Advent

This has been a busy week following on from my 2 weeks of holiday which saw Annette and I visiting family in Scotland and our grandchildren in the West Midlands. One of the highlights was that on the way north we stopped for lunch and I had delicious Scotch Pie. Why are there no butchers in Harrogate who could stock genuine Scotch pies and sliced sausages??

I am now looking forward to a busy weekend. The Showstoppers Holiday Club reunion party is on Saturday afternoon with over 40 children booked in. Saturday evening will be the time for getting into my kilt to attend the Harrogate St Andrew's Society annual dinner to mark St Andrew's day.
Sunday morning is our bi monthly Parade service and is, of course, Advent Sunday.

The season of Advent was not one which I remember featuring at all in my growing up in a Lanarkshire Baptist Church. But it is a time I look forward to now. On Sunday morning we will use this hymn from the Iona Community to set us on our way -

Advent is a time of waiting
for the life that is to be.
When the Christ, by prophets promised,
sits enthroned on Mary’s knee,
human in the way that we are;
come to earth for you and me.

Choirs of angels are rehearsing,
‘Glory to our God on high.’
Shepherds in the field are watching
where their bleating charges lie.
Distant magi, waiting, restless,
scan the dark mysterious sky.

Hope is all our theme for Advent,
hope for all the human race.
All our hope on God is founded,
God who shows a human face
God who made the Earth and planets
now appears in time and space.

Josie Smith.