Nadolig Llawen

This is the first Christmas for 11 years that we will spend at home in Wales, so it seems appropriate to wish you all a very happy Christmas in Welsh. As it’s so long since I hosted the family for Christmas instead of being hosted by them, I’d forgotten how much work is involved. That must be why it’s taken me until the morning of Christmas Eve to gather my thoughts sufficiently to write my Christmas blog post. But now the house is quiet, with some visitors out, the younger generation busy with their own affairs, and DH en route bringing his mother to spend Christmas with us.

Searching for music was, as always, intensely pleasurable and also fraught with memories, conjured up by a few notes or bars of this carol or that. The carol I’ve chosen has been one of my favourites ever since I sang it as a first-year undergraduate in 1965, discovering the joys of choral singing as a member of the college chapel choir. The carol setting was still new and not yet well-known and I was young, which may be why it embedded itself in my heart and is still so powerfully evocative. The glorious rendering also dates from that era and it comes to you with my warmest wishes for a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year.

Image:   The Adoration of the Shepherds by Matthias Stom (c. 1600 – 1652)

Carol:    There is no rose

               Words: English traditional, circa 1420

               Music: John Joubert – Opus 14, 1954

Advent pause

As the sun gradually sinks towards setting on this Advent Sunday afternoon, I’m sitting in my cosy study in a completely silent house. DH is on one of his periodic visits to his mother and I am enjoying the peace after a busy and enjoyable morning at church.

Our bishop was with us for a special Advent Sunday service to mark the opening of communion to all baptised persons, whatever their age. All the congregations in our group had come together to celebrate the occasion and this being Wales, the singing at its peak threatened to raise the roof. After the service we gathered in the adjoining church hall for a bring and share lunch and a great deal of lively conversation.

As I drove home, I reflected on what we had just shared and it seemed to me to offer glimpses of hope and encouragement in what can so often seem to be our dark and divided world. The opening of communion to all is for me a symbol of the pulling down of barriers and healing of divisions. The sharing of food and fellowship was the perfect way to mark the church’s New Year and the beginning of the period of preparation for Christmas we call Advent.

The hymns we sang were carefully chosen to reflect the twin themes of Advent. We began with “O come, o come, Emmanuel”, that great hymn of longing for the coming of the Messiah, and ended with Charles Wesley’s magnificent hymn looking forward to the return of Christ in glory. Plenty of musical and spiritual sustenance there to see me through all the busyness of the next three weeks until we again celebrate the wonder of the Nativity.

Resurrexit!

He is risen and I know that my redeemer lives.

Wishing you all a very joyful Easter.

Image: The Empty Tomb by Hanna Varghese (1938 – 2007) 

Music: Handel‘Messiah’.

Love to the loveless shown

My song is love unknown

Image:  A Flemish high-relief of the Crucifixion, second half of C17th.

Hymn:  Words (1664) by Samuel Crossman (1623-1683) 

               Music: Love Unknown (1925) by John Ireland (1879-1962) 

Christmas peace

In this darkest part of the winter, at the end of what has been an extraordinarily turbulent and threatening year, I can’t think of anything we and our world need more than peace this Christmas. So this is what I wish you all, with gratitude for your friendship and the deep pleasure your blogs give me.

Here in our corner of Mid-Wales the baking is finished, the presents are wrapped, and the suitcase is packed, ready for an early start tomorrow, as we head off to spend Christmas with DS and his family. Wherever you may be spending your Christmas, may it be full of joy and peace.

Image:   Nativity by Duccio di Buoninsegna (c1255/60–c1318/19 Siena, Italy)

               National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA

Carol:    Stille Nacht

               Words by Josef Mohr (1792-1848)

               Music by Francis Xaver Gruber (1787-1863)

Advent pause for thought

On this calm, chilly November afternoon I’m sitting at my desk in my warm, somewhat untidy study. Outside DH has been taking advantage of the dry weather to do some jobs before the sun, which has been peeping out intermittently from behind the clouds all day, finally sets. The house is quiet and still, as befits the beginning of what is for me one of the most reflective seasons of the church’s year.

The peace and quiet are very welcome after what has been a very busy and often turbulent year. At home it has been an unusual year, with none of our habitual peregrinations to Scotland and France, but with substantial changes, necessitating a lot of hard work, taking place here in Wales. In the wider world it has been a year of often shocking political upset, with both the EU referendum in Britain and the presidential election in the USA plumbing new depths of misleading and vitriolic campaigning, and their results plunging our two countries into deep and prolonged economic and political uncertainty.

Into this turbulence and uncertainty comes Advent, with its message of hope and expectation, reminding us that however dark things seem there is always the promise of light and new beginnings. For me, as for most of us, it will inevitably be a busy time, with cards to write, presents to buy and lots of baking to be done. Yet I will try to hold onto this still centre of quiet and hope amid the busyness and the darkness, in anticipation of the joy of Christmas itself.

One of the pleasures of writing my annual Advent Sunday post is deciding what music to include. This year I have chosen a poem written by my friend Christine McIntosh, set to music by her musician husband John, and sung by their church choir at Holy Trinity, Dunoon, Argyll. The exquisite combination of words and music captures perfectly the expectant, trustful hope of Advent. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Alleluia!

Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

I wish you all a very happy and blessed Easter.

Image:  ‘Noli me tangere’ by Giotto di Bondone  Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua, circa 1304-06.

Words: Edmond Budry (1854-1932)

Music: Maccabeus (adapted from the oratorio by Georg Friedrich Handel, 1685-1759)

A green hill far away

 He died to save us all

Image: Crucifixion by Edward Vardanian ( born 1953 in Artashat, Armenia and moved to the USA in 1992.)

Words: Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895)        Music: Horsley  (William Horsley, 1774-1858)

Christmas wishes

The presents are wrapped, the decorations have been hung and I’m about to start packing for our journey tomorrow to spend Christmas with DD and her family. Outside, on this shortest day, the sky is leaden and the ground sodden, and from the forecast we are likely to arrive in Yorkshire with a very clean car.

Before I go, I would like to wish you all the happiest of Christmases and a peaceful and healthy New Year. When I come to look back over 2015 on New Year’s Eve, I will have to admit to having become a somewhat erratic blogger this year, but I am still extraordinarily grateful for this wonderful activity and all the lovely people it has brought me into contact with. I wish you all everything you could wish for yourselves and look forward to continuing our friendship in 2016.

Image:  Nativity, an illuminated capital from a Book of Hours in Dutch. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA.
Carol:    O Holy Child (Cantique de Noël)

                 Words by Placide Cappeau (1808–1877), translated  by John Sullivan Dwight (1812-1893).

                 Music by Adolphe Charles Adams (1803-1856, arranged by John Rutter.

A temporary lull…

…metaphorical as well as physical. After yet another bout of high winds, heavy rain and raging river, today is still, grey and drizzly and the hills around our valley are shrouded in mist. Indoors it is warm and rather untidy, with the dining table piling up with presents to be wrapped and cards to be hung when I get round to it.

In my study the card-writing table has been put away until next year and I’m taking a break from sermon writing and service preparation before going out again to a service of carols by candlelight in the smallest church in our group. First I need to head off to the kitchen to make the soup for supper, which will simmer gently as I sing carols.

As I go, I’ll leave you with a somewhat different carol, sung by the inimitable Tom Lehrer, who as ever can be relied on to put his own idiosyncratic slant on the activities of the festive season.

The year rolls round

…and before we know it Advent is here again. I know it’s a sign of advancing age to comment on the fact, but I truly don’t know where this year has gone.  And what a year it has been.

As I write this on a dark November evening, with the wind battering the rain against the window by my desk, I am again filled with gratitude for my safe and cosy house and deeply aware that many are not so fortunate. 

I think of the thousands of refugees seeking shelter and sanctuary from the ravages of war and with foreboding of the many more who may be driven from their homes as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies. I remember with deep sadness the many lives lost or damaged in cruel attacks.

We are living through dark and difficult times and yet, as a Christian, I cannot help having hope as Advent begins. This wonderful season of anticipation, of promises made and fulfilled, of the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, reassures me that there will always be light in the darkness and that the darkness will not overcome it. This message of hope and encouragement is wonderfully summed up in one of my favourite arias from Handel’s Messiah, to me the very spirit of Advent.

Image via Google

Do not be afraid

He is not here, for he has been raised.

May I wish you a very joyful Eastertide.

Image :     Le Tombeau Vide by Bénédicte de la Roncière.

Hymn :     Words: George R. Woodward (1848-1934), 1894

                  Music: Vruechten (This Joyful Eastertide) (Dutch melody from David's Psalmen, Amsterdam, 1685,  

                                arranged Charles Wood, 1866-1926)

And they crucified him

   

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows...

Image:  The earliest crucifixion in an illuminated manuscript, from the Syriac Rabbula Gospels, 586 AD.

Music:  J S Bach ‘O sacred head, sore wounded’ from the St Matthew Passion, 1727.

From family past to family present

After my recent forays into my family’s history, daily life has caught up with me again and I’ve been running fast to keep up these last few days. From leading a Mothering Sunday service last Sunday, to hosting a meeting on Monday and welcoming a friend today, life is suddenly very full and busy again.

Now I’m getting ready to welcome my next-to-youngest sister and her husband and pet dog for a visit which begins tomorrow afternoon and will end nicely in time for me to finish my final preparations for next Sunday’s service. Think of me tomorrow morning, as I dust and hoover and change beds and prepare food. 

Hopefully I won’t get lost forever in the duvet covers before I can enjoy a couple of days of not-stop conversation and laughter, interspersed with pleasant relaxation over lingering meals.  Our youngest sister and her husband and dog live not far away and will join us, so there will be a lot of chatter and teasing and “do you remember when”. I hope our poor husbands can keep up…

Cartoon via The Poke.

A very musical weekend

Last weekend DH and I headed across the Pennines to visit DD for her birthday and to take across to her an old American-style rocker for which we have no room in the new house and of which she is very fond. To our amazement the extremely small car had no trouble in accommodating both the bulky chair and our luggage, which got our trip off to a flying start.

