The dark days of Advent and Parson Woodforde

Dec. 18 ... I read Prayers and Preached this Morning at Weston - the diary of Parson Woodforde.

It was the Fourth Sunday in Advent 1785, with one week until Christmas Day. The congregation at Morning Prayer in Weston Church would have heard Parson Woodforde pray the collect of the day: "O Lord, raise up (we pray thee) thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us ...". And, of course, the Advent collect would have rung out: "give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life".

Parson Woodforde's sermon would have been on a text from the lessons of the day, perhaps from Isaiah 30:1-27, the Old Testament reading appointed in the Proper Lessons for Sundays in the Prayer Book:

For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength ...

At the Ante-Communion, the words of the Epistle would, no doubt, have been heard in light of the approaching festive celebration: "Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, Rejoice." The seasonal greenery may have already appeared in Weston Church, marking the approach of Christmas. 

It is all, of course, rather understated when compared to the Advent known by 21st century Anglicans. No rousing Advent hymns, no Advent wreath, no liturgical purple, no busy rounds of carol services and children's nativity services, no parish choir rehearsing for Nine Lessons and Carols. I thoroughly enjoy the great hymns of Advent; I delight in the nativity service in our parish; and regard the Nine Lessons and Carols (always with a packed congregation) as a beautiful and deeply meaningful expression of Anglicanism. But, I do feel something of a sense of regret at not knowing the contemplative nature of Morning Prayer on Fourth Sunday in Advent, its very ordinariness stilling us amidst the preparations for the festive season. We might, therefore, have something to learn from Parson Woodforde in Weston Church on that Fourth Sunday in Advent 1785.

That said, Advent 1776 had been somewhat different in Weston Church:

Dec. 8th ... I gave notice of a Fast being kept on Friday next, concerning the present War between America and us ...

Dec. 13th ... This day being appointed a Fast on our Majesty’s arms against the rebel Americans,  I went to Church this morning and read the Prayers appointed for the same. I had as full a congregation present as I have in an afternoon on a Sunday, very few that did not come ...

The settled peace of the Empire, enjoyed in the aftermath of victory over the French in the Seven Years' War, was no more. The American War had commenced. On a cold, short mid-December Friday, Parson Woodforde read the Form of Prayer appointed for the day:

Be thou to us a tower of defence against the assaults of our enemies, our shield and buckler in the day of battle, and so bless the arms of our gracious Sovereign, in the maintenance of His just and lawful rights, and prosper His endeavours to restore tranquillity among His unhappy deluded subjects in America, now in open rebellion against His Crown, in defiance of all subordination and legal government ...

The cold and dark gloom of a mid-December day was a fitting context for such prayer. It might have been that Parson Woodforde and his parishioners recollected the Gospel reading of the Sunday past, the Second Sunday in Advent:

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.

The times were unsettled and the Empire was distressed, amidst wars and rumours of wars. The dark days of Advent were a fitting time for prayers to be offered in such circumstances.

If Advent 1776 occurred in tumultuous times, Parson Woodforde was even more unsettled by the circumstances of Advent Sunday 1797:

Dec. 3rd ... Mr. Cotman did duty this Morning at Weston Church ... A smart Frost this Morning which rather affected me ... The present times seem to prognosticate e’er long very alarming circumstances. No appearance of Peace, but on the contrary the French reject every Proposition to it and so inveterate are they against our Government, that they are determined to make a descent on England & the Taxes therefore on the above account are talked of being raised trebly to what they were last Year.

While vast political, social, and ecclesiastical change separate us from Parson Woodforde, Advent 2024 is not entirely unlike Advent 1797: wars, revolution, grave international uncertainty, profound economic challenges and, yes, taxes. Perhaps our fears and our prayers in Advent 2024 are not, after all, that different from those of Parson Woodforde and his parishioners.

But let us end by returning to rather more peaceful times for Woodforde and his parishioners.  In Advent 1788 the disaster which would engulf France and all Europe was yet to commence. On a bitterly cold Fourth Sunday of Advent, Parson Woodforde writes:

Dec. 21 ... I read Prayers and Preached this morning at Weston C. Also gave notice of the H. Sacrament on Thursday next being Xmas Day. None from Weston House at Church this Morn' being bitter cold frost with high Wind and Snow. Very small Congregation at Church this Morn'. It was intensely cold on my return from Church with high Wind and Snow. It was very penetrating.

It remains the case, of course, that we talk about Winter weather and expect it to reduce Sunday congregations. Our Advent days remain cold and dark. What we do not experience, however, is the giving of notice that the holy Sacrament will be administered on Christmas Day. Almost certainly Woodforde used the words of the first or second Exhortations in the Holy Communion. This is a loss for contemporary Anglicanism. Drawing near to receive the Sacrament on Christmas Day should come with exhortation, urging us to prepare ourselves to partake of "the most comfortable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ" as we celebrate that He was "born as at this time for us". The Exhortations may not be heard in our parish churches in these Sundays of Advent, as Christmas approaches, but we can learn from the good Parson and read them in our own preparation for Christmas Communion.

Earlier this year, the ever excellent Fergus Butler-Gallie drew attention to Parson Woodforde in a Church Times article:

Woodforde is rarely thought of as a great theologian. That’s unfortunate - although I did know of one priest who used to read the parson’s diary as a Lent book each year.  Woodforde has much to teach us about rootedness and pastoral care. But, above all, he has much to teach us about hospitality. To him, it wasn’t just something that he did, but a part of his vocation. Woodforde’s hospitality is theological.

Reading Woodforde's dairy in Lent strikes me as a wonderful suggestion. Let me add to this, however, the suggestion that we also particularly read his December entries during these days of Advent, allowing ourselves to be stilled by the gentle, quiet ordinariness of "read Prayers and Preached"; encouraged to hold in our prayers a world no less troubled and darkened than it was for the people of Weston Longville in 1776 and 1797; and, with Woodforde and his parishioners, to read the Exhortation as we prepare to receive the holy Sacrament on Christmas Day.

(The picture is of Weston Longville All Saints, the church of which Woodforde's was rector, 1776-1803.)