I've just written my to-do list. It's festive. But it's long. And, if I'm honest, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to manage to deliver all the cards and presents at the same time as taking part in various services, cooking large quantities of food, holding down my job, going to parties and maintaining some kind of residual sanity. Far from reflecting on a "silent night", I feel more as if I'm living in a whirlwind of activity which threatens to suck me into oblivion.
Which is why I'm very grateful to have stumbled across the post-it note I wrote for myself last Christmas (sandwiched in the middle of the amorphous mass of tinsel that lurks in the decorations box). There's only one word on it. And that word is this:
PRIORITIES... continue reading
We're used to images of the Jolly fat guy who is kind to everyone. And even though he supposedly makes a list of "who's naughty and nice" - he never really leaves the naughty kids off the list - it's just a feeble attempt by parents to introduce justification by works into the Christmas story.
But the real St Nic was quite different, although stories about his life are more in the realm of folklore and legend than accredited historic fact. As the pastor of a church in Myra (in the SE of modern Turkey), he was a tough Gospel-preaching evangelist. His elevation to universal gift giver stems from a story about him throwing gold coins through a window to provide a dowry for three young Christian women whose family had fallen on hard times. Some versions have him dropping them down the chimney and/or the coins ending up in their stockings hanging to dry by the fire. But note the difference. His are not gifts to give delight to the already wealthy. They are gifts of compassion to rescue poor young women from a life of slavery or prostitution for a Christian future.... continue reading
It’s such a privilege to praise God through song. And one of the things I love best about Christmas services is being able to belt out some great carols. While I’m happy to sing (or, more usually, play) a whole range of songs, if I’m honest I do have a few favourites. Those carols that I long to sing and sing again at this time of year. And it seems I’m not alone.
Here are some of our blog team’s favourite Christmas songs:
Alison: “O come, O come, Emmanuel” - It gives the Old Testament background to the coming of Christ and shows God’s faithfulness to His promises – and the tune is great too!... continue reading
Weeks late, I finally got around to watching the latest Bond blockbuster Skyfall. An interesting experience, because I was only able to book to see it with subtitles in English. Having watched loads of foreign-language films with English subtitles, I thought it would be no problem.
How wrong could I be? It absolutely ruined it!
Seeing the words flash up, slightly before they were spoken made it look like they were just actors reading lines - not like Bond, Q, M and Moneypenny at all - just actors in a play. The subtle timing of jokes was spoiled. The scenes where there was supposed to be smouldering romance were emptied of passion as it became obvious that they were just pretending. The delicate illusion of the theatre had been torn away by the simple addition of some words along the bottom.... continue reading
Stuff happens. Jobs are lost. Relationships are broken. Ends don’t meet. Illnesses take unexpected downturns. We make mistakes. The pressures of Christmas crash in. Life feels unpredictable. And most of us, to a greater or lesser extent, respond by worrying.
Some days the nagging insecurities about the future play irritatingly in the backs of our minds. At other times we’re overwhelmed by a torrent of panic that leaves us utterly inert. We want to know it’s all going to work out ok in the future. And we feel we can’t relax until there’s some tangible evidence it really is going to be fine.
But when we turn to the Scriptures we’re confronted with the inescapable fact that the Bible says, “don’t worry”:... continue reading
Maybe it's a personality thing, but I never thought that following the herd was a good thing.
Safe, perhaps. If you didn't want to be embarrassed by standing out from the crowd perhaps.
So seeing this advertising line encouraging me to "be smart" by "following the herd" on the back of a van got me thinking about the whole cultural tension we feel between fitting in and being individuals. Our culture seems to encourage individuality. We are constantly being told to "be ourselves" and to "think different".... continue reading
I've always struggled with remembering people's names. It's frustrating and embarrassing to run into someone at church or in the street, and fail to drag their name out of my memory banks. Although I've had a few embarrassing moments, I've never done anything quite like this however.
British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham who started the world famous Prom concerts was famed for his sharp wit, but struggled, like many of us, with attaching names to faces as he grew older. ... continue reading
There are 2 things that everyone engaged in biblical pastoral care needs:
The first is a Bible. No surprises there. It’s God’s living and active word (Hebrews 4:12) that transforms us by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2). It’s pretty hard to be biblical without a Bible and any pastoral care that ignores the Bible runs a high risk of being little more than well-meant common wisdom.
The second is less well known. It is my contention and humble assertion that anyone involved in pastoral work needs a hippo. Not necessarily a real one - that could be cumbersome - but a small, unobtrusive toy or model hippo has value beyond measure.
Just in case the significance of a hippo isn’t immediately obvious, please allow me to explain.... continue reading
Recently seen on the front of a Bible. And we thought it worth passing on ...
If you want to:
...Please keep me firmly and permanently closed.
The internet has boundless potential to surprise. Each week we stumble across bizarre, thought-provoking or just plain weird sites. My favourite find of the last few days (courtesy of an evangelistic talk given at my church pub quiz) is The Death Clock. Now, it’s probably fair to say that this is not a site to visit if you are already feeling melancholy! But how it works is this … you type in your age, gender and a couple of indicative health facts and the death clock calculator guestimates the date of your death. Then (and this is most intriguing bit) it calculates how many seconds you have left to live, starts a clock and you can quite literally see your life ticking away …... continue reading