That evening, after her return from church choir practice, DD gave me the first musical treat of the weekend by accompanying some of my elementary clarinet tunes on the piano, thereby totally transforming them. I couldn’t believe how much better they sounded with an accompaniment and this has spurred me on to learn more tunes for future joint sessions. Teaching oneself to play an instrument can sometimes feel rather lonely, so this was a huge encouragement.

The next musical treat came the following day and it was a truly wonderful one. DD and her family had booked to attend a concert by the Saint Petersburg Symphony Orchestra at Leeds Town Hall to celebrate her birthday and when she heard we were planning to visit, she offered to treat me to a ticket as an early birthday present. This is how I came to be sitting almost in the centre of the second row, just behind the conductor and in a perfect position to admire the virtuosity of the soloist, the young Russian-born violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, as he thrilled the audience with his performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

The crowning touch to my musical weekend came next morning, when I stayed behind in church after the morning service to listen to Grandson#1 practising the organ. He’s busy preparing to take his Grade 5 organ exam and I very much enjoyed hearing him playing his pieces and realising just how much progress he has made in the past two years.

Now I’m back home, doggedly practising my very basic scales, exercises and tunes and still inspired by my musical treats. How far I’ll manage to progress with playing the clarinet remains to be seen, but I still love every minute I spend on it.

Image via Google

Season's greetings

The presents are wrapped, the car is packed and DH and I are about to leave for our family Christmas and New Year festivities. We’re looking forward to enjoying time with DH’s mother and our children and their growing sons, to good food and good company, carols and games and plenty of unhurried conversation.

But I can’t leave without wishing you and your loved ones peace and joy this Christmas and good health and happiness in the coming year. As always your blogs and your friendship have hugely enriched the past year for me and for that I thank you all so much.

Image:  Adoration of the Infant Jesus by Matthias Stom (c. 1600 – 1650)

Carol:    In The Bleak Midwinter

               Words by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

               Music by Gustav Holst (1874-1934) arranged by Harold Darke (1888-1976)

Variety is the spice of life

As I slowly and awkwardly unpack and tidy up after our return home, blog inspiration appears to have gone missing en route from Scotland. However, in her recent comment my blog friend Dancing Beastie mentioned how much she’d enjoyed the contrasting musical items in my last two posts. To cheer us all up in the current miserable weather, I can’t resist sharing a very different seasonal offering by a group of American high school students, which has just been brought to my attention by Annie, another blog friend, and which had me wiping tears of laughter from my eyes. Enjoy….

Time to go home

Gosh, it’s all go! From Advent quiet to ever-decreasing circles has taken just one day.

Yesterday DH drove me on the 170 mile round trip to the hospital for my check-up, from which I emerged minus the cast, but sporting a wrist splint, which I have to wear day and night for the next 4 weeks at least. My lovely surgeon was very pleased with my progress, but gave me strict instructions on what I can and can’t do until I’m seen again by a surgeon in Wales in the New Year. Absolutely no lifting or carrying with that hand and no pressure on the hand or wrist, so no Christmas baking and no clarinet practice. Sigh.... 

Today we went to visit a friend and it was on our return that I discovered that the Met Office had issued a snow warning for Scotland for Sunday, the day we were planning to make the long journey home to Wales. After some discussion we decided to bring our departure forward to Saturday, so while DH is out at a meeting this evening, I’m piling together  clothes and other items I can move one-handed, ready for him to pack tomorrow while I’m out in my turn at the monthly Eucharist.

So until we’re back in Wales, I’ll leave you with this seasonal offering, the perfect antidote to Christmas hype, from the wonderfully evergreen Tom Lehrer.

Advent quiet

Further south the country may still be reeling from the chaos of Black Friday and gearing up for the increasingly frantic countdown to the festive season, but up here in the far north of Scotland, the sum total of my Christmas shopping so far has been the church’s Christmas Bazaar in the village hall yesterday afternoon.

Thanks to my recent misadventure, Advent for me is starting on an even quieter note than it did last year. Not only can I not drive, I can’t even make a start on the baking, so I’ve been busying myself with writing Christmas cards and notifying relatives and friends of our new address at the same time. Other preparations will have to wait until my left arm is released from its plaster prison, hopefully within the next 10 days or so.

This means that yet again I have the privilege of savouring in tranquillity at least the beginning of this period of anticipation we call Advent, one of my favourite seasons of the church’s year. Later on I will begin to revel in the increasing excitement and busyness, but for now I can contemplate the wonderful landscape that surrounds us and ponder the meaning of it all.

Image via Google

I don’t know about you…

… but the combination of heat, humidity and sheer busyness plays havoc with my thinking processes. It’s been a very hot and sticky week since I last posted and now we have friends coming to stay tomorrow at short notice. In all the rush to get ready for them, my planned blog-post has gone by the board.

Once we have the house to ourselves again I’ll be back, but in the meantime I’d like to share a link DD sent me which I think is one of the loveliest things I've ever heard. However busy I might be, I would have to stop, listen and wonder at their artistry and the exquisite sound they achieve.