t sold your own house. 

Can I be honest? (Cue lots of readers rolling their eyes and thinking – “Well if you must”) I don’t think I am doing very well in the Christianity department. I think it is everything that is going on – and there is lots going on – and work is flippin’ crazy. I know when I am overwhelmed, because I become quite peevish. Even more so than usual. I was watching a perfectly normal advert for a “Worship Service” and everyone in it was getting on my nerves. Anyway – what does “Leaning In to Worship” mean? See – I am  getting you involved in my whinging now. 

The irony is, of course, that the less I do spiritually, the less I am able to deal with what life throws at me, making me therefore less willing to do anything spiritually – making me even less able to deal with life. It is a veritable circle of life and not in a good way and with no cute cartoon lions to lighten the load. However, the HUGE positive of all this is the vastly underestimated Grace.  Is it bad, that it never occurs to me that when I eventually make my way back to God, that he would reject me? Mainly because he says he won’t and because my life experience has taught me that this is so. This isn’t ingratitude – it’s how it is. It doesn’t make me any less grateful. It can be easy to miss grace. At least I find it easy.  I just sometimes wish that I could get more of a hold of this gracious God and his involvement in me and the life I live. I expect that it would make life less troubling and therefore less wearing.