Day 1 ( keep singing )

Whoop whoop!  It's that time of year again!!   Is it me or is it coming round ever more rapidly?  Hardly seems like any time at all since I was blogging about last advent!   

Usually at the start of this countdown to Christmas season I'm complaining that I am not feeling in the slightest Christmassy.  But yesterday I sang  carols in a choir at the switch on of the christmas lights and then headed out for a full blown christmas dinner with crackers and turkey and pudding and the works - so I'm actually feeling really quite festive already.   I thoroughly recommend starting your Advent with christmas carols.  So many of them are full of truth and hope.   One of the things I really love about this season is the fact that in so many shops and public places strains of the gospel message are being played over the airways.  People find themselves humming these tunes to themselves and singing along ...... for Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas Day...... the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head...... holy infant so tender and mild...... joy to the world the Lord is come...... these seasoned familiar words are so much a part of us that we can be humming them as we shop in Tesco barely aware of the truths which are rising up within us.   It is such a huge blessing to live in a country where singing is such a part of the culture and music celebrates the major milestones in our lives and our years.  

I remember when I lived in Edinburgh going to the firework display at the end of the Edinburgh Festival.   If you have never been then you wont be able to imagine the extent of the spectacle and the impact of the hundreds of thousands of fireworks being set off to the music of a full orchestra playing in Princes St Gardens and being broadcast simultaneously on the radio to the thousands of people standing in parks and on street corners all over the city.   It is truly breathtaking.   This particular year the fireworks were being sponsored by the Bank of Scotland.  The huge finale that year was set to the Hallelujah Chorus of Handels Messiah.  And the fireworks were amazingly formed in the shape of the St Andrew's cross ( the symbol of the Bank of Scotland)    So as I stood in the pitch black in a park half a mile away from the castle with the radio on , I watched dozens of crosses being fired high into the sky whilst a choir belted out the words

'And He shall reign forever and ever.  King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Forever and ever Hallelujah!'

People all over Edinburgh stood with their eyes raised to heaven, singing their hearts out whilst huge crosses of fire hung in the sky.  It was the most amazing and powerful thing.  It gave me goosebumps. I believe it was significant for the city.   Something happens when people come together to sing and declare truth in praise to God. ( Even if they dont know that that is what they are doing )😊

So this Advent season whenever you hear a christmas carol on the television or radio or in a shopping mall or supermarket - sing along!   Join in.  Add your voice and take every chance to declare the truth.  There may come a day when ' religious music' is no longer tolerated in public spaces and then how we will miss our carol singing.