St. Barnabas Church , Linslade, Leighton Buzzard
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Dear All,

This is a slightly earlier message than usual, for two reasons. The first is that I want to remind everyone about the two things happening in St Barnabas tomorrow (Saturday). In the morning, everyone is welcome to bring a decoration to put up in the Church for Christmass. (Thank you to those who have already put out the window plinths). In the evening, we are hosting the Musica Choir concert which is raising money for the Church: please come along and support it - the concert begins at 7:30 pm.

The second reason for the early email, is to assure you all that our worship will continue as planned, despite the introduction of Plan B. There is only one change that affects us because of Plan B: before, wearing masks was optional in Church. Under Plan B, we are all required to wear masks, unless we have a health reason that prevents it. There are some exceptions to that: if you are reading/leading the prayers etc, you do not need to wear a mask, nor do you have to wear a mask if you are singing. We will continue to sing our hymns and music as before, and although you do not need to wear a mask while singing, if you can do so you are encouraged to sing in a mask - but this is up to you. When you decide what to do, please be mindful of the fact that we do not think only of ourselves, but of those around us also. We should consider others' feelings, and also how we can best participate together in our worship.

In other news: the church chatter card for delivery round the parish has arrived, and all the bundles are waiting to be collected at the back of the church (thank you to Richard and Judith for their hard work). One of the services advertised is the Carol Service at St Mary's on Sunday afternoon, so the earlier we can distribute them the better! (The Carol Service is at 3 pm on the 12th).

You will also see in the Cross and Crown a bit about the Advent antiphons. Those who are real 'Church nerds' (like me) look forward every year to singing them again as part of the countdown to Christmass. You may also know them from the hymn 'O Come, O come, Emmanuel'. But they are an odd selection of metaphors. Some are very familiar: God as Shepherd, or King. Some are familiar phrases, but do we know what they actually mean: Root of Jesse, Dayspring, Adonai? And at least one is really quite odd: God as the Key of David! The Biblical passage associated with that last seems highly individual: the prophet is moaning about a particular Royal Steward who has clearly earnt his ire!

The priest and poet Malcolm Guite has written a set of poems about the antiphons from the 17th onwards, which I think you can find if you google him, and he draws out some of the wider implications of the images used, which range from the universal (Dayspring - the light of the returning dawn) through the collective (Root of Jesse - member of a wider family and tradition) to the individual (King or Key). Doubtless you can think of endless other images that are not used: God as Rock, Fortress, Vine, Warrior, Mother, Ocean. The list is very long! And I suppose this reminds us that we have been waiting for God for many centuries, and that we have seen Him in many different times and places along the way. God journeys with us, but He is also both our end and our beginning. Or, as T S Eliot put it in the last of his Four Quartets:
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."

God bless

Fr Bernard

The Rev'd Dr B Minton
Team Vicar of Linslade
Ouzel Valley Team
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