December Newsletter! - Eric in the UK

St. Pancras News
December

A Birthday at Our of Lady of Walsingham
The craziness of the Advent season led me to really enjoy my stay at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. The village of Walsingham is a population of barley 500 people and sits out with the grazing sheep 175 miles north of London. The shrine itself takes up about half of the town with it's residence halls, church, conference center, and offices. The shrine prides itself on being as "high church" as possible. I respected their quest in this venture as they wanted to express each and every act of worship well and with purpose. This sense of doing tasks with purpose stemmed to how they ran every element of worship during the whole weekend retreat. The retreat was called "Adoraemus", meaning "new life". It was for anyone ages 18-30 and about 50 participants showed up for the "pilgrimage". It surprised me how many different areas of England everyone represented.
The usual schedule was very lax and would go in a pattern as follows: 1. go to morning worship, 2. have lunch, 3. go to the pub, 4. afternoon study, 5. go to the pub, 6. have dinner, 7. go to the pub, 8. have evening worship, 9. go to the pub again. There was only one pub in the village that was called "The Bull". It was a nice, quaint little place right in the town square. As you would walk in, you would think it any other normal small village pub...... until you saw all of the pictures of past Shrine priests and icons of saints on the walls. Yes, this was no ordinary pub- this was a "churchy" pub. Thus, my afternoons and evenings in Walsingham were usually spent "drinking down a pint", looking at the pictures of Jesus on the wall, and having deep theological discussions.
These discussions would include lessons for me (the only Lutheran in the entire village which gained me the nickname "Martin") in high-church practices of the Church of England. For example, on the first evening we all gathered in the Shrine Church for an Advent Carol Service to mark the beginning of Advent. It was an absolutely beautiful service filled with candle light and more familiar hymns. It came to the end of the service which I thought I had down pat- Eucharist, Lord's Prayer, Blessing, Benediction, done. I triumphantly was speaking the Lord's Prayer when I suddenly realized that everyone else had dropped out. In the more Eastern Orthodox tradition (which the Church of England borrows some elements from) the last part of the Lord's Prayer (For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever etc..) is not said. Thus, I did an entire solo of the more “western” addition to the Lord's Prayer completely by myself with everyone looking at me blankly. And if that weren't enough, as soon as the priest said the blessing I got out of my chair and walked down the isle thinking it was time to go. Everyone suddenly started kneeling again! I quickly lunged for a kneeler as I turned around and saw the priest pick up this huge frame of a GIGANTIC communion waffer with little flames shooting out of the sides. He then proceeded to take this huge star-bursty thing and wave it around in front of the congregation while the organ played a "Star Wars" type theme. I was very perplexed.
I was told afterwards that this star-burst thing was actually called a Monstrance. It is used to signify Christ physically being here with us. The Monstrance is quite important in major feasts as it is the culmination of Christ in the Eucharist and Christ in the body. It was a very interesting thing to have learned, even if it was through embarrassment. And so, my birthday (December 1st) became a day of really "being" in the stillness of this village and learning new worship traditions in a pub that had Jesus portraits hanging on the walls. Needless to say, it will be a birthday I will never forget!

The French have Arrived!
This past month has been very exciting as it marked the beginning of a new relationship with the Parish of St. Pancras in Camden Town and the Parish of St. Vincent de Paul in Paris. This church relationship started about 10 years ago when it was announced that Eurostar would build a high-speed rail line from London to Paris and use the St. Pancras Railway Station as it's staging point. Two weeks ago, 10 parishioners from St. Vincent de Paul traveled from Paris to London in 2 hours and 4 minutes on this brand new Eurostar line. They were greeted by a group of parishioners from St. Pancras and Father Nicholas extending a welcoming smile and handshake. What an exciting moment!
We packed a full day in with our French guests. I had the privilege of taking them to St. Michael's Primary School during a school assembly. The kids had learned simple French greetings and were very enthusiastic about talking in French. One of the French parishioners was a primary school teacher in Paris and was overjoyed to see all the kids so excited about learning French! The priest from St. Vincent de Paul knew very little English, but communicated very well with the kids in funny facial expressions and with another parishioner translating. We then took the group of visitors to the St. Pancras Hospital where Owen and Father Malcolm explained the hospital chaplaincy ministry that our congregation does. The hospital even allowed our group to enter one of the Psychological wards where we talked with different patients. I think it was a very big eye opener for our parish friends. The two congregations are remarkably similar. They both equal around 300 worshipers and are very urban parishes. They are both struggling with how to combat homelessness in their local communities and are committed to alcohol and drug prevention ministries. Both parishes are also struggling with the continuing pressure of secularism and dwindling resources. All of these things draw the two churches together in a very intimate way. What an incredible experience it was to listen to the sharing of joy, challenge, and hope these people shared with one another.
The evening ended with a service of thanksgiving that was both in English as well as French. The CEO of Eurostar, Bishop of Edmonton, Mayor of Camden, rail workers, and parishioners all packed Old St. Pancras Church for the event. In a tremendous gesture of unification, the Catholic priest of St. Vincent de Paul even shared the Eucharist (against normal Catholic doctrine) with his fellow Church of England counterparts. All of this touched me, but, perhaps the most remarkable image I will take away from the evening was when the two parishes gathered around their priests on either side of the sanctuary in a blessing. The two priests said prayer intercessions together, each in their respective languages, with the bishop blessing them at the end. Finally, after concluding with the Lord's Prayer, the two priests happily shook hands and exchanged gifts. There was then an instant roar of enthusiasm and parishioners from the two sides immediately came together in a wash of laughter, handshakes, and greetings. It was a night when two cultures that have historically been separated by geographical, political, and economic barriers came together in a spirit of hope for the future. What an incredible privilege it was to be a part of such an event.

