The Second Day of Nativity was splendid.
After Liturgy friend Margaret and I went to breakfast and then out to the coast to walk on the beach. The sun was shining but it was wintry with wind beating against us from every direction and tearing the sea foam into chunks of confetti which then ran away across the sand.
We walked and talked and talked and walked, and kind of got lost. We had pushed a long way to the south without realizing it, and then when we came back, we couldn’t recognize the path by which we had come down through the dunes at the start. So, up we walked on a different path, me thinking we might have gone too far and were at the northern access to the beach. Nope. After looking at a map that a couple of newbies were kind enough to show us (we who named this our favorite beach!) we realized that we had crossed an invisible boundary to the next beach south, and were still not back to the beach we’d started out on. We had a long way to go yet back to the car.
So we kept on, till we got to the proper exit, and then turned around to face the sea once more as the sun was going down, for a good-bye. We said a couple of prayers together, ending with “the earliest known Christian hymn recorded outside of the Bible that is still in use today,” Phos Hilaron, which we know as “O Gladsome Light.”
O Gladsome Light of the holy glory
of the immortal, heavenly, holy, blessed Father:
O Jesus Christ.
Now that we have come to the setting of the sun,
and behold the light of evening, we praise God:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
For meet it is at all times to worship Thee with voices of praise,
O Son of God and Giver of life;
therefore all the world doth glorify Thee.
Gladsome Lights 
What a wonderful post! Blessed my heart this morning.
FlowerLady
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Your church is SO beautifully decoated for Nativity! How I would love to go with you for a walk on the beach and dunes and get lost.
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Methinks I just figured out where your blog title comes from — yes?
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Yes!
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What an end to a beautiful day. Oh to be lost at the beach! I love that hymn and I am glad now I know why you named your blog as you did. I am going to write it down.
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We sing it at every Vespers service, often using “joyous” instead of “gladsome.”
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Beautiful! I love it! Your walk sounds invigorating! Well done, sweet friend.
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That was quite the walk you took on the beach!
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It’s the name of your blog!!!! I didn’t know that was the oldest hymn! Great knowledge!! The walk sounds wonderful, even if you did get lost!
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I look forward to late Saturday afternoons when I can hear that hymn. So powerful.
But for us it seems to start with the second stanza/verse , or maybe my weak hearing doesn’t pick up the words right off. Anyway, like others here I was pleasantly surprised to see the connection between your blog and that hymn.. It all fits together now, though I like the plural form in the title. It shows your receptivity to various and everyday manifestations of the Divine.
Wonderful photographs!
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