Advent: 22 December 2022
Good morning,
We have reached the letter W in our A to Z Advent Calendar. W is the questioning letter in English, for what, where, when, who, which, whom and why. Carols like a wh- question:
Then why should we on earth be so sad,
Since our Redeemer made us glad?
What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
Say, ye holy shepherds, say,
What your joyful news today;
Wherefore have ye left your sheep
On the lonely mountain steep?
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?
What Child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
The carols offer answers to all these questions. But sometimes in our lives we live with questions that seem to have no answers, or difficult ones to accept. Much of my work listening to students and staff members is spent exploring these kinds of wh- questions. Why has this happened? What should I do? Where will I find happiness? When will things change? Who will I be? Why me?
Sometimes people ask, Where is God? The nativity story is a way – part of the Christian way – of responding to that question. God is in a woman’s womb, in a feeding trough, in danger, in the world we share, in our lives today. Barbara Brown Taylor’s book, An Altar in the World, is all about discovering God in the everyday, finding the sacred beneath our feet. Where is God? God is here:
Human beings may separate things into as many piles as we wish – separating Spirit from flesh, sacred from sewer, church from world. But we should not be surprised when God does not recognize the distinctions we make between the two. Earth is so thick with divine possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere without cracking our shins on altars.
In 2009, the Guardian challenged nine contemporary artists to depict the nativity, asking What does the nativity scene, and most particularly the symbol of the mother and child, mean to a modern, more secular society? Here is Tom Walker’s response:
Turning back to carols, the film of this year’s beautiful University Carol Service has now been released. You can find it here: https://youtu.be/7JznuEa0a0U It is also accessible via the Chaplaincy’s worship page alongside the Alumni Carol Service and other services here: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/chaplaincy/worship/
Yours,
Donald.
Revd Dr Donald MacEwan
Chaplain