Christmas

Christmas in Zermatt

St Peter’s Church, Zermatt © Ricky Yates

After conducting a wonderful service of Nine Lesson & Carols in the Frauenkirche, Dresden on the evening of Sunday 8^th December, I was planning on spending a quiet Christmas at home in Stará Oleška. My Christmas worship was going to be attending a service on Christmas Eve, in German, at the Lutheran Church in Obercunnersdorf, led by my good friend and colleague, Andrew Allen. I’m not due to officiate again at the Frauenkirche, until Thursday 2^nd January 2025.

Then, early in the afternoon of Thursday 19^th December, an email dropped into my Inbox. It came from Jim Perryman, who oversees what is known as ‘Seasonal Mission’ for the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS). ICS are the C of E mission society who supported me when in Prague and continue to prayerfully support my ministry in Dresden.

ICS owns a Church, dating from the late nineteenth century, in the Swiss ski resort of Zermatt, for which they recruit chaplains to serve, each for a period of two weeks, during the main summer and winter holiday seasons. The email explained that, due to ‘a sudden family tragedy’, the Chaplain who was meant to arrive in Zermatt on Tuesday 17^th December, open everything up for the winter season, and then serve through to New Year’s Eve, was no longer able to be there. The email was a cri de cœur, asking if anyone knew a priest who would be able to travel to Zermatt and at least cover the planned and advertised services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Jim Perryman acknowledged that with Christmas Church and family commitments, it was unlikely anyone would be available at such short notice – he entitled the email ‘LONG SHOT’ 😉 As well as being able and willing to travel, there was also the additional requirement that the priest needed to hold Bishop’s permission to officiate (PTO) in the Diocese in Europe.

I sat and read, and then re-read the email several times, over a period of thirty minutes. I realised that realistically, I could do it. I had no commitments during the time period. I hold PTO because of my ongoing ministry in Dresden. So an hour after I received the email, I wrote a reply to Jim saying, ‘I may be able to help you.’ Before I sent it, I realised it might be good to have a phone conversation, to answer the many questions that were coming into my mind. So I tried phoning the ICS office only to get the message that no one was available.

About thirty minutes after sending my email, back came a reply from Jim. He apologised for the phone silence – the ICS office staff were having their Christmas Lunch! But he said, ‘Your potential offer sounds wonderful and I will be delighted to chat with you later.’ Therefore, after a most helpful video conversation on WhatsApp, I agreed to spend Christmas in Zermatt, the first Christmas I’ve been working for eight years.

The only realistic way for me to get to Zermatt, at such short notice, was to drive there, or at least as far as Täsch, as cars and trucks are banned from entering Zermatt. It had to be a two-day drive, not helped by the short hours of daylight in mid-winter. So on the morning of Saturday 21^st December, I drove from my home in Stará Oleška, to Sankt Margrethen which is in Switzerland, just over the border from Germany and Austria, where the three countries meet. There I stayed in a very nice hotel, overnight.

I’m very glad I studied the traffic map on mapy.cz before setting out the next morning as I discovered that the route I was planning to take was impassable because of winter snow. So it was onto the Autobahn around St Gallen, Zürich, Bern, and down to Vevey and Montreux. Then, as I set out into the mountains on Autoroute 9, the rain which had been falling most of the day, turned to snow. Autoroute/Autobahn 9, as you cross the French/German language divide 😉 peters out. But after several more kilometres of ordinary road, I eventually reached the town of Visp.

From Visp, there followed a twenty-eight kilometre drive, up a twisty mountain road, with heavy snow falling, before I reached Täsch. The best description of that journey would be ‘interesting’. I heard later, that shortly after my journey, the authorities closed the road so snow ploughs could operate, without cars being in the way.

My car safely parked and a trolley loaded in Täsch © Ricky Yates

Once I had parked my car in an expensive, covered, car park in Täsch, I then had to load all my luggage onto a trolley. Photographic evidence herewith. Then, I wheeled it to the railway station platform for the shuttle service to Zermatt. The trains are designed so you can wheel your trolley on in Täsch and off again in Zermatt.

