Thursday 5 December 2013

Advent through different eyes.

Oh no, it's Advent. It always has a habit of sneaking up on me, so when I start to 'prepare', I realise I'm not, so Advent always (it seems) begins with an awareness of my guilt. Of course, guilt's out of fashion in the mainstream culture's, which appear to be sweeping along the remains of Christendom in their flow!

So, having been rightly rebuked for my blogging lapses, I'm getting stuck into advent. A particular delight is my agreement to lead an evening series, at our church, in a moment of weakness. I recall perching one advent sunday last year, making the comment to our administrator I really missed leading series in the same place and Bob's probably her uncle. 
We're making use of The Nativity (surprising that, but I'm talking about the BBC DVD of their 2010 series with Tatiana Maslany as Mary and Andrew Buchan as Joseph). I said it then and a much more careful viewing, this year, has not changed my view, it's brilliant in many ways.
So, one week down on Advent - through different eyes. Last week was built around Mary and we had some great responses, which were prompted by the call to ask where people wanted to look for the hope of God again in their lives. I've been surprised how many people are yet to see the DVD, as this is a real gift. Tony Jordan, who wrote it, comments:  the biggest challenge was to find a fresh way in to tell a story that has been told a million times before – and to make it believable to people. For example, when Mary tells her fiancĂ©e ‘I’m pregnant but it’s God’s’, he says he wanted to show Joseph’s behaviour in a way that would make down-to- earth viewers say ‘OK, I sort of buy that’. If I can help with that process, great.
Next week, which prompted this blog, is Joseph and no, it's not yet prepared! 

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