Here’s a Monday night question: when does the minister receive Christmas? These next two weeks are mad with me churning out services and bible studies and doing school things and singing carols and taking funerals and being about for those who are need of some help. I went on a quiet day at the beginning of the month and this week we have deliberately made time to receive something of the Christmas spirit with two musical events in the diary. On Saturday we are at a Voces 8 evening in Newcastle, and tonight we were in the fabulous Halifax Minster for an evening of wassailing with Elisa Carthy and Jon Boden. (I’m laughing as predictive text has called them Elisa Carthusian and Jon Biden!)
What is wassailing? It’s a word meaning to toast someone’s good health. It was also in this country an event where seasonal songs were exchanged for money, food and ale! Hence in some parts of the country carols are sung in pubs. I’m laughing to myself again as I remember my first appointment as a minister carol singing with Tame Valley Church along Park Road in Dukinfield. The route was the same every year and included going into two very rough pubs. We sang a carol in each quickly before we nearly got our heads kicked in!
Tonight was all about good cheer. It was a brilliant evening with excellent musicians and a wonderful venue in which to perform and take part as an audience. Elisa and Jon were clearly enjoying themselves. There was lots of laughter. It did us good to be there.
So my question tonight is for my fellow ministers out there. How are you going to receive Christmas? Don’t get too knackered you have no space to experience the joy of the season. Just saying…
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