The shuttle train to Zermatt © Ricky Yates

My instructions, (thirty-seven pages of them 😉 ), said that it was possible to wheel the trolley out of the station and up the hill to the Chaplain’s Flat. But with the amount of snow that had fallen and with it still snowing, that wasn’t on. Instead, I set out carrying everything.

I had not gone far when I stopped for a breather, outside a hotel. Two workmen from the hotel who were busy shovelling snow, suggested I go into the hotel lobby and take a rest. I misunderstood what they also said, thinking they would come and shortly help me. When they didn’t reappear, the hotel manageress came to my aid. Saying that I was the new English Church Chaplain helped and she summoned one of the guys I’d spoken to earlier, and told him to take me up the hill in one of hotel’s electric taxis. That manageress and her employee, were two of my Christmas angels 🙂

At least when I got into the Chaplain’s flat, everything was fine. The heating was on, the last occupants had left it in good order and there were a few non-perishable goodies in the kitchen cupboards. After unloading my bags, I set off through the snow, to see St Peter’s Church from the outside.

St Peter’s Church, Zermatt, in the snow © Ricky Yates

Taken in the dark, this photo will give you some idea of what it was like. I had visions of having to dig my way into Church the next morning.

The way to the Church is clear and the front door is open © Ricky Yates

However, when I got to the Church next day, to open it for 09.30, as required, some local authority workers had already cleared the path to the Church door and one of the set of steps leading down to the main street. All I had to do was brush the snow off the two front steps.

All of Monday 23^rd and the daylight hours of Christmas Eve, were spent reading the instructions and trying to find and make work, everything relating to the Church – lights, heating, sound system, access to, and what was in the vestry. I had to also make a couple of strategic visits – to the Tourist Office to pick up some posters and make myself known, and to the supermarket to get some supplies.

It was during all of this that I received a phone call on the Chaplain’s mobile, which fortunately I had recharged overnight, as the battery was completely flat. It came from a lovely lady called Christine from North Yorkshire, who became my third Christmas Angel. ‘Do you have anyone to play the organ for your services’, she said. ‘I’ve been here before and have played the organ previously.’ I met her at the Church on Monday afternoon, and as a result, she played for three of my four services.

The first of these was a service of Lessons and Carols, starting at 17.00 on Christmas Eve. In 2023, that same service had been packed out with all pews occupied and with people standing at the back. Therefore this year, the plan was to have a second service of Lesson and Carols, starting later at 19.30, to try and spread out the numbers. However, by the time my 17.00 service was to start, all pews were occupied with an additional twenty or so, standing at the back.

I had no designated readers for either of these services. I was told just to try and nab people from the congregation to see if they were willing to read. During the daytime on Christmas Eve, I met a couple of men who came by the Church to check up on the times of services, both of whom volunteered for the 17.00 service. And as the people arrived, I recruited three more, all men.

But I had one lesson without a reader. So before commencing the service, I asked the congregation if I could have one more volunteer reader, preferably female. A hand shot up from the second row from the front. It was a young lady who was quite short and who I guessed was probably no more than twelve or thirteen years old. I accepted her offer, delighted that it was a quite short and appropriate reading, Luke 2. v1 & 3-7 describing the birth of Jesus.

The lectern, from where all the other readers read, is quite high so, when it came the time for the young lady to read, I took the other microphone from in front of my stall and held it in my hand whilst she stood up at the front and read. She read well and clearly. Shaking hands with the congregation at the door as they were leaving, this young lady, from New York City as she told me in answer to my question, personally thanked me for allowing her to read. I have to say that was for me, the most memorable part of the service which ran smoothly and was very well appreciated. I got many expressions of thanks at the door.

The one service that Christine couldn’t play for was the 19.30 Lessons & Carols. Within my thirty-seven pages of instructions was an explanation of how to play recorded organ tunes of hymns and carols through the Church sound system, using the laptop in the Chaplain’s Flat. This was one item of technology that I decided not to even start to understand, once I’d met Christine and her willingness to play for me. The problem she had with the 19.30 service was that it clashed with the time of a special Christmas Eve dinner, being provided by the hotel where she and her husband Chris and several other family members, were staying. As Christine said to me, ‘I do need to be fed’ 🙂

So, having a strong singing voice, though it did start to crack up, I told the congregation numbering eight-five, that it was going to be a DIY Carol Service. We would sing unaccompanied or a cappella. And so we did, singing eight Christmas carols interspersed by seven Bible lessons and a short sermon.

