Today started badly. Christmas was catching up: lights not yet put up, cards to string up, still some gifts to get, lots of things not done. Then walking down to Church in Little Hampden the sun started to come out - there was a sunbeam in the sky over Prestwood; I thought of the children’s hymn. Then the Church was full for our carol service with most of the regulars and even some regular Gt Missenden worshippers. Finally Rosie’s talk about spirituality made me realise I wasn’t alone.
This picture of the Church at Little Hampden was taken in the autumn and the sky wasn’t quite as blue as this but it the sun was shining this morning.
Both carol services were full today which was great but in the spirit of Stephen Cottrell’s book, how do we get some of these people back on an ordinary Sunday? Part of Rosie’s talk was about the structure and formality of CofE services. We worry about this a lot in Little Hampden: we tend to stick to the traditional format and wording: matins is always Book of Common Prayer and we periodically use this source for Communion. I can see that many of our regulars are comfortable with these services - almost expect them - but I can also see that this doggerel could also be a hindrance to many. Perhaps we need an ‘out of the box’ thought.
This afternoon I phoned my friend David - I’d e-mailed him on the ‘don’t write must meet on your Christmas cards’ day. It turns out he’d changed e-mail addresses and hadn’t monitored his old one till recently. We had a long chat and we have a date in the diary for lunch in the new year. He’s promised to look at the blog - I didn’t tell him he’d appear. I don’t think he’ll cancel the lunch date!
Tomorrow: a bit more complicated!
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