Dear Friends,
“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.”
The Song of Simeon in St. Luke’s account of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, which we will hear on Sunday, is familiar to many from its place in the services of Evensong and Compline. When Archbishop Cranmer simplified the seven services of the daily office into two for the Prayer Book, he took the Magnificat from the evening service of Vespers and the Nunc Dimittis from the final service of the day, Compline.
Dear Friends,
In Sunday’s gospel – in either the Prayer Book or Common Worship lectionaries – we hear the third of the ‘epiphanies’ or manifestations of our Lord: the first of the ‘signs’ in John in which Jesus “revealed his glory”: the changing of water into wine at the wedding of Cana.
You can download our weekly sheet for the week ahead here
https://www.stnicholaslincoln.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/22_01_09_Weekly-Sheet.pdf
You can download our Weekly Sheet for this coming week here:
https://www.stnicholaslincoln.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/22_01_02_Weekly-Sheet.pdf
Merry Christmas!
These days I find that fewer and fewer people say it that way. ‘Happy’ often replaces ‘Merry’, but I like the contrast between Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Happiness and merriment, after all, aren’t quite the same thing. Merriment belongs to a time of feasting and celebration. It can’t last for ever, nor is it supposed to. No one really wishes that it could be Christmas every day!
Over the years we’ve enjoyed welcoming Mount Street infant school to St Nick’s for their Christmas carol concerts. We are inspired and moved as each year group presents their own unique version of the Christmas story in readings and song.
If you grew up in the 1970s, like me, you will perhaps remember the early moments of the musical Godspell, when St John the Baptist sings ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord.’ It’s an arresting entrance, interrupting the cacophonous ‘Tower of Babble’ with a simple yet cryptic message.
https://www.stnicholaslincoln.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/21_12_12_Weekly-Sheet.pdf
St Nicholas of Myra, our patron saint, is perhaps most remembered for his generosity. At a very young age he inherited a sizeable fortune. He is often depicted carrying three bags of gold to represent the help he gave to three young women who were at risk. Our tradition of giving gifts at Christmas has its origins in an earlier practice of giving children gifts on St Nicholas’ Day, the 6th of December.
Happy New Year!
The beginning of a new church year always pre-empts the world around us – perhaps one of the few ways in which the church is ahead of the times! As I wrote here last week, this is important, not least because it positions Advent and Christmas not at the end of an old year but at the beginning of a new one. Let me explain a little further.
The end of a year is usually a time for looking back, remembering and reflecting. What have we experienced? What have we learned? What should we commit ourselves to in the future?