On Christmas Day morning, I received an email from someone called Dominic. He had found this blog and gained my email address from it. Dominic wrote,

‘What a lovely service last night in Zermatt! I thought the unaccompanied singing worked especially well, albeit in large part thanks to your tuneful leadership. It was much better than singing along to a recording, as I recall having done one previous Christmas Eve in that chapel.’

As well as taking the compliment, receiving Dominic’s email was very reassuring to me of the decision I’d taken.

My third service on Christmas Eve, was a Midnight Eucharist starting at 23.30. I had a very appreciative and responsive congregation numbering forty. At this service, as I’d also had at the two previous services, I received many expressions of appreciation and thanks for being so willing to travel all the way to Zermatt meaning that the services could take place. Several people had seen the earlier notification on the ICS website, that Christmas services would probably not now take place because of the absence of a Chaplain. But it was updated, immediately after I agreed to travel and be there.

Standing in front of the Chancel apse of St Peter’s Church, Zermatt © Ricky Yates

After relatively few hours of sleep, my final service was on Christmas Day morning – an informal short Service of the Word, including singing four more Christmas carols. The smallest of my congregations with twenty adults and a couple of children. After this service was over, my wonderful organist Christine, took this photo of me in front of the chancel apse of the Church.

Afterwards, I then went back to the flat to cook my own Christmas Dinner. During the afternoon, I had difficulty not falling asleep as I was so worn out and tired. But I managed to stay awake until 20.00, the time in the evening when I was expected to lock the Church. I then went to bed at 20.30 and slept soundly for ten hours.

Tomorrow morning, I have to go down to the Post Office and bank the proceeds of the collections taken at the four services. I’ve already counted it all and filled in an online financial report. There are five different currencies, Swiss francs, Euros, Sterling, US dollars and Hong Kong dollars 😉 That is what you get with international congregations 🙂 After that, I hope to go up into the mountains and enjoy the view. One bonus of being a Chaplain in Zermatt is the provision of a free ski pass for all the ski lifts and gondolas. There will be more photos.

Some of the mountains surrounding Zermatt © Ricky Yates

A difficult winter

Sunset over Stará Oleška 10th November 2022 © Ricky Yates

I have to start this post by once again apologising for the long time gap since the last one. I had been hoping to publish the final instalment of my ongoing saga with Barclays Bank plc. I’ve already written the first half of a draft post. But unfortunately, the matter is still not resolved so I will hold off posting until it is brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

The other reason for the lack of a new post is that I have had a rather rough winter, particularly with regard to my health. Now that I am finally feeling nearly 100%, here is what has been happening to me this winter.

Back on Thursday 13^th October 2022, I paid my regular visit to my GP in Prague, for my International Normalised Ratio (INR) to be checked, to establish the exact amount of Warfarin that I have to take to thin my blood. I also asked about having a Covid booster vaccination and Dr Stonawski said it could be done there and then and passed me on to Dr Youngová, the boss of the practice. She vaccinated me and suggested that I really ought to also have a flu jab, something I’ve never previously had. So I agreed. Therefore I had a needle in my finger for INR, one in my left arm for Covid, and one in my right arm for flu 🙁

Eleven days later, I visited my friend, Adrian Blank, down in Nepomuk for the changeover to winter tyres on my car. He also accompanied me to the testing station in nearby Horažd’ovice, where the car successfully passed STK, (the Czech equivalent of the UK MOT test), meaning it is safe and legal to drive for the next two years.

With all of that done, I felt that both my body and my car were ready to face the coming winter. But whilst the car has continued to function perfectly, now nearly two years on from when I bought it, the same cannot be said for my body 🙁

Unfortunately, soon after receiving my jabs in October, I developed a most annoying cough. Particularly during the night, I would wake up, start coughing and then not be able to go back to sleep. It also considerably affected my ability to sing.

