I hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas and managed to find some time to relax and enjoy time with those you love.
Christmas seems a long time ago already but it was lovely to see so many of you at our various services. St. Ippolyts started early with the Crib Festival at the beginning of December which was, as usual, a wonderful event attended by many families, and then we celebrated our Service of Nine Lessons and Carols on Sunday 16th. This was closely followed by the Nativity Procession at Little Wymondley which saw over 150 people processing through the village led by Angelica the goat and Fanando and Hector the fairy-light festooned Alpacas, who I called my ‘happy camels’ - because they had no hump!! Boom Boom!
There were Christingle Services in both Little Wymondley and St. Ippolyts, who also had a Crib Service, all topped off by Great Wymondley’s Living Nativity service which saw your gullible Vicar here playing the Angel Gabriel. What’s so bad about that you may ask? Well, the villagers of Great Wymondley decided in their wisdom that the Angel had to proclaim her words ‘from on high’.......and as a zip wire wasn’t a viable option, they sent me up a rather large ladder in the churchyard!! Alas, the ground was soft and the Vicar large, and the forces of gravity predictable, and by the time I had recited my lines, the ‘Angel Gabriel’ was leaning at a precarious 45 degree angle, propped up heroically by a brave parishioner (Mike Bradley Russell, you are a hero)!!!
As Christmas Eve drew to a close, we gathered at St. Ippolyts Church for Midnight Mass where our Benefice Reader, Howell Davies preached the best sermon I’ve heard in years and brought us all beautifully back to what Christmas is really all about. I went to bed tired but happy and awoke refreshed and ready for our joyful Christmas Day service where the whole Benefice came together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Thank you to everyone whose faith, hard work, and dedication made these services possible.
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And now, by the time you read this, we will be a whole month into the New Year.....and probably three weeks away from when we first forgot our New Year’s resolutions!!! I must admit, that I decided NOT to even attempt to make any resolutions this year because it just seems to set me up for failure, and no-one needs that in January!! I do however plan to
get back on my diet again after my holiday - I am nothing if not a ‘trier’ - so you may yet see a resurgence of the Reinventing the Vicar slot!
Whatever you have planned for this year, I pray that you will take time out to do the things that energize you and find time for the people who matter most.
Wishing you all a blessed and happy New Year.
With love - Ginni
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