Anticipation….of customer service

I know how the Inn Keeper felt, letting Joseph and Mary down by telling them there was no rooms free for the mother in anticipation.
Working in Customer Services for the past 3 Christmas’ I have become accustomed to letting people down gently.
“I’m sorry your delivery will be late”
“I’m sorry your turkey smelled off when you went to cook it on Christmas eve”

As Christmas draws closer, and especially as it become more commercial year on year, I pray for greater “Goodwill among all men” I think it’s the only thing that might keep me sane.

Continually one prayer comes to mind, attributed to the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.

The Serenity Prayer:

O God and Heavenly Father,

Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which cannot be changed;
the courage to change that which can be changed,
and the wisdom to know the one from the other,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen

Nativity

Today we had our yearly Nativity play by the younger members of our congregation aided by a few of the more elderly.

This year however it wasn’t so historically accurate. We had two female magi and no shepherds (partly due to the fact she forgot her lines but I believe it was because she felt it was too cold for her sheep to travel to the nave alter, I mean manger).

It was acted out this year through mime and rhyme, Joseph had a few cups of tea and we had the  Arch angel Gabriel and the star doing a mini version of “Heads, Shoulders, Knee and Toes”.

Yet ever year I think of what it would have been like that cold evening for the expectant parents: tired, weary, fearful yet I believe, ready. Bless Mary, the young girl, and from all accounts we’ve come to realise she may have been as young as 14, who accepted the role as Mother to the Saviour of the world.

Think about the same situation into our society today, let me break it down this way: a young mother unexpectedly pregnant, a young man thrust into fatherhood before he was thinking about it. We see it all the time, young parents, but we walk past them and, I think unintentionally sometimes, sneer or look down at them, without knowing their story, how can we do this to them and yet praise our Lord and light an Advent candle today for His mother Mary, who on the face of it, were in a very similar situation.

No News Is Good News…

First post of 5: 

     I was listening to a favourite band of mine, New Found Glory, at work whilst thinking “I need to get a post up on lovebloomsbright soon when I realised this is the basis for my first post.

The song who’s name forms the title for this post came on and I started thinking, isn’t this similar to what my view of the commercial Christmas is?

The lyrics that got me were:

We all give in,
We all complain,
We sit and wait,
For things to change,
We’re waiting,
We’re waiting.All along, we follow blindly,
All along, we follow blindly

(full lyrics)

 This Christmas season I have become increasingly aware of so many people, including myself, who are getting frustrated by the commercial aspect of the season. It starts with the hints in October, then leads up, the advertising increasing, until this weekend, where the shops are full, the shoppers are fretful and people become angry and will snap at your for the smallest of reasons. When did it become like this? The pressure to buy more presents, to do more and be more is too much at times. I’m good for a small exchange of gifts after church on Tuesday.

On the same thread, I’ve noted a few newspaper articles discussing the decreasing awareness of “the reason for the season”, I think it was the Times that gave the statistic of only 1 person out of 8 who knew the story or baby Jesus.

A shocking statistic.

I often wonder why Easter isn’t the same.