From 29th November, Advent Sunday, until ChristmasDay, we will be sending out by email a prayer for theday. If you are not yet on the St Mary’s Newsletteremail list and would like to receive the daily prayerthen please send your email address toraymondwhittaker53@gmail.com.

Church in the Garden continues every Sunday at 10amwhen you can join Ben and family via Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/sharingJesuswithall/

On Sunday 20th December at 4pm there will be aLivestream Christingle from the Vicarage garden viathe Facebook page when you can join in with makinga Christingle.

On Sunday 20th December at 6pm join in the BigCarol Sing. Let’s get back on the doorstep and singcarols together and keep hope alive this Christmas.Tune into Radio Cumbria at 6pm and the carols willbegin after the news. Visit www.bigcarolsing.co.uk todownload and print the carol sheet.

St Mary’s Church will be open from 4pm until 8pm onChristmas Eve with a very special installation of light,sound and decorations that will celebrate Christmasand the joy of carols. You will find carol themeddecorated trees, crib scenes, projected images,atmospheric lighting and a soundtrack of carols, so docome along and experience a very different ChristmasEve at St Mary’s. Please dress for the weather as we willhave to restrict the number of people inside at any onetime so you may be queuing and also wear a mask andmaintain social distancing. Please enter by the doublegate on the south side opposite the Green. Thank you.

There are 6 mini trees that need decorating,each one on the theme of a carol so if you would liketo decorate one call Geoff Gray on 01228 547419 -first come, first served!. You are invited to bring a gift with you for theFoodbank and place it in the crib in front of the altar.Canned meat, pasta, pasta sauce, crisps, biscuits andany other dried foods are particularly welcome.

December 2020 Sponsored by Bettie & Geoff Gray

I doubt if anyone two years ago could have imagined what 2020 would look like. This Christmas will be differentto any that any of us can remember. But this Christmas and Advent may be more similar to the first Christmasthan we initially realise.

Mary and Joseph did not have their parents and families present when they welcomed Jesus into theworld. The Angels did not have a church to sing in and the shepherds worshipped Jesus in the stable of an inn.We are unlikely to have large gatherings or to be able to meet in churches and parties. Yet, we can prepare towelcome Jesus without a choir, without a church and without large gatherings of friends and family.

We celebrate the birth of Jesus into the world and we celebrate inviting Jesus into our lives. When weinvite Jesus into our lives we invite him into our home and our families; into our work and our play. When weinvite Jesus into our lives he redeems us from sin, forgiving all that we have done. He brings light into darkness.He offers us Eternal life. That means bringing hope in fear and life in death. That is something to celebrate -something to be merry about.

My hope and prayer for you is that you will be able to find this light in the darkness and that you will beable to celebrate this Christmas. I pray that you can praise even if it is only on a hillside, that you can worshipeven if only in a humble home and that you can welcome Jesus even if we cannot gather to do so. God bless

vicarindalston@gmail.com

Thank you to everyone who voted for their favouritecarol. A great variety were chosen with 36 differentcarols. Here, in reverse order, are St Mary’s Top Ten:

In Roquemaure, a small town close to Avignon in thesouth of France, at the end of 1843, the church organhad recently been renovated. To celebrate the event,the parish priest persuaded poet Placide Cappeau, anative of the town, to write a Christmas poem. Soonafterwards, Adolphe Adam composed the music.Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight translatedthe song into English in 1855 as .It is performed here by Celtic Trio and Choir:https://youtu.be/ITIaYoWCPkE

The words of are by English writerIsaac Watts and are based on Psalm 98 - ‘Shout forjoy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant songwith music’. It was first published in 1719 in Watts'collection . The tune usually usedtoday is from an 1848 edition by the Americanchurch music composer Lowell Mason and attributedas being ‘from Handel’. The all-boy English vocalgroup, Libera, perform it here:https://youtu.be/5IH8A86FLs0

