Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Wonder

The absolutely best television worship/carol programme I have ever seen was on BBC 2 on Christmas Day. If you are in the UK be sure to see it on iPlayer. It was so good I will probably observe the twelve days of Christmas by watching it each day.

It was sensitively filmed in a very dark Winchester Cathedral. What light there was added to the mystery and wonder: blue, rose and amber illuminating the ancient walls and vaulting. The music and readings were lovely, thoughtfully chosen and engagingly read. The faces of the choristers (girls as well as boys and men) quite literally shone with a deep happiness. The only cleric appeared at the very end, the dean, who read a prayer and gave a blessing. The whole presentation was entirely unaffected, a gesture towards the ineffable. It seems an oxymoron to speak of kenotic TV, but this came very close.

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