From the Rector

 

Dear Everybody, hello again.

 

We do a lot of singing round Christmas-time.  There’s carol services and singing, singing round the piano at home or in the pub (yes, I am a traditionalist), singing along to all the old Christmas standards like “Frosty the snowman” on Radio 2 while you’re washing up.  Maybe we sing along to Christmas singles on an i-pod in the bus with our eyes closed, go to the panto and join in the choruses, or take part in a concert.  Music is part of the joy of life.

 

There are rhythms in music.  The pitch of individual notes of music depends on frequency; within pieces of music, there is rhythm.  But we also have rhythms throughout the year of the kinds of music that we hear.  Often it’s the music in the shops that reminds us that Christmas is coming, rather than the other way round.  Music evokes many memories, brings back earlier Christmases.  In the church the hymns move from being about Advent to Christmas to Epiphany, following the rhythms of the Christmas story.

 

Some of us, sadly, are tone-deaf, but that doesn’t prevent us from taking pleasure in the rhythms in our life.  Some of us like to have very structured and repetitive days, where each day has a predictable rhythm.  We develop weekly, monthly, yearly rhythms.  Others of us are more haphazard, but few of us don’t have certain major days each year that we think of as important in our lives.

 

A rhythm is not a prison.  It is always a choice.  You could change your normal rhythm this Christmas-time if you choose.  Make it a bit different, perhaps.  But do, if you can, celebrate a joy in the turning of the year, your own birth, and a turning-point in history - one off events that continue to resonate.  And if you haven’t got laryngitis and the neighbours aren’t banging on the wall, do sing. 

 

 

God bless you this Christmas time, and have a happy new year.        

 

David Head