The Embassy Singers & part of the congregation on Sunday 4th December 2022 at the Frauenkirche, Dresden © Ricky Yates

It was an absolute delight on the evening of Sunday 4^th December, to be able to hold a service of Nine Lessons and Carols in the Frauenkirche, Dresden, for the first time since December 2019. As in previous pre-Covid years, the Embassy Singers from Berlin under their director Andrew Sims, provided a number of choir items as well as supporting the singing of the congregational carols. But as I tried to sing, I regularly ended up coughing 🙁

Introducing Nine Lessons and Carols at the Frauenkirche, Dresden, Sunday 4th December 2022 © Ricky Yates

The following Friday, I set out to travel to the UK, driving across Germany and the Netherlands to take the overnight ferry from Hoek van Holland to Harwich. I then spent the weekend, staying with my Czech friend Rev’d Dagmar Wilkinson, who has previously featured in this blog here and here. Dagmar is now the Rector of St John the Evangelist, Friern Barnet in North London. It was a privilege to be the preacher at a Sung Eucharist on Sunday morning.

With Rev’d Dagmar Wilkinson at St John the Evangelist, Friern Barnett, London © Ricky Yates

Here we both are in front of the high altar, following the service. Fortunately, my voice was OK for preaching but I once more ended up coughing when trying to sing the hymns.

That Sunday evening, London had the fairly rare experience of a heavy snowfall. Here is my car parked outside Dagmar’s Rectory on the Monday morning. I had to clear that lot off it before I could drive up to Nottingham.

The centrepiece of my December UK visit was to attend my son Phillip’s graduation ceremony at Nottingham Trent University. He was awarded his Masters in Business Administration (MBA), with commendation, a tremendous achievement for someone with a full-time job, a young family, and coping with the Covid pandemic through most of the time of his studies.

However, I did feel I had the right to stand in front of the board saying ‘Congratulations’ as I proofread, spell checked and grammar checked each of his assignments before he submitted them. As Phillip famously wrote to me after he received his final assessment, we got a commendation, Dad 🙂

I also spent two nights staying near Daventry in order to visit my daughter Christa, son-in-law Ian, and my two grandsons.

Here are my first attempt at taking a selfie with each of my grandsons.

This selfie with Finley was taken at the CBS Arena in Coventry on Saturday 17^th December where we watched my football club, Coventry City FC, playing Swansea City FC. Taking Finley to the match was his Christmas present from me as well as a Christmas present to myself 😉

My return journey started the following day when I drove to Harwich for the ferry back across the North Sea to Hoek van Holland. By this time the cough had become some form of respiratory infection. I was coughing up large amounts of phlegm, had a runny, but blocked nose, problems with my hearing and feeling increasingly weak. Normally I do not mind the long drive across the Netherlands and Germany, in order get home. But I have to say that I struggled to keep driving on Monday 19^th December, not helped by the very limited hours of daylight.

I arrived home late that evening to find snow lying in my garden and a sheet of ice on the driveway and path to the front door. There is a gentle slope from the road up to my front gates but it took three attempts before I managed to drive the car up that slope and into the carport. And the house was absolutely freezing!

During that week before Christmas, I received an email from my GP surgery, setting out dates and times their surgery would be open during the Christmas period. But it also acknowledged that there were a lot of respiratory viruses circulating and offered some helpful advice on how to treat their symptoms, including details of over-the-counter drugs that are available without prescription. I decided that I would try not to trouble the surgery but instead, follow their advice.

Andrew & Gethin’s Christmas Tree © Ricky Yates

On Christmas Eve evening, I was invited to the home of my friends Andrew and Gethin in Obercunnersdorf, about fifty minutes drive north from Stará Oleška, in Freistaat Sachen. A wonderful supper was followed by a candlelit Carol Service in the village Lutheran Church. Unfortunately, because of my respiratory problems, I could hardly hear or sing.

Knowing that I had my next GP appointment for INR already arranged for Tuesday 3rd January, I spent the days after Christmas and into the New Year, taking things easy and my health slowly started to improve. When I saw Dr Stonawski, he checked me thoroughly all over and declared that I had been suffering with bronchitis as he could hear that there were still problems in my chest. However, all he could suggest was that should continue to take it easy and my condition should slowly improve. It took until the end of January before I finally lost the last vestiges of my cough.

