Christmas Carols

I came into the office for the HR Coffee Break that was happening, and also just to get out of the flat and give my flatmate a chance to rest (as she has been quite sick recently). And then as I was talking to people during the coffee break, they mentioned that after work that evening was the Accenture Christian Fellowship Christmas Carol service. Given that I've been very lame about making it to church so far this Advent season, I thought, "Why not go along?"

I walked with two other women from the office down a small winding cobblestone street near the office all lit up with Christmas lights, and came around a corner to enter this ancient old stone cathedral church, right in the middle of London. We walked in, and instantly I was hit by the smell of incense, and we took our seats in the old wooden pews on the left side of the church. I was actually surprised by how many people there were, easily about 150 people from the company in attendance. I had to wonder to myself, "I wonder if this sort of thing would ever happen at a US office?" After all, as much as you try to have an ecumenical service, there's always everyone's various brands of Protestantism, but here it basically is just understood that everyone is CoE. Makes things simple, in a way, to have a state church!

The service was really lovely, singing classic carols like Silent Night and The First Noel. There were readings by various Accenture employees, and I even recognized the Senior Executive in charge of Human Capital Strategy giving one of the gospel readings. My mind was pretty much blown by this, as well as by the large numbers of rather cute, fit, young men in attendance. Perhaps I need to start going to church more? Although I did giggle a bit at the prayers, where in addition to the usual petitions for peace on earth, food for the hungry and comfort to the suffering, they also offered our "thanks and gratitude for the privilege of being able to work at Accenture." Seriously? Did we just give thanks to God for our company? You've got to be kidding me.

The sermon was given by the husband of my HR Rep, although it was only halfway through the sermon that it dawned on me, "Hey, that guy has the same last name as Lucy!" It was a nice sermon, a bit academic, although I did get a laugh at one line where he talked about the Magnificat, and the line that "He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away."

Of course, when talking to people who are unquestionably wealthy (as we are), I think it's always a tricky thing, but the vicar made the good point that Jesus enjoyed the hospitality of many rich men during his life, but they were noted for being humble and grateful for the blessings they enjoyed, and eager to share them. He then quoted the famous American preacher Dwight L. Moody that "God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves".

I'd never heard that quote before, and absolutely loved it. And as I sat there, I just reflected once again at the extraordinary good fortune I enjoy in my life, and thought about how important it is to not get hung up on what we do not have or the short-comings of our lives, but simply to marvel at all the blessings we enjoy. And so I just sat there in the pew, doing what we so often do in yoga class, which is to "send love out to into the universe". Okay, so I have no wish to give up the blessings of my life, but I would do well to remain humble and grateful for the extraordinary life I have.

After the service, we all gathered drinking mulled wine and eating mince pies, and I was so surprised when my friend Nat was there! She's always one of my favourite people to see, so it was great to see her and get a chance to catch up for a bit, and make plans for lunch on Tuesday. Lucy's husband handed out copies of a book he had (I'll have to read it at some point), and I stayed far too late chatting with random people (why can I never extract myself from social situations?), before finally heading home.

And then as I went, I passed a Tesco, and thought to myself, "Why not pop in and check out the flowers?" You see, I'd had this brilliant idea to put red roses in my hair for the ball the next day, but was then horrified to get to the grocery store yesterday and find that they had no red roses! And none of the stores I'd checked since then had them either!

Wouldn't you know it? That little store had one bunch of dozen red roses in a perfect dark red colour, and they were even marked down to £2 because they were about to go off. Sometimes the extraordinary coincidences and good fortune of my life amaze even me. So perhaps it was God's little way of smiling at me and saying, "Go to church and see what you get?" It's funny how sometimes things work out perfectly like that...