[Magdalen] Greetings

[sally.davies at gmail.com]

First time we missed MM in many a year, but it's too difficult now we live
so far out of town. Keith played organ for Advent 4 at St Johns early on
Sunday morning...yesterday morning we attended a simple but joyful service
at the little farm chapel down the road, St Albans. Lovely carols, chosen
to be a bit different...Good Christian Men, Rejoice! ...and an absolute
favourite of mine, the Calypso Carol. I really love that.

Retired priest came out to celebrate, our clergy here do not seem to retire
from that until they really are too frail to cope with it. His sermon
wandered sbout a bit, loosely organised around "Mary pondered all these
things and treasured them in her heart", a wonderful side note to the
Nativity story with a lot to offer a preacher.

Then a busy day with food as my family came out here for lunch.

Looking forward to a peaceful Boxing Day (known as Family Day here) then
it's back to work tomorrow

Sally D

On Tue, 26 Dec 2017 at 4:47 AM Ann Markle <ann.markle at aya.yale.edu> wrote:

> We had a fairly sparsely attended Advent 4 in the morning (about 17), but
> most of our folks came back. Our only service was 4:30, and we had about
> 100. Lots and lots of kids, pretty chaotic, lots of fun. I attended a 10 pm
> service at another church, and it was sparse, maybe 16.
>
> On Mon, Dec 25, 2017 at 7:30 PM Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Our attendance at both services was about half of what it was last year,
> > and at least half of those at the second service were visitors or C&E
> > people.
> > Quite a few of our regular families were out of town. Also, we had one
> > morning service for Advent 4, and most of the folks who were there did
> not
> > come back in the evening. I wonder if that might have been the case in
> > other places.
> >
> > > On Dec 25, 2017, at 11:58 AM, P. Dan Brittain <pdan.brittain at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > On Mon, Dec 25, 2017 at 9:56 AM, Mahoney, W. Michael <
> > wmmah at stoneledge.net>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> A blessed Christmas to all.
> > >>
> > >> Our midnight service was quite nice but sparsely attended.  It seems
> > that
> > >> it was only a few years ago that it would have been packed.  Are
> others
> > >> seeing the same trend?
> > >>
> > >
> > > ​We had about 100 this year vs 125 last year - but several families​
> were
> > > away on trips.
> >
> > --
> Ann
>
> The Rev. Ann Markle
> Buffalo, NY
> www.onewildandpreciouslife.typepad.com
>