However, at the beginning of February, I began to get an itchy rash on my back, which soon spread around the sides of my chest, to my arms and to my right leg. Again, as I had my next INR appointment booked for Tuesday 14^th February, I decided to hang on until then before seeking medical advice. When Dr Stonawski took one look at my back he immediately wrote a report asking the dermatology department of Vojenské nemocnice, the Military Hospital in Prague, to see me that day as an emergency. There, the dermatologist that I saw, diagnosed it as some form of eczema. I was given a cortisone injection in my rear and prescribed various pills and creams.

The photo above shows all the prescribed drugs I took away from the pharmacy that afternoon. I should stress that it does include repeat prescriptions for the medication I regularly take for the problems with my blood and heart. But I have been rattling with pills in the morning for the last two weeks. Fortunately, I am please to report that my skin is responding to treatment and whilst it is still discoloured, I’ve all but lost the itch. I’ve already had one follow-up appointment and another is due next week.

Logs delivered on Wednesday 15th February 2023 © Ricky Yates

The day after my trip to Prague for INR and my emergency visit to the dermatologist, I had my second delivery of logs for this winter, deposited in my back garden. So despite still not feeling well, I had to transport all of them into my woodshed and stack them there, before they got rained or snowed on. I’m quite proud of myself that I managed to achieve this in the space of a week.

Logs stacked in the woodshed 22/02/2023 © Ricky Yates

Here they all are, stacked in the woodshed.

I’m very glad I did as, on the morning of Sunday 26^th February, my seventy-first birthday, this was the view from my front door…

….and from my back door.

As far as I can remember, it was the first ‘White Birthday’ I’ve had since 1963. Yes, I was singing, ‘I’m dreaming of a White Birthday’, numerous times that day 🙂

Advent 2016

Advent ring with the first candle lit © Ricky Yates

This year, the season of Advent has been as long as it possibly can be – a full four weeks. In 2017, quite the reverse happens with the Fourth and final Sunday of Advent, also being Christmas Eve!

I have very much appreciated the length of the Advent season this year, for a number of reasons. One slightly selfish reason is the cause of Advent lasting fully four weeks – the result of Christmas Day falling on a Sunday, which is every clergyperson’s delight! No need for services on three successive days, or on three out of four days. Instead, a full week beforehand, to prepare for services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and then an uninterrupted week afterwards, to take as a post-Christmas break 🙂

I also very much appreciated the way the Sundays fell in Advent this year, allowing me to hold a Service of Lessons and Carols in Dresden, Brno and Prague on separate Sundays. Last year, the Brno and Dresden services had to be held on the same Sunday evening.

As happens each year, I arrived at Church in Prague on Advent Sunday morning, to be greeted by a beautiful hanging Advent ring, with the first candle already lit. This is one of the joys of borrowing the Church building from our host Kliment congregation of the Ceskobratská Církev Evangelická / Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren – the main Czech Protestant Church. They provide the Advent ring at no cost to us! All we have to do is ensure we snuff out the candle(s) at the end of our service, as part of our duty of leaving the building safe and secure.

In previous years, the candles have always been red. This year, for no apparent reason of which I am aware, the candles are white. Certainly they seem to be of a better quality as, over the four Sundays of Advent, none of them has burnt down so much as to need being replaced, despite one of them being alight for nine services 🙂

The Order of Service for Sunday 4th December at 6pm

On the evening of Sunday 4^th December, the second in Advent, I conducted the December English-language Anglican Service in the Frauenkirche, Dresden – A Service of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas. At the equivalent service last year, I was introduced as the new service coordinator and read one of the lessons. This year, I had to organise the complete service, including finding several different readers.

I fortunately inherited the tradition of a Berlin-based choir, the Embassy Singers, under their musical director Andrew Sims, singing at this service. They sang five choir items as well as supporting the congregational carols. A number of choir members volunteered to read and I took Lay Reader Jack Noonan along with me to also be one of the lesson readers.

The Embassy Singers together with Jack Noonan © Jack Noonan

Here he is, posing with the choir whilst I was shaking hands with the departing congregation who I suspect numbered about two hundred.

The Brno congregation in ‘The Upper Room’ following Lessons and Carols © Ricky Yates

On the evening of Sunday 11^th December, I conducted a Service of Lessons and Carols in Brno, marking the fifth anniversary of our first ever Brno service held on 18^th December 2011. Despite getting the service well publicised we were only a little congregation of sixteen people but we still made a joyful noise with our carol singing. Most importantly, all those who attended expressed their enjoyment of the service.

