Christmas

Dear friends,

Christmas is nearly upon us and for most of us in the UK it is a white one.  Lovely to look at and play in, but not so good for travelling.  Joy is spending Christmas in Sydney, Australia where it is very hot so the contrast couldn’t be greater.  I like the snow, and the way it slows you down and makes you stop and take notice of the world outside. The first piece on my website http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk/ was written at the beginning of December when the cold weather started.

Waiting

How fitting – the first really cold day on the first of December.  There is a frost on the ground and the air is sharp and still; I was even cold in bed.  The sky, though, the sky is bright against the black outlines of the trees, bright enough to find my way but not to read words.  The birds are singing as ever and I can see the passage of a plane, its white trail the only cloud among the blue-white pale of sky. 

To read the rest, go to http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk/view/words

As well as getting colder, the darkness has been increasing, unnoticed through the Christmas lights and rush, heading towards the solstice which was at the beginning of the week.  I used to look forward to the slow returning of the light it ushered in, forgetting it was also the season that was most cold and bare.  I have learnt my lesson – I no longer call it winter until we are well into December. 

The tide of dark nights

Oh, it’s wonderful down here in my own little world.  If I switch this light off I’m in a cloak of dark velvet, pierced by the porch lights.  The moon is leaning towards her crescent, tipping southwards but still so bright in the indigo sky.  Hanging over the garden is a faint mist which disappears as you walk into it for the sky is clear and we are open to the breaths of heaven.  Only four days until the solstice, until the shortest day and longest night. 

To read the rest, go to http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk/view/words

Lastly a piece I wrote on Christmas day last year, thinking about the familiar story, and wondering what it meant for God to become man.

Christmas

Christmas Day.  The church bells are ringing, a plane is still flying overhead and the birds sing and soar as normal.  The sky isn’t closed and grey today, it is open with delight, brightness shining from the still hidden sun.  What a thing it is to think about God becoming man.  A folly or impossibility to some, and a matter of common knowledge that fails to thrill for others.  Let’s mix them up.  Let’s imagine what it means, what it was like.

To read the rest, go to http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk/view/words

Have a wonderful Christmas.

Love Jane