First a Pageant and then Lessons and Carols

Yesterday, we experienced quite a contrast in Christmas events: first, the Christmas pageant at the Guilford Community Church, and then, at dusk, the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The pageant re-enacts the story of Christmas in Mattthew and Luke in a very joyous, almost flamboyant way. Here is one participant's Facdbook post afterward: “Such an astounding Guilford Community Church, United Church of Christ Christmas Pageant yesterday! Intergenerational, so many kinds of music, instrumentalists, costuming, dancing in the aisles, differently-abled people involved in the fleshing out of the Nativity Scene, paper mache animals, Scripture readers online reading from Kaiguchu, Kenya, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, and Three Wise People dancing with exuberance, and on and on!

I spoke briefly at the close about "What Christmas means to me and GCC." Here is what I said: "What Christmas means to me and the Guilford Church - Oh My Goodness! For me, it starts after Thanksgiving with cookies taking over the house - yes, Ellen bakes for the Christmas Bazaar that week and our dining table fills up with literally hundreds of cookies. And the Christmas Bazaar itself Oh, - I still see ghosts of Christmas Past: Peg Hunter presiding over the crafts table and Pat Houghton at the wreath table, the Junior Choir selling Christmas cards they made by hand with ink and roller and etchings they created by scoring with a pencil a foam meat pack that we would get at the supermarket, all with the help of Suzanne Woodcock, and Ed Curtiss at his own little booth piled high with nicely wrapped packages containing - a SURPRISE - that's right, for a dollar you could buy a surprise package, contents unknown. It was a very popular table. Advent brought the Advent wreath, Shirley's special Christmas stories like Millie the Mouse - and caroling. The Junior Choir went for pizza after church and then went out caroling all over Guilford. One year, Dale Parente wore high-heeled shoes to go caroling and I can still see her determination as she struggled through the snow up the hill to Bertha Thomas' farmhouse. And a special moment, way out in the boonies on a back road at dusk, we walked up onto the porch of a modest little cabin and looked in the window and there was an elderly woman stooped over her kitchen range warming her hands over the gas flame, and it struck me that that was probably the only heat she had in the entire house. She saw us standing at the door, and she came over, opened the door and said in the sweetest voice, "And what can I do for you?" And instantly, I felt I was in a sacred space, I had been transported back to the manger on that first Christmas night. And then there is Christmas Eve - Shirley started the midnight service and she always managed to end it right at the stroke of midnight. My favorite story comes out of that service - I have told it before but will tell it again. For many years I sang O Holy Night to begin that service. And one year a man named Gil Johnson came to me in early December and said, "Larry, this year I would like to sing "O Holy Night" at the Xmas Eve service. Would you help me prepare?" I gulped a little and said, "Of course, Gil, I would be glad to," So we got together and it almost immediately became clear that Gil was tone deaf, he could barely tell one note from another. But he was enthused and determined, and we met several times and he worked hard and Christmas Eve came and by golly, he sang O Holy Night, and it wasn't always in tune, but he sang it passionately and with deep fervor. And he came up to me after the service with tears in his eyes, and said, "Larry, that's the most wonderful thing I've ever done in my whole life." And I thought, "That's what this is all about!" God had reached down and touched Gil's life in an unforgettable way. ..........And that is what I wish for each of you this year - - that at some unexpected moment, something will transport you, God will touch you - a phrase from the Christmas story, a chord from the choir, a reading from Pastor Elisa, or perhaps just a hug, or a smile, or a child laughing - something will touch you and transform you with the light and the love of Christmas. I pray it will be so! Amen!"

Giving my talk.*************************************** The Lessons and Carols service was quite a contrast. Much more sedate, more carefully planned. Very lovly, but perhaps lacking in the spontaneous joy at Guilford. Also, there was a marked contrast in the social class of the congregation. Chestnut Hill is very toney, and it shows in the clothes of the people. We felt just a bit shabby - well, me anyway. Ellen wore her best coat. But we love this service, and of course it brings back a flood of memories of Betsey, Katie and Rob, who all sang in the choir, and also Betsey's memorial service was held here. A sacred place.

Before the service begins

With the choir - sorry it's so blurry! Our original plan, to spare Ellen a late-night drive home, had been to stay at a Four Points Sheraton in Newton, MA, about a ten-minute drive from the Church, and we had reservations. But when we drove there, we followed our iPhone GPS, and at the last second, it failed to warn us of a right turn, and we suddenly found ourselves inexorably on the on-ramp to the Mass Turnpike! No exits for quite a few miles, and then, what would happen when we tried to go back? Ellen made an on-the-spot judgement: "I can't do this. We should just take the Mass Pike and go home." No arguing with that, so I called the Sheraton to let them know we would not be using the reservation, and, amazingly, they cancelled without penalty. They did not need to do that - thank you Sheraton! I also called Expedia, which actually made the reservation online. They said that Sheraton would charge me the full cost of the room - which was the policy - but they didnt. The traffic was not bad, we took Interstate all the way to Brattleboro, and were home by 9:30 or so. So it all worked out!