On Sunday 18^th December, I didn’t travel anywhere further than within Prague itself. It was the one Sunday in the year when we hold two services, our regular 11.00 Sung Eucharist in the morning and a Service of Lessons and Carols in the evening. For both services we were blessed by having a visiting choir of Old Blundellians – former students of Blundells School, Tiverton, Devon UK, under their recently retired music master Andrew Barlow.

In the morning, they sang a setting of Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, written by Andrew Barlow, together with an Introit, and two anthems during the administration of Communion. In the evening, they sang five choir carols as well as supporting the congregational ones. I particularly enjoyed their final choir carol – ‘In the bleak mid-winter’, to a setting by Harold Darke.

Along with wonderful congregational singing and choral music, probably the most encouraging aspect of Advent 2016, has been the number of people attending worship in Prague on each Sunday morning. This has ranged from 73 to over 80 when our normal average Sunday attendance is around 50 – basically a 50% increase! Unfortunately, I’ve no photographs to illustrate our Advent worship at St Clement’s, Prague, so instead I finish with a photograph of one of several magnificent sunsets that we had during the early days of December.

Sunset over the Vltava River and Prague Castle © Ricky Yates

Christmas 2014

The altar at the end of our worship on the Fourth Sunday in Advent © Ricky Yates — The altar at St Clement’s at the end of our worship on the Fourth Sunday of Advent © Ricky Yates

This Christmas was our seventh in Prague. As I have explained in a previous post, each year a large number of our regular congregation head off to their home countries for the Christmas – New Year period, in order to celebrate with their wider family and friends. This is further exacerbated by the fact that many in the congregation either teach in one of the various international schools in Prague and/or have children who attend one of these schools. The three week Christmas school holidays, together with summer months of July and August, provide the only real opportunity for a trip back ‘home’.

However, although we held our Service of Lessons and Carols on the evening of Sunday 14^th December, in advance of the English-speaking exodus, otherwise services continue as normal. This is for those who do remain in Prague, as well as for visitors to the city over the holiday period. Additionally, as in previous years, we held a Midnight Eucharist on Christmas Eve, beginning at 23.30, as well as a more family-friendly Eucharist on Christmas Day at 11.00.

This year, as in all previous years, at sometime during November or early December, more than one member of the congregation asked the question of either Sybille or me, “Are you going anywhere for Christmas?” I now have a well-practiced askance look for such questioners, together with an appropriate silence, before asking my question, “Who do think is going to take the Christmas services in Prague?” 😉 There then always follows an embarrassed apology.

The Christmas service which it is always the most difficult to predict and therefore to prepare for, is the Midnight Eucharist on Christmas Eve. Other than a small core of our regular congregation, who between them take on all the tasks to ensure the service runs smoothly, the rest of those attending are visitors. We never know how many of them there will be! This year, numbers were up on last year, including several young people already in Prague, helping to prepare for the annual Taizé Young Adult European Meeting which started here today.

The Christmas Day morning Family Eucharist is always well supported by several Czech married to English-speaker couples and their children who are part of our regular congregation. However, many of these families alternate each year, between spending Christmas in Prague, and Christmas in the home country of the English-speaker. Once again, the congregation is then considerably augmented by visitors to Prague, as it was once more this year.

Just at the end of our Christmas Day service, we did have one unexpected event, when one of the two altar candles imploded without warning. I took this photograph in the vestry, after we had cleared and cleaned the altar. Nobody was hurt and no lasting damage was done – the tissues that we always place under the candle holders, helping enormously. But I was faced with the practical problem of not having a matching replacement candle, and the Roman Catholic shop from where we obtain our altar candles, not being open again until today. In between, there was yesterday, Sunday 28^th December – the first Sunday of Christmas 🙁

On Christmas Day morning, we sang that wonderful carol by Christina Rossetti, ‘In the bleak mid-winter’. But at that point, no snow ‘had fallen, snow on snow’. However, this morning, we did have our first serious snow fall of this winter with the possibility of more on the morning of 31^st December. Whilst we may not have had a ‘White Christmas’, it looks highly likely that we will have a ‘White New Year’.

