Sunday 10th December 2017 was such a joyous occasion because we were blessed when we participated in a festival of nine lessons and carols.  I will not say that it has been many years in the planning.  A problem of choosing to worship on the fourth Sunday of every month is that our worship day is always too close to Christmas and sometimes occurs after Christmas to make it practical to organise a regular service let alone a carol service.  This year, however, we had to make special arrangements to bring our day of worship forward to the second Sunday of the month. This change made it possible for us to have a carol service that would be fitting enough to usher in the festive season of goodwill.

So it was, that despite the very cold weather, we decided to leave home early for the one and a half hours journey from Croydon to leafy Ealing to attend the service at London GaDangme Speaking Fellowship taking place at St Andrews Church on Mount Park Road, London SW5.  Unusually, there was a lot of traffic on the road for such a cold day. It had snowed earlier in the morning and I was hoping that the street would be much clearer of traffic.

On the way, my mind went back to the first and only time that I took part in a nativity play – this was so many years ago, the Christmas of 1958, I was in Class 4 or what we then referred to using the old school system as Standard 1.  This was the real start of the upper primary education when we would all be taught fully in the English Language except that this school was the Accra New Town Experimental School and English was the language of instruction right from Class One.

Then it was about practising what I was going to read in English since I had been billed as one of the three wise men who visited the infant Jesus.  Today my mind was more on how I was going to get through reading aloud the Bible passage that I had elected to read in Ga and whether I could get through the correct pronunciation of Yesaiah instead of the English Isaiah. Well, these thoughts kept me going on the journey till I realized that we were going to be late to the service.  Fortunately, we were not the only ones who had been delayed on the route and we got in just as the service was starting.

Excellent service; lessons in English and some Twi but mostly in Dangme and Ga and I read my lesson without much of a hitch despite my anxiety

 

At the end of the service was a spectacular event when the priest asked for all the lights to be put off in the church and managed to get us all in a circle sustained only by candlelight to close up our year of worship so that we might rededicate ourselves for the coming year.

My prayer was a plea for God to help me in my understanding of why I came into the world, to assist me in what more I have to do to live a righteous life and to continue to lead me in a life of duty and service in his cause to allow me to do the good things by his grace and to shower more blessings for which I continue to be thankful and also to be merciful to me for my sins.

 

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Today Christmas Day i share with you the lesson that I read

Yeshaiah 9:1-2, 6-7

1 Shi kɛlɛ duŋ kabitii lɛ woŋ mɔ ni aaahi jramɔ mli lɛ he gbeyei.  Sa lɛ eha Zebulon kɛ Naftali fɛɛ hiɛ shwie shi; shi agbɛn eeewo ŋshɔnaa shikpɔŋ lɛ, Yordan sɛɛ shikpoŋ lɛ, jemaji a-Galilea lɛ, hiɛ nyam

2 Mei ni nyiɛ duŋ mli lɛ, ena la kpeteŋkple ko; mei ni hi duŋ kabitii shikpɔŋ nɔ lɛ, la ekpɛ eha amɛ

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6. Ejaakɛ afɔ bi aha wɔ! afɔ bi nuu aha wɔ. Elumuyelilɛ ka ekɔŋ. Abaatsɛ lɛ Naakpɛɛ Ŋaawolɔ, Nyɔŋmɔ Hewalɔ, Naanɔtsɛ, Hejɔlɛ Lumɔ

7. Emantsɛyeli lɛ shweremɔ kɛ edɛŋ toijɔlɛ esɛɛ efoŋ yɛ David maŋtsɛ sei lɛ nɔ, kɛ emaŋtgswyeli lɛ hei fɛɛ. Ekɛ jalɛ saneyeli kɛ nɔ ni ja feemɔ baaha emantsɛyeli lɛ ama shi kɛya naanɔ. Yehowa Taitsɛ lɛ, kɛ hiɛdɔɔ baafee enɛ

Hope we all have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year