WOUNDED BIRD

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

BLUE CHRISTMAS - THE LONGEST NIGHT

Tonight, many churches will celebrate "Longest Night" or "Blue Christmas" services. From Episcopal Life.

During these shortest days and longest nights of the year, many Episcopal Church congregations are offering services meant to bring comfort to those who struggle to find the joy of the Advent and Christmas seasons.

Often called Blue Christmas or Longest Night services, many take place the evening of December 21, the night of the winter solstice, and are designed for people who are coping with loss. Those people hear the Christmas song that describes "the most wonderful time of the year with the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you 'Be of good cheer'" but instead feel they are living the lyrics of the 1957 hit "Blue Christmas" when Elvis Presley sings "I'll have a blue Christmas without you, I'll be so blue just thinking about you."

My friend, Elizabeth Kaeton, is quoted in the article. Elizabeth says:

"It's probably one of the most pastoral things I do at Christmas," said the Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton.

Kaeton places the rationale for offering a Blue Christmas service squarely within the message of Christmas. Noting that Episcopalians proclaim in The Book of Common Prayer's Preface of the Commemoration of the Dead (pages 349 and 382) that "life is changed, not ended," she said. "I think this message gets carried into this service in a way that Christmas sentimentality doesn't."

"If we really understand why Christ came to us, then you really have to think about death and eternal life," she said.

Amen.

We hold before God:
those for whom life is very difficult;
those who have difficult decisions to make , and who honestly do not know the right thing to do.

We hold before God:
those who have difficult tasks to do and to face, and who fear they may fail in them;
those who have difficult temptations to face, and who know only too well that they may fall to them, if they try to meet them alone.

We hold before God:
those who know that they can be their own worst enemies.

We hold before God:
those who have difficult people to work with;
those who have to suffer unjust treatment, unfair criticism, unappreciated work.

We hold before God:
those who are sad because someone they loved has died;
and any who are disappointed in something for which they hoped very much.

William Barclay

From Celtic Daily Prayer.

Elizabeth posted a lovely Blue Christmas service at her blog, Telling Secrets. Working with rector, Max Wolf, and director of music, Alex Helsabeck, the three produced a lovely service for All Saints Episcipal Church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Picture from Adventus.

O ORIENS

Antiphon sung by the Dominican student brothers at Blackfriars in Oxford.

December 21

O Oriens, splendor lucis æternæ, et sol justitiæ:
veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Dayspring, Brightness of the everlasting light,
Son of justice, come to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!

Isaiah 9:2

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.

Text from Fish Eaters.

Reposted from last year.

Monday, December 20, 2010

"SONGS OF PRAISE"

More about this programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyj62.

It's a comedy congregation in this sketch from The One Ronnie Show. Harry Enfield, Rob Brydon, David Walliams and Matt Lucas all have something to say in this Songs of Praise sketch.

Thanks to Bruce (aka Canon Itchy) for the link.

O CLAVIS DAVID

Antiphon sung by the Dominican student brothers at Blackfriars in Oxford.

December 20

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel;
qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit:
veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel,
that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth,
come to liberate the prisoner from the prison, and them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.

Isaiah 22:22

I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David;
he shall open, and no one shall shut;
he shall shut, and no one shall open.

Text from Fish Eaters.

Reposted from last year. The O Antiphons are now a tradition at Wounded Bird.

R. I. P. NASH ROBERTS

Legendary TV weatherman Nash C. Roberts Jr., revered as much for his calm, level-headed presence as the accuracy of his hurricane path projections, has died at age 92, WWL-TV has reported.

For more than 50 years, Gulf Coast weather-watchers relied on Mr. Roberts to tell them where tropical storms would come ashore.

From before Hurricane Betsy in 1965 to beyond Hurricane Georges in 1998, Mr. Roberts was widely considered the region's most authoritative source for hurricane news.

And in the age of Super Doppler and satellite imagery, there remained for hundreds of thousands of New Orleanians a great sense of relief in seeing Mr. Roberts on screen with his throwback bulletin-board-style weather map and felt-tip pens.

"He was old school, but you know what? I miss that," said Bob Breck, chief meteorologist at Fox affiliate WVUE-Channel 8 and a feisty competitor for many years.

Breck said he admired Mr. Roberts' independent approach to forecasting big storms.

"I think Nash wasn't afraid to fail. He trusted his instincts and he just followed his gut. I think that's what people remember him for.

"He was just a man who was a giant of the industry."

Even after his retirement from WWL-TV's nightly newscasts in 1984, Mr. Roberts would reappear on Channel 4 whenever a serious storm entered the Gulf of Mexico.

For all those years, you didn't hear the definitive word on where the hurricane would make landfall until you heard it from Nash, standing before his bulletin board with his black felt marker, long after the other TV meteorologists had moved on to high-tech computer-generated images. I can't think of a TV forecaster or reporter working today who inspires the trust of a such vast number of people as Nash did amongst the people on the Gulf Coast.

In July 2001, Mr. Roberts announced his full retirement, setting aside his black markers to care for his ailing wife, Lydia.

"I actually prayed that I would outlive her, so that I could take care of her," Nash told WWL news anchor Angela Hill at the time. "That's how it's working out."

The decision by Nash to step away from the job that he loved to care for the love of his life, demonstrates the character and principles of the man who inspired such trust and admiration in thousands of people.

Mr. Roberts' accurate prediction that Hurricane Georges in 1998 would make landfall east of New Orleans, while all the computer models and other television stations were still insisting Georges would drift to the west, earned him national attention.

I will never forget the evening when the very Bob Breck who is quoted in the article appeared on a rival TV station after Nash predicted Hurricane Georges would make landfall in Biloxi, Mississippi. Breck said, "The storm is not going to Biloxi."

Early the next morning, Breck appeared on TV and said in a strained, squeaky voice, "It certainly looks like it's headed toward the Biloxi area".

May Nash rest in peace and rise in glory as he rejoins Lydia, the love of his life.

STORY OF THE DAY - LEAVES OF MUSIC

She seemed to move everywhere
dancing & music followed her like leaves
on the wind.

From StoryPeople.

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

PLEASE PRAY...

From Ann:

Prayers for our son in law - David - who is having a thyroid biopsy and maybe more depending on what they find out. Dec. 20.

Almighty God our heavenly Father, graciously comfort your servant David in his suffering, and bless the means made use of for his cure. Fill his heart with confidence that, though at times he may be afraid, he yet may put his trust in you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

UPDATE ON DAVID:

From his wife, Kristin:

I just heard from David's doctor that the surgery went well and he is in recovery. I'm off to pick him up in a few minutes.

Thanks for all of your good wishes. I'll send out further updates as I get more information.

From Ann:

No report on the biopsy yet.

_________________________________________

From Rudo:

Please add my dad, Lawrence, who is 75 and had a "mini" stroke yesterday. I am a bit anxious because I am not there to see for myself what is going on.
Thanks
Rudo

O God, the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers: Mercifully accept our prayers, and grant to your servant Lawrence the help of your power, that his sickness may be turned into health, and our sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayers for the families, too, that they may be be at peace.

_________________________________________

UPDATE ON AILEEN:

From Sally Boyd (The priest who ministers to Aileen and her husband Mike):

Hiya, Ann---I pray you are being blessed in all ways. The last update on Aileen was that her liver and pancreas enzyme numbers were better on Friday. However, she was running a "phantom fever" which the doctors were trying to resolve. Otherwise, prayers are requested and appreciated.

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,*
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.

Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar* and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in the coastlands.

John 3:16-21

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’

Picture from Wikipedia.