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A group met for several weeks in the fall to discuss this book, written by a doctor, about how
the medical profession can improve the ways in which it deals with people in the process of
making end of life choices. The group at St Peter’s had the opportunity to think various choices
that each of us face and to consider what will hold the most value for us as we make decisions
about how to live out the last years of our lives.
Advent, 2015
The Advent study in November and December was based on the 4 Canticles or songs in the
early chapters of the Gospel of Luke. We used Paul-Gordon Chandler’s book,
Songs in Waiting
,
written while he was a Rector of the Episcopal St. John's Church/Maadi in Cairo, part of the
Episcopal Diocese of Egypt and North Africa. While it is short, the combination of art,
scriptures and his stories of both Christian and Muslim life make this book a Christmas staple.
We added music and additional art to Chandler’s examples. We also brought in Raymond
Brown’s seminal work on the birth of the Messiah.
The four canticles included The Magnificat or Song of Mary, The Benedictus or Song of
Zechariah, The Gloria or Songs of the Angels to the Shepherds, The Nunc Dimititis or Song of
Simeon. All of these stories have a common idea of the strong faith of the key characters -
Mary, Zechariah, the Shepherds and Simeon and their willingness to believe the Angels who
brought the message of God. They were not hindered by their background or station in life and
were receptive to believe God’s word and act upon it. The Shepherds, for example, abandoned
their fields, visited the manger and shared with the world what they had learned.
The lectionary's focus next Christmas will be on the Gospel of Matthew so this course could
lead to a study of Matthew’s very different treatment of the birth of Jesus.