It is curious that the origin of the words to one of themost popular carols, , is soobscure. An early appearance was in 1882, in theChicago based journal, under the heading ‘Luther's Cradle Song’, attributingit to the German religious reformer. This is nowconsidered to be spurious and it is probably entirelyAmerican in origin. The tune we are most familiarwith is ‘Cradle Song’ by the American composerWilliam J Kirkpatrick but in the States the setting byJames R Murray is more common, as sung here bySufjan Stevens:https://youtu.be/vTzdJWZ2FRE

was written by PhillipsBrooks in 1868. He was an Episcopal priest inPhiladelphia and had been inspired by a visit to thevillage of Bethlehem. He wrote the poem for hischurch, and his organist, Lewis Redner added themusic, ‘St Louis’. We are more familiar with the tunecalled ‘Forest Green’ which was adapted by RalphVaughan Williams from the English folk song ‘ThePloughboy's Dream’ which he had collected from alabourer in Forest Green, Surrey in 1903. Here it issung by the choir of King’s College, Cambridge:https://youtu.be/VJqgspx57C0

is an 1849 poemwritten by Edmund Sears a pastor of the UnitarianChurch in Wayland, Massachusetts. A year laterRichard Storrs Willis set it to music and his tune,‘Carol’, remains the most popular in the States. Weare more familiar with ‘Noel’, a later adaptation byArthur Sullivan from an English melody sung here bythe choir of Winchester Cathedral:https://youtu.be/rSn0_Zj6gjQ

first appeared in 1739in the collection . It featureslyrical contributions from Charles Wesley andGeorge Whitefield, two of the founding ministers ofMethodism. Wesley had requested slow and solemnmusic and it wasn’t until 1855 that it was set to thefamiliar tune adapted from a cantata by FelixMendelssohn. This performance is by the RadioFrance Children’s Choir:https://youtu.be/s1BPxZombgw

or Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht was firstperformed on Christmas Eve 1818 at St Nicholasparish church in Oberndorf, a village on the Salzachriver in Austria. The young priest, Father JosephMohr, had written the lyrics two years earlier andasked Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organistin a nearby village to compose a melody and guitaraccompaniment for the Christmas Eve mass, afterriver flooding had damaged the church organ.Listen to the Vienna Boys’ Choir perform Stille Nacht:https://youtu.be/vKvKMgR8H7k

The origin of , or AdesteFideles in the original Latin, is rather uncertain andconfused. It is often credited to John Francis Wade, acopyist of musical manuscripts, who was responsiblefor the earliest printed version in 1751. The earliestknown manuscript version, though, bears the nameof King John IV of Portugal, ‘The Musician King’(1645-1692) and the text is also often attributed toanonymous Cistercian monks. Listen to it being sungat Westminster Abbey:https://youtu.be/l1wHyMR_SCA

was originally written asa poem by Cecil Frances Alexander and firstpublished in 1848 in her .It was set to music a year later by the English organistHenry John Gauntlett. The Festival of Nine Lessonsand Carols in King’s College, Cambridge traditionallybegins with a chorister solo of the first verse:https://youtu.be/TT3cfXd3Shk

is based on a poem by theEnglish poet Christina Rossetti and was published,under the title A Christmas Carol, in January 1872.The poem first appeared set to music by Gustav Holstin in 1906. Christina was sisterto the Pre-Raphaelite painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti,who visited St Mary’s in 1869 and wroteenthusiastically about the church. Listen to King’sCollege Choir sing the Harold Darke setting of 1911:https://youtu.be/Gppy3xsk6c0

Isaiah 9:6-7 

.Imagine the longed for hope for all who lived underthe oppression of the Roman occupation. The birth ofJesus was amazing HOPE. Every evidence pointed tohim being the long awaited for Messiah - Saviour,who would bring in the Kingdom of God.

As he grew and called disciples to follow him,as they witnessed his miracles and heard his powerfulwords, HOPE grew - expectations were raised. Theywould soon be free.

Even though Jesus kept teaching them that hisKingdom was not like the kingdoms of the world, intheir minds this was hard to grasp. Even though hesaid he would suffer and die, they could not hear this,as they imagined a new Kingdom coming in withpower and force - this was their experience in history.

THEN - when Jesus was crucified imaginehow they felt. All hope and expectation dashed.Worse still must have been the thought that they hadgot it all wrong. Now their lives were under threatand they were afraid.

Three days later the most remarkable lifechanging event took place - Jesus broke the power ofdeath and rose from the grave. Imagine seeing Jesusagain - standing right in front of you. HOPE cameflooding back in much greater waves than before.

