Sunday, 25 Nov-07: Christ the King / Sunday Next Before Advent.

The period up until Advent was called the Kingdom of Christ by a previous RC Pope. It was adopted by the Anglican Catholic Church and is now part of the Common Lectionary of the Church. It certainly changes the tempo today as we look again, at the end of the Church Year, at the end of Christ's earthly life and we re-visit the cruxifiction, all in anticipation of Advent. Already the Church is preparing the Advent services including the annual Festival of Nine Lessons with Carols when we once again go through the Bible, first re-reading the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of The Lord, and then the NT accounts of his humble coming. So year after year we experience the coming of a baby, who is Christ the Lord. As the hymn describes him as 'Crown him the Lord of years'.

The Episcopal and Anglican seasonal changes, with changes in the colours of frontals, vestments, service settings and attention to seasonal Bible readings, hymns and prayers has always endeared me to The Church. Other Churches do not lay emphasis on this at all which, to my mind, is rather dull by comparison. The changes even in the Liturgical prayers enhances the period of Advent or, as the Liturgy also calls it, "The Anticipation". The richness of the central focus, which does not change, is the Liturgy itself, is a wonderful feeling of 'sameness', of basic security always there for us.

Busy time and a new atmosphere then at St Aidan's; also to do with Colin, our Assistant Priest, taking over the day-to-day work, although much is delegated outwards to folk as he is supposed to be part-time! We all know that part-timers work as long as full-timers.
I am attempting to draw the Vestry towards a more structured, business like approach in church business and I am trying to formulate a detailed committee structure from which we can delegate specific tasks outward. At present we have three Committees - Finance, Fabric and Social. I shall suggest a third - Administration Committee. In all Committees there will be delegated work from the Vestry, and delegation to certain folk, not necessarily on the Vestry, who have particular expertise. Our first meeting of the newly elected Vestry is on 12/12/07, so we shall see.