Categories: church
Tags: Christingle, Christianity, family, church
Date: 21 December 2008 14:34:56
I guess one way of looking forward to the coming of Christ (something I've already explained I'm struggling with a bit this year during the current dry patch) is to look back. This morning's service was action-packed if nothing else, being both Carol Service, Christingle Service AND a baptism (all 3 elements together worked really well - and still managed to take less time than the usual communion service! But I digress).
Some of you know I'm not from a church-going family, so church didn't really feature in my childhood much apart from when my school orchestra and/or choir did concerts in churches sometimes. However, my late grandmother (whom we called Nanny - she died when I was 7 or 8 ) did sometimes go to church, and occasionally we would go with her, if there was a service which might be good for kids. So, one of my very earliest church memories, I guess I must have been no older than 5 or 6, is going to the Christingle Service - I remember precisely nothing about the significance of the Christingle or anything much about the service itself, but remember really vividly walking back home with my mum and nanny and aunt and sister and my sister and I both holding our oranges and shielding the still lit candle trying to protect the flame from being blown out. I remember the orange wasn't beautifully decorated like the ones at St Frodo's this morning, with red ribbon and sweets as well as the candle, these ones were literally just an orange with a cross drawn on it in red marker pen and a small candle. But, I remember that even from that very early age there was just Something about church, about Christianity, which just Felt Right, and that feeling never went away, even though I never did anything about it till I went to uni at 18 and joined the CU. Seeing those Christingle oranges this morning brought that all flooding back - the fact that God was calling me, little me, all those years ago.
And then in the readings, of course we got to Luke 2. I remember a few years ago when I was still in London, I think it must have been 1998 thinking about where I was living at the time and that I was getting ready to work on a hospital ward where I'd just finished a student placement for the early Christmas Day shift, so I was bleary-eyed and running around a bit. I had GLR (now Radio London, nowhere near as good as GLR was but that's another story) on the radio, and then (as I think still now on Radio London) Jumoke Fashola was doing the early God-slot programme. While I was getting dressed I remember her reading out Luke 2, the story of the shepherds, and I remember when she read verses 10-11 "But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord", the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and the story of Christmas never ever felt as real as it did then. This morning the same thing happened, at the same place. I'm guessing God isn't as far away as he currently feels after all ... it's just taking looking back to realise that there is a future.