Our musicians and singing group set an atmosphere of gentleness in which we were invited to acknowledge the sorrowful side of Christmas, on Thursday night at Belair.
Voices from Belair Uniting, Blackwood Church of Christ and Blackwood Uniting shared in issuing this invitation through prayer, poetry and scripture.
The image from Seasons of the Spirit was of Aurora Borealis.
We symbolically placed glass beads around the Advent wreath – our grief and sorrow sitting alongside the joy and hope of the season – then lit candles for all we are thankful for. I watched as everybody seemed to light several candles, and the table was awash with light in a darkened room.
Friends visiting from the land of Papua, which is a land of sorrow and persecution at this present time, sang for us too, accompanied by a traditional drum, whose beat resounds hope.
Sue Wickham’s new words to O Come O Come Emmanuel were just right – I love this song with its ancient connection to the rejoicing to which Israel is called in the midst of exile and persecution; to which we are called in the midst of our sorrows. And it occurs to me that peoples like our neighbours in Papua can teach us something of what it is to hope, to rejoice in God’s presence with us, even in the midst of great suffering. Stories from the Iona community’s visits with African communities, who find a way to rejoice in the midst of their suffering through the HIV/AIDS crisis also teach me this.
We left, taking with us lavender seeds: their blue a symbol of our grief, their fragrance the scent of peace.
