The Guardian reports that the Church of England has noticed that the World Cup Final clashes with Carol Service Sunday (as the 4th in Advent should really be titled).
I'll be honest - this is a bit late to notice. All over the country, parish mags are already being printed on laser printers, linotypes, banda machines and carved out potatoes. The copy deadlines have gone, the harvest is done, and we have not been saved from this calendar clash.
Well, obviously, the Beaker Folk have.We noticed months ago.
That's why on the Saturday before, we will be holding our Night of 6,500 tea lights, one for each migrant worker who died building the stadiums in Qatar. Sunday 18th is being officially renamed Rainbow Day. We are holding our Service of Staring at 4.45 pm that day - ie just before the end of normal time in the final. Anyone arriving late will be stared at. In the case of extra time, we will stare at them during Coffee Time. And we have the special Qatar World Cup Advent Calendar. Each door you open constains the message "Don't watch the World Cup".
Meanwhile the Church Support Hub has a number of suggestions of how Christians can integrate trying to pretend they're doing Christian things with the secular world watching football. These include watching the game, showing the game (if the church has a TV licence, presumably), a Football Nativity, or having a Sports Quiz and Carols at an "alternative" time to the final. Conveniently you can download the quiz here, so if you're invited to a Quiz and Carols: you know what to do.
Down well below the fold on the Church Support Hub, there's a link to a piece on the morality (or not) of Qatar hosting the Christmas World Cup. I note that Libby Lane, Bishop of Derby, is the C of E's "lead bishop" on sport. I look forward to hearing who the lead bishops are for ceramics, crane manufacture, doilies, matt paints in pastel colours, and Christmas decorations.
Well, our Carol service will go ahead on the 18th as we have changed our plans to defy authority (of the Guardian). It was planned for the day before, but we are flexible enough to change it. The magazine isn't printed until the 1st, so still time to change things. Perhaps I should tell the Vicar and Choir director about the change of plan?
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