Let there be Lights!

So, the grand finale of the once only performance which has been AD2004 beckons. November takes a beaming bow, a smile on his 30-day old face belying the reputation of this month so aptly summed up by Thomas Hood: http://www.firstscience.com/SITE/poems/hood2.asp

It's true, November is often a month I am glad to see the back of. It creeps up on you so suddenly: plunged into afternoon sunset before even the working day is finished (at least, when I am working!), then enrobed in gloom for much of the month. The constant cloudiness of just two days last week felt really oppressive. There is little motivation to do anything, all you want to do really is curl up and sleep. I am sure our troglodyte ancestors had the right answer for what to do with this time of the year, and a considerable part of the animal kingdom still does!

And yet, when the gloom is lifted, it can still be glorious, a sign maybe of the hope and expectancy we now move into as Advent gets into gear properly. Today saw almost uninterrupted sunshine here in Sussex from dawn to dusk. Our life-sustaining star's brightness brilliantly broke through the eminence grise which was the cloud of yesterday and in an instant, everything was changed.
Apart from lifting the gloom, it lowered my electricity bill! Who needs a fan heater on during the day when, for a couple of hours at least, the southern daylight streaming through the window provides nature's free energy. It was a joy to behold, and I could not resist taking a trip out mid-afternoon to make the most of it, having got my car back from the garage at last on Saturday-another source of November nuisance was being without my personal transport for most of the month. I'm still not convinced the underlying electrical problem is fixed, as the lights still seem to be shining brighter than they should be, but for the moment at least the faulty fuel pump which I thought might have masked a terminal problem with the Volvo has been restored to life!

ON EATING THE FIRST MINCE PIE OF ADVENT
I almost feel as though Delius ought to have composed a wonderfully English idyll to celebrate this most Anglo-Saxon of seasonal pleasures! Sunday 28th was of course Advent Sunday this year, or more properly the first Sunday in Advent. This is the time of preparation for Christmas, and also the beginning of the church year in most traditions. It's liturgically logical, even if not calendrically: Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Therefore, as we end the year according to the civil calendar, so also we prepare to celebrate again his coming at a particular point in time around two thousand years ago but perhaps more importantly and his so yearned for coming again.

The world at the end of November 2004 is the same mixture of the praiseworthy and the profane that it ever was, I guess. Palestine stands at a crossroads, and the chance to be grabbed for lasting peace is perhaps more possible now than at any time in the last forty years. In Northern Ireland, even Ian Paisley seems prepared to consider talks in some form with his erstwhile bitter enemies and there is the real prospect of a return to devolved government in the province. Yet while these seeds of hope are being sown, war of course wages on in so many unreported corners of our world and the prospect of new conflict is ever near us. These last ten days have seen crisis in the Ukraine, as the result of the election on November 21st is contested with far more vitriol than ever accompanied the questionable result in the world's "greatest democracy" the USA four years ago.
Meanwhile, what is still a world of such indescribable beauty groans, as the Bible puts it, awaiting the Saviour's return. The leaf fall in this part of England this year seems to be later than ever, adding weight to concerns that global warming is having a lasting effect on our seasons and the threat of permanent, catastrophic effects on low-lying landscapes when seas rise. But still in the sky, the moon shines as does the sun. One night last week, I saw what looked almost like a celestial projector beam from earth's satellite, casting a path of milky white light across a shimmering sea. The starlings continue to perform their nightly aerial ballet in such a fashion as no war hero pilot could ever emulate; six tree tree squadron I like to call them! And today, watching the sun set to the west I understood what Louis Armstrong meant when he sang those memorable words "What a wonderful world". We would do well to remember that.

But what of my fruitful delights that I began with? Well, on Sunday evening, I went along to what was billed as a "welcome tea" at the church I attend here in Eastbourne, Ceylon Place Baptist. Now the name might suggest they are actually in my road- and they were til the beginning of this year. However, a bold decision was made to sell the 130 year old building to a developer, who is now converting this Victorian edifice into luxury apartments, very sensitive to the original architecture, it has to be said. This has meant a move into temporary premises (or is it? God knows- literally) sharing the huge castle-like Central Methodist Church premises. The interesting thing is, this move which many worried about at first seems to be having a remarkably revitalising effect on the life of the church, and I have become increasingly keen to play a part in it.

Anyway, as I've previously remarked in these blogs, normally Sunday evening is a time of comforting goggling, with such fixtures as the Antiques Roadshow and Heartbeat. But the enticing combination of fellowship and food were too much to resist, and the perfect opportunity to actually make use of the video recorder Dixons have now decided to stop stocking. The tea turned out to be open to all in the church, but this was a help rather than a hindrance and it proved to be a great evening. I'd mentioned when replying to my invite how much I liked eating mince pies in Advent, so I was delighted and touched when Rosina, one of the church's tireless servants, arranged a special duet of mince pies just for me. Needless to say, they were very, very tasty- and all the more so for being my first of the year.

DECEMBER DAWNS
So, St Andrew's Day draws to a close too and tomorrow, out come the Advent calendars and it's time too to put up my electric Advent Candle Branch. These are a relatively new part of the Christmas scene here in Britain; my first encounter with them must have been about thirteen years ago in Hove. As there is a large Jewish community there, at first I took them to be a modern menorah, the candle branch lit for the festival of Hannukah, which usually occurs around this time too. Since then however they have become much more common, and it appears this lovely tradition actually originates in Scandinavia. We all need a light to guide us, and the increasing colour of front rooms and public buildings, offices and squares is a joy to behold as the month moves on. Eastbourne seems to have made much more of an effort this year with it's own town centre lights, though they remain static. 8 marks out of 10, I'd say. But the real light that matters will be the one we celebrate in 25 days time. Christmas is coming-alleluia!