So...I am sorry for not being able to post for the last while... Unfortunately I have not had a computer. I found out before Christmas that my computers motherboard died. :( Sad day! But after getting on the phone to Santa and telling him that Grad School applications needed to be done, it was my dads birthday, and Christmas was coming...I was lucky enough to get a brand new computer brought over with my friend who is visiting from home. So the next few post might take a bit of time to catch up on but bear with me!
So the last I talked about I had been travelling with my church and the YAV's to different retreats. Since then I have gotten to experience such new and exciting things. I got to experience advent, I got to experience running a whole children's service ( which included a mini sermon from me), I got welcomed into someone's home for Christmas dinner, and I rang in the New Year in Dublin.
So Advent is a time about Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. In Regent Street Presbyterian Church advent was done not to much different from home. I found out that it was not until a few years ago when one of the previous YAV'S brought the advent wreath to the church. From then to this day the wreath has been a part of advent. Which since the YAV brought this tradition into the church they keep it the tradition of the YAV to light the candles and read about that candle. So during advent I lit all the candles except for the one Sunday which was the children's service.
So as advent was lurking around the corner I was asked to lead the children's service. This was something I was not sure what to expect but said yes. In the church the children split into three Sunday school classes... Since I'm not positive of the ages... it is basically chresh...which is the babies.... then the young Sunday school class... then the middle age group then the high school kids. So I thought about how to include everyone in the service and in the end... The little ones read poems about Christmas and sang songs... the middle age kids did a skit called Michael the Mouse which was about the nativity story... and the older kids did all the parts of the service and I was luck enough to do the reflection. So all in all it was a very well done service and it turned out lovely all the kids had a great time and the congregation loved it.
Christmas in Northern Ireland... where in the states Christmas services are a huge deal here in Northern Ireland its not that they are not a big deal but they are done a bit differently. In my church here we have both a Christmas eve service and a Christmas day service which both are very informal. They involve many hymns and are basically just a typical service. Christmas day gets quite chaotic because all the children are running about and it is welcomed. There was one child who was running up tot he front of the church banging on the drums and would be followed by his father.. so it was very informal. But none the less it was very lovely. The church was all decorated and everyone was in a great Christmas spirit. After the service I was invited to Gordy's (who is my boss at The LINK) family's Christmas dinner. It was absolutely lovely. A full spread of turkey and Ham and potatoes and veggies and then cheesecake for desert. It was wonderful. During Christmas everyone in the church was wonderful.. I think maybe for about three to four weeks leading up to Christmas I was getting gifts from many different church members. It was lovely, and it made me feel at home.
After Christmas, I was lucky enough to have a friend come visit me from home. She came and stayed for three weeks and so we got to travel around and we rang in the New Year in Dublin. It was grand, two other YAV'S were in Dublin for New Year's so we all went out for food and then went to a pub to count down until the new year. The pub gave everyone a free glass of champagne. It was a beautiful New Year.
Well I will continue to post more about the recent times so look forward to the next post which will cover things from before Christmas and into the New Year. The photo upload is not working right now... So I will post them when it is working again. :) Miss and love you all!
LIZ
