6TH DECEMBER 2015
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CHRISTMAS ANGLES Vicar’s Blog
Christmas is absolutely terrifying for vicars who care deeply about typos – and I am very much one of them. I can simply lose the will to live if me and my spellchecker have missed ‘Hark the herald angles,’ ‘In the beak midwinter,’ ‘Away in a monger,’ or ‘Chris is born today.’ (By all means play this at home, or during my next sermon.) But for the purposes of this blog, I do actually mean Christmas Angles; not angles. Sorry angels. Pesky typos. This year, as in most years at the Abbey, we are coming at Christmas from different angles. The same birth, different media. One reason for this is simply that it’s fun. Why not? You only live once, right Lazarus? But another is that as much as our spiritual lives can be given helpful stability and richness by the church calendar, it is dangerously possible for stability to become
routine predictability, and that’s an entirely different and dull thing. So this year please leave the gold, frankincense and myrrh at home and offer God your imagination. And a little bit of your (His) time. This Sunday at 7.30pm, with a mulled wine in a darkened Abbey, allow the Abbey Organ, and James McVinnie on it, not simply to bring you great spiritual music by JS Bach, but also New York-based Nico Muhly’s take on the Advent O Antiphons, longing for Christ, and the spectacular La Nativité from Olivier Messiaen culminating with the ecstatic Dieu Parmi Nous – God with us. Look at God afresh with your ears. Next Wednesday the Dean of Bristol Cathedral, the Very Revd David Hoyle, brings his specialism into the Abbey, and invites us to see the God we cannot comprehend through art. Our
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cover this week is Jan van Eyck’s 1435 masterpiece ‘The Virgin and Chancellor Rolin.’ I was unaware of Rolin’s presence in the manger area and look forward to finding out more. And as Christmas gets nearer we have three more angles. The service of Nine Lessons & Carols, which refreshes the birth narrative each year with beauty and mystery. The dynamic drama and professional acting of The Malmesbury Nativity, which this year seems to be partly located in Malaga Airport. And the Abbey Puppet Theatre Co. (Est 2014) bring a lot of fun and joy to our youngest children in the Puppet Nativity. 5 fresh angles to enlighten Christmas for us. What a lot of fuss. What a great thing. See you there.
A B B E Y D I A RY THIS SUNDAY: December 6th 9am BCP Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship with Junior Church. 7.30pm James McVinnie Organ Recital
THIS WEEK EACH DAY 9am Morning Prayer WED 9th 10.30am Communion 12noon RWB Brass, Informal Concert 7.30pm The Nativity in Art – David Hoyle th THUR 10 10am Malmesbury CE Primary School Service 7pm Choir Practice th FRI 11 10.30am Creative Response th SAT 12 10am The Meeting Place 7.30pm Malmesbury Singers Concert NEXT SUNDAY: December 13th 9am BCP Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship & Junior Church
M A L AC H I 3 :1 - 4 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
Additional Reading: Luke 3:1-6 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar – when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene – 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: ‘A voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all people will see God’s salvation.”’
DISCIPLESHIP 1. Share any insights or thoughts from last Sunday’s teaching. 2. If you are able, read a brief background to the book of Malachi. Or you can try and watch together the summary video at http://bibledex.co.uk/videos/malachi .html 3. Read Malachi 3:1-4. The people that Malachi was writing to were undergoing a period of uneventful, frustrated waiting on the Lord. Where is the comfort, and where is the challenge in this passage? 4. ‘Waiting’ on God is integral to our Christian journey until Christ returns. Share the frustrations and blessings of having to ‘wait’ on the Lord. 5. Malachi challenges us to trust that God is loving and faithful, and that he will return like he promised. Share and pray about how we can be better at ‘waiting’ in this season of Advent.
D A I LY R E A D I N G S Monday Psalm 44 Isaiah 30:1-18 Matthew 14:1-12 Tuesday Psalm 56 Isaiah 30:19-end Matthew 14:13-end Wednesday Psalm 62 Isaiah 31 Matthew 15:1-20 Thursday Psalm 54 Isaiah 32 Matthew 15:21-28 Friday Psalm 86 Isaiah 33:1-22 Matthew 15:29-end
REGULAR GIVING If you would like to give regularly to the mission and ministry of the Abbey as part of your discipleship, please e-mail alan@malmesburyabbey.com. m
ABBEY GUILD
O R G A N R E C I TA L
At the next Abbey Guild meeting, on Tuesday 8th December at 2.30pm, we will celebrating Christmas together and hearing Revd John Monaghan speak about his call to ordination. We will be meeting in the warm hall at The King’s Church; friendship, tea and mince pies.
Don’t miss James McVinnie’s Organ Recital this Sunday 6th December at 7.30pm. His programme includes JS Bach’s Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor; the local premiere of Nico Muhly’s Seven O Antiphon Preludes, with the Antiphons themselves sung by the vicar; and movements from Olivier Messaien’s La Nativité du Seigneur. Tickets (£5) now available. jamesmcvinnie.co.uk
LUKE & AC TS
GLO RY ! 20 16
In the first half of 2016 the teaching at Malmesbury Abbey will be focussing mainly on Luke’s Gospel, with additional passages from the Acts of the Apostles (also by Luke) incorporated after Easter. The Abbey Bookshop will shortly be stocking Tom Wright’s Luke for Everyone and Acts for Everyone as a devotional and study resource you may wish to buy and use.
For your 2016 diary the dates of our Glory! praise and prayer meetings in 2016: Jan 12th, Feb 9th, Mar 16th, April 12th, May 10th, June 14th, July 12th, Sep 13th, Oct 11th, Nov 15th. All Tuesdays from 7.30pm-9pm, except March 16th, which is a Wednesday, and a Late-Night Glory! on the Labyrinth before Holy Week. Small Group Pastors, please schedule your small group meetings to prioritise Glory!
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NOTICEBOARD P O O L PA R T Y On Sunday 3rd January at 4pm our service will be a time of celebration and teaching in the Sports Hall at the Activity Zone followed by a Junior Church pool party from 5pm. Please bring tasty food and nibbles to share afterwards in a side room.
ABBEY ARTS Arts, drama and large events at Malmesbury Abbey continue to grow well. To develop this area of ministry further we have appointed Becky Saunders as Arts Manager and Annette Bains as Arts Administrator. Annette now works in the Parish Office for three hours on a Monday morning, and Becky for three hours on a Thursday morning. Expect to see Riding Lights, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Academy of Music, BBC events, Music for Autism, the Ben Holder Quartet and much more in 2016. Becky, a music graduate from Cardiff University, is also working alongside John Hughes as Associate Conductor to the Abbey Choir.
NINE LESSONS BY CANDLELIGHT 600 people flooded into the Abbey for our two Advent Carols services. A reminder that there will also be two services of Nine Lessons & Carols on 19th & 20th December at 6.30pm. Please work out which you’ll be coming too and pick up free tickets, which are now available.
Enquiries 01666 826666 // Box Office 01666 824339 office@malmesburyabbey.com www.malmesburyabbey.com issuu.com/malmesburyabbey
JAMES McVINNIE (Organ) Muhly Bach Messiaen
Seven O Antiphon Preludes Passacaglia and Fugue in G minor La Nativité du Seigneur (movements)
Sunday 6th December at 7.30pm. £5. Abbey Kitchen open from 7pm jamesmcvinnie.co.uk