The Christmas Spirit of London
The holiday season in London has been one of mixed emotions for me. It is my first Christmas away from home which is always a hard thing to get used to. I catch myself a lot thinking about "what my family and friends must being doing right now" and day-dreaming of the Swedish meatballs, St. Olaf Christmas music, and lutefisk that are all staples in my family's holiday tradition. I have come to realize that one cannot fully appreciate and cherish the holiday traditions of their family until they come into a situation where those elements are no longer the norm. I have given up trying to explain the "concept" of lefsa to the English. They simply can't perceive how something so sweet can go with the main meal and try to serve it as a desert. How do you get yourself to laugh on Christmas? Try getting a proper Englishman to roll a piece of lefsa at the dinner table. I promise you will be laughing for hours!
In an attempt to get myself out of the "feeling sorry for myself because I am not at home for Christmas" mood, I have specifically been looking for new traditions that the English in London cherish in their Christmas Holiday. Firstly, I have discovered the interesting cake thing called a "Mince Pie" that is the bread and butter of any English Christmas meal. English grocery chains such as Sainsbury's and Morrison's PACK their shelves with these little pies and one couldn't get away from them even if they tried. I have eaten Mince Pies at church, on the street, at school, in people's homes, before concerts, after concerts, and even for desert AFTER desert. Yes, Mince Pies are taking over Great Britain. I have yet to find out about the joys of Christmas pudding, however. Many Londoners, I have come to observe, make a huge fuss about WHEN to serve the Christmas pudding, namely BEFORE or AFTER the Queen's address. Thus far, in my official count, families who serve their pudding after the Queen's address are out numbering families who serve it before. Although, this carefully orchestrated study has yet to be completed. I will let you know the results once they become available.
The final thing that I have come to observe about Londoners and how they celebrate Christmas is their absolute fascination with Christmas caroling. I think I should open up a business on the side called "Eric's Christmas Caroling Shop". In it, I would just hire singers to sing Christmas songs for people to stop by and listen. I would make more money than Bill Gates! Lou, one of our parishioners, works at a Youth Drop-in Center in a section of Camden called Somers Town. She takes some of their clients out and goes Christmas caroling as a fundraiser for their yearly activities budget. After one afternoon of caroling, they came back with two thousand pounds ($4,100)! The church gets into the caroling spirit as well by allowing various groups to come in and have "special carol services". One of the funniest things I have seen in a long time was watching Father Nicholas try and lead 150 railway workers in a carol service. It was a sight to see!
I have also been involved with this caroling frenzy as I have been taking my 35 kids in the St. Michael's Primary School Gospel Choir to different places around London and singing Christmas favorites. I got the chance to direct these kids in the great lobby of the British Museum which was incredible! I will never forget some of the children's faces as they sang. These kids have had an enormous impact on me in how they project the Christmas spirit. Although about 20 of the 35 children are Muslim, they still convey joy and warmth in a remarkable way. It continues to remind me how much the Christmas spirit unites us on many fronts.
In a city where community can be hard to find, there is something about this time that changes the way everyone lives and works here. Perhaps it can best be described in my experience with an elderly man as I was tromping up Camden Road with a Christmas tree for St. Paul's Church on my shoulder. The man (who spoke very little English) turned his head to me and gave me a big smile. "Merry Christmas to You!", he said. I turned, smiled back, and also wished him a Merry Christmas. For only these few days, Londoners seem to actually be "looking up" and smiling at each other. People are stepping a little out of their boundaries and actually acknowledging others' presence as they smile to each other. This to me is a powerful example of the joy of Christmas. May you, this season, be able to see how this spirit influences both yourself and your surrounding community. Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Years to you!