:: Christmas Away from Home

This was the first Christmas I have been away from my own home over Christmas Day and it did feel strange. I think too the first Christmas I haven\'t been in my own church which was stranger still. The highlight from a spiritual point of view was to attend the Christmas Eve Watchnight service in Winchester Cathedral with Marlyn, Beverley Gillian and Simon, and at least 1500 others, possibly 2000! We got there three quarters of an hour before it started and there weren\'t many seats unoccupied. People kept filing in even as the service was starting. It was quite different from our informal approaches to Christmas of course and yet there was a genuine welcome as we entered. The sermon by the Canon of the Cathedral was simple but thoroughly Christ centred. The singing of the choir lifted the hairs on the back of your neck. The incense bearer was a bit enthusiastic though. He probably felt he had a large cathedral to fill with the aromatic scent!
What I did notice about the congregation was it was all age (including babes in arms at midnight!) It was all nations. It was also free from the typical carousing drunks out for a laugh. I sensed a serious intent by many who were there. There for the right reasons. A most memorable experience. The rest of Christmas Day and the next was Absolute Balderdash. (The board game!) Yesterday flew in from Southampton in time to get into the sales before we were crushed in the rush! Thus ends Christmas. New Year next!