Through Advent to Christmas

Interior view of St. Clement's Church, Prague on the Fourth Sunday of Advent © Ricky Yates — Interior view of St. Clement’s Church, Prague on the Fourth Sunday of Advent © Ricky Yates

As I start compiling this post, so it has just gone dark outside, therefore meaning that Advent has ended and the Christmas season has begun. I’m very aware that I’ve only written and posted one blogpost during Advent this year and that was in no way related to this important liturgical season. So this my small attempt to make amends by reflecting on the past twenty-four days of Advent 2013.

For once, this year Advent started on the day all manufacturers of Advent calenders think it always does – 1st December. For those who don’t know, Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas Day, thus meaning it can begin as early as 27th November or as late as 3rd December. Whilst we should use the season to help prepare ourselves to be ready to celebrate the Incarnation at Christmas, it is inevitable, especially with mainly expatriate congregations like mine, that earlier celebrations of Christmas intrude into the Advent season in the form of Services of Lessons and Carols.

Therefore, maintaining the established pattern of having worship on the second Sunday of the month in Brno, we held a Service of Lessons and Carols there on the evening of Sunday 8th December. This effectively marked the second anniversary of the establishment of the Brno Anglican congregation, as we held our first ever service in Brno; also one of Lessons and Carols, in December 2011.

This year’s Brno Carol Service was a real encouragement as several of the existing small congregation, invited other friends who came along and attended for the first time. We also were joined by a British/Romanian couple who had just discovered us via our Church website. Together, we made a very joyful noise with our singing of familiar Christmas Carols, interspersed by readings from scripture. It is a shame that it will be a full five weeks before our next Brno service on Sunday 12th January 2014. But all of the new worshippers gave me their contact details and were keen to join us again in the new year.

The following Sunday evening, 15th December, we held the Prague Service of Lessons and Carols. There was a similar programme to the Brno service but with the addition of three delightful solos. The congregation itself was a mixture of regulars, some infrequent Church attendees, together with a number of visitors. Seasonal refreshments in the warmth of the Church Hall in Klimentská 18 following the service, gave me a chance to talk with at least some of the new faces.

The Carly under light snow © Ricky Yates

We have yet to have any really severe winter weather in Prague though we did get a dusting of snow on the day before the Brno Carol Service.

Sunset on the evening of Sunday 15th December © Ricky Yates

And we have also been treated to several delightful sunsets. This one is from the evening of Sunday 15th December just before leaving the Chaplaincy Flat for the Prague Carol Service

Sunset on the evening of Saturday 21st December - the winter solstice © Ricky Yates — Sunset on the evening of Saturday 21st December – the winter solstice © Ricky Yates

Whilst this one is from the evening of Saturday 21st December – the winter solstice.

The following day was the Fourth Sunday of Advent. As can be seen in the slightly fuzzy photograph at the beginning of this post, not only did we have the wonderful hanging Advent Ring with all four candles lit, our host Czech congregation had also erected their Christmas Tree, ready for the forthcoming days of the Christmas season.

Our Gospel reading last Sunday, told of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Joseph as recorded in Matthew 1. 18-25. Together with the Old Testament reading, Isaiah 7. 10-16, they are the only two places in scripture where the name ‘Emmanuel – God is with us’, appears. We therefore had to sing that great mediaeval Advent hymn, translated from the original Latin, ‘O come, O come Emmanuel’, that expresses our longing for the coming of Christ – for God to come down and dwell with us.

But we ended our worship by singing a twentieth century hymn by the Methodist hymn-writer Fred Pratt Green, ‘Long ago, prophets knew’. At the end of the first three verses, the question is asked, ‘When he comes, when he comes, who will make him welcome?’ But in the chorus that follows the fourth and final verse, a positive affirmation is made; ‘Jesus comes! Jesus comes! We will make him welcome!’

If you are unfamiliar with this modern Advent hymn, I found this version on You Tube. Don’t be confused by the opening with a couple of lines of ‘This is the truth sent from above’, sung by a soloist – the correct hymn then follows! May we all be ready this Christmas, to make welcome, God with us – Emmanuel.