Tonight a group from the cathedral, Holy Trinity, Allhallowgate and the Elim church sang carols for an hour at the bandstand in Spa Gardens which is hosting the city’s winter wonderland this weekend. It is brilliant that at the moment we seem to be coming closer together as churches and working out what we can do together. We are planning for example daily prayers and an act of worship to mark the week of prayer for Christian Unity in January. This hasn’t happened in Ripon for many years. It is partly happening because the clergy and lay ministers get on and we are having fun planning stuff and we are becoming friends. This is great!
What is it about this season that brings people together? A good carol sing or party or meal out is good for the soul. I returned to my former church at Harrogate Road this morning to pick something up. They were having a very happy time with coffee, the toddlers singing to them, a quiz and then some carols. The spirit in there was lovely as it was in the Spa Gardens tonight. I’m conscious though of those who aren’t part of fun and community activity and whose loneliness is heightened at this time. Christmas is hell for some people. They see everyone else with people and feel very very alone. We need to remember those who cannot do this couple of weeks of bonhomie. It’s okay to opt out of jollity if you need to.
Going back to signs of hope as we do more together across our denominations, I recall Jesus praying we all should be one. There’s so much division in the world tonight, we need to set an example and as churches do together what we need not do apart. We need to trust each other, learn from each other, respect our differences but celebrate we are walking along the same road.
And some of us went for an ecumenical mulled wine after singing tonight… fabulous :)
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