Though they knew they would face pain,suffering, death - they also now knew it was not invain. That Jesus had sacrificed all so we might livewith him forever in his Kingdom. No more pain, nomore Coronavirus, no more loss, no more loneliness,no more death.

We know what is coming - we know the endof the story: 

.(Rev 21:4)  Sheryl Haw

The theme for the January Newsletter will beResolutions. Send me yours, or recount ones past thatyou have kept or broken, or perhaps just your wishesand hopes for 2021. I look forward to hearing fromyou at raymondwhittaker53@gmail.com.

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4a,60a Minimus Equus asinus (6,6)8a Mary Berry loses 4 letters (5)10a,40d,54d,35a,14d One time in Bethlehem (4,2,5,6,4)16a,65d,14a Muddled army yob’s underage(5,3,5)18a A win every time includes a drink (4)20a,17d,30d,8d,38d,63a Rejoicing grandads?

(2,4,8,3,2,3)21a,27d Tannenbaum (3,4)24a,43d Sounds like Sir was speechless (6,5)26a A sign of vermin retreating (4)29a Precipitation is expensive I hear (8)31a,36d She sings Caribbean songs (7,5)37a Missing letter (4)41a,50a A noisy happy battle? (4-4,7)47a,44d,50d Male clergy? (4,9,3)52a,5d,39a,1d Miserable 21st December (2,3,5,9)53a,59a,70a Lots new about information technology (3,2,4)56a Ilex aquifolium (5)61a It’s the magi(c) number (5)64a Contrary girl (4)65a,62d Sounds like trepanning (5,4)

68a,23a,28d,48a,55a I hear a mix of sleigh handler agents (4,3,6,6,4)69a,20d,33a Starched and ironed (5,3,4)

2d,11a,58a 15.01 (4,5,6)3d,71d,72a O small forgery! Heaven above (6,2,5)7d,6a,18d Nice ruler knots up new laces (4,4,9)11d Battery or rechargeable? (7)13d,32a Announcer stirs Belgian lager (5,7)15d,22a,45a Travellers confuse the Greeks win (2,5,5)19d The boss without a bed (6)24d Pie men? (9)25d Drink up! I hear the big fish has swallowed a donkey (7)42d You’ve passed your driving test (6)46d Hedera helix (3)47d Male convenience (9)49d Stir up skin balm for young sheep (8)51d,9a,12a Invite to confuse a hateful filly(1,4,3,2,8)57d Log in for Christmas (4)66d, 34d Shaken GG gone to drink (3,3)67d It’s cold in the Arctic year (3)

All answers are found in Christmas carols and songs

4th The Angel Gabriel Wreay Syke Fold Lynn & Mike5th Candlelight Carol Candlemas Cottage Helen & Fito6th Hark the Herald Angels Sing Forge House Tracy & Malcolm7th TBC High Wreay Lisa & Nathan8th Little Drummer Boy The Glebe The McKenzie Family9th Go Tell it on the Mountain Wreay School Wreay School10th Little Donkey Wreay School Wreay School11th Carol of the Bells Winton Chapel Hill The Bell Family12th In the Bleak Midwinter Holly Cottage Wendy & Dave13th Do You Hear What I Hear? Chapel Hill Jane14th O Little Town of Bethlehem Church View The Robinson Family15th Silver Bells The Green Sherrie & Stuart16th Away in a Manger Wreay Syke Cottage The Green Family17th O Holy Night Tarbrax Celia & Derek18th I Saw Three Ships The Garden House Lois & Raymond19th Once in Royal David’s City The Sheiling Sheryl & Libby20th We Three Kings Park House East Vanessa & Rob21st The Holly & the Ivy Park House West Veronika & Ed22nd Ding Dong Merrily on High Gingerbread Cott. Michael23rd Silent Night Wreay Syke The Bull Family24th Good King Wenceslas St Mary’s Church Wreay School

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Each decorated window will berevealed at 6.30pm on the dayand will be based on a carol.The window decorations willstay up until Twelth Night.

All windows will be visiblefrom the road so feel free tofollow the trail but pleasemake sure that you are visibleto passing motorists.

Thank you to all those who aretaking part and helping uscelebrate the joy of carols thisChristmas. Thanks also to CeliaPotts for coming up with theidea and organising it.

Parkhouse

VillageHall

St Mary’s

High Wreay

Chapel Hill

The Plough

School