CELEBRATING
THE
SEASONS
Also available by the same author:
Celebrating the Saints – Daily Readings for the Calendar of the Church of England
ROBERT ATWELL is an Anglican priest working in the Diocese of London. After six years as Chaplain of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he taught Patristics, he became a monk, spending the next ten years in a Benedictine monastery in the Cotswolds.
This selection of readings of ancient, medieval and reformed (and occasionally, contemporary) spirituality reflects both his scholarly background and many years of prayerful reflection on the Christian tradition.
He is currently Vicar of St Mary’s, Primrose Hill, in north London.
© in this compilation Robert Atwell, 1999
First published in 1999 by The Canterbury Press Norwich
(a publishing imprint of Hymns Ancient & Modern Limited
a registered charity)
St Mary’s Works, St. Mary’s Plain
Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 3BH
Fourth impression 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this publication which is copyright may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Robert Atwell has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as the Author of this Work.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 85311 249 2
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall
CONTENTS
Author’s Notes
Sources of extracts, translations and notes are listed at the end of the book, together with biographical sketches of authors. To keep extracts within reasonable limits whilst maintaining their sense, sentences or paragraphs have sometimes been omitted or transposed. Occasionally these omissions are noted by dots, but normally the text has been left free of marks so as not to distract the reader. Any abridgement, paraphrase or alteration of a text is recorded in the notes.
Important days in the Calendar are supplied with a choice of readings, usually chosen to reflect the spectrum of Patristic, Medieval, Reformation (and occasionally contemporary) spirituality. Readings for Saints’ Days are to be found in the companion volume Celebrating the Saints.
The vast majority of extracts do not exceed 500 words. Where a longer extract is reproduced, square brackets indicate sections which may be omitted if, for example, reading in church necessitates shortening the extract.
INTRODUCTION
Human life, like the dawning of each new day, is rhythmic. Our bodies have their own cycles and rhythms, oscillating between activity and sleep, in concert with the alternation between light and darkness in the world about us. In relation to these changes we construct the patterns of our personal and corporate existence, our days and our weeks, our terms and our vacations, our times of work and our periods of relaxation and rest. Women in particular are sensitive to these movements because of the biological rhythms and changes that govern their bodies. Much of contemporary living, however, at least in the West, has tended to obscure the fundamental patterns of our existence. Electric light mitigates our dependence on daylight. Urban living masks the seasonal fluctuations which so dominate the outlook and priorities of those whose lives depend on an agricultural economy. The abundance of produce on our supermarket shelves throughout the twelve months of the year testifies to our immunity from the vicissitudes of seedtime and harvest.
But the high standards of living we take for granted are paid for at a price – and not simply in the potential exploitation of poorer nations to supply and maintain our affluence. In the shadow of our material security we are in danger of becoming desensitized to the changes and rhythms of the environment that sustains us. And in the wake of our insatiable need for material security we can find ourselves out of touch with ourselves, driven by psychological forces that, if unchecked, do violence to our bodies and their legitimate needs. In short we become ill, both as persons and nations. We talk casually about the ‘absence of God’ in our lives, but God is God, and therefore, by definition, always present. It is we who are not sufficiently at home in our bodies to receive him.
Attending to ourselves as created beings and our place in creation is part of what it means to be human: it is fundamental to what it means to be Christian. Abundant living is both God’s will and his gift to us. But abundance goes hand in hand with ascesis: the vine must be pruned if it is to fruit productively. Personal discipline is not an optional extra for the pious few, but integral to the Christian enterprise, and if it is not to degenerate into negative self-punishment, must accord with the natural movements and rhythms of our souls and bodies and world, implanted as they are by God.
Celebrating the Seasons
It is against this backcloth that the Church’s liturgical year with its various seasons and festivals finds its place. Beginning afresh each year on Advent Sunday, the Church has crafted a rhythm of prayer and worship that continues to shape much of Christian life and thought. In the Book of Proverbs is the grave warning: ‘Cursed be he who removes the ancient landmark