Tag: christmas

  • Riding the storm named Jesus

    Riding the storm named Jesus

    What is in a name? Abigail, Barney, Clodagh, Desmond, Eva, Frank. These names may not mean anything to you particularly. To me the last does. It was Frank I think who took my greenhouse, though possibly Eva. Frank didn’t take it, it was demolished, flattened, rendered useless. An act of wilful vandalism. One from which…

  • It is soooo much more than a bag, I mean – Baby!

    Each year amidst high tension and deepest secrecy the world waits in trepidation barely able to contain its excitement and in great anticipation of what the designers and creative minds will reveal – too soon and you’ll forget it, too late and it will be lost – for unto us will come, to us is…

  • Giving Ourselves Away

    Giving Ourselves Away

    Lucy Winkett ended thought for the day this past Tuesday with the challenge to ‘give ourselves away’. Lucy is rector of St. James’ Piccadilly. Had I the chance to be in London over Christmas I would make time to go there to see the art installation by Arabella Dorman. It includes a dingy which arrived…

  • Fight or Flight?

    I wonder how comfortable we are?  I’m not referring to the need to loosen the belt a little after Christmas lunch.  Or the uncomfortable feeling that we might have forgotten to send a card to someone important this year, or even the uncomfortable job of writing thank-you letters. How comfortable are we sat here in…

  • A Multicultural Christmas? – it's nothing new!

    It is said that this country is only nominally Christian and that there are places in the UK where Christianity is a minority religion.  Of course Christianity has been a minority religion in other countries since the time of Christ.  Neither is the recent persecution of Christians anything new, though the portrayal in news items…

  • Beit Lahem – The House of Bread

    Midnight Mass 2013:  Beit Lahem – The House of Bread. It’s not Christmas without the ‘Christmas Special’.  Call me old and past it if you like, but – they don’t make them like the used to!  Except perhaps for Dr. Who and we’ll have to wait till the evening of Christmas Day for that.  The…

  • A chrismas list

    It is most odd to me that many people often say, ‘O vicar, this is your Busy Time’.  As if I have the rest of the year off.  The more enlightened might mention something about Easter as well.  I’ve never come up with a suitable retort and have resigned myself to the benign ‘yes there…

  • Locusts and Wild Honey for Christmas Dinner?

    John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness:  Prepare the way of the Lord.  He’s a strange character – Locusts and Wild Honey!  What a diet.  Relationships between many things are changing.  This is especially noticeable at Christmas.  The relationship between the winter festival and the celebration of Christmas for example.  Cadbury…

  • Living Nativity

    Because the Holy Trinity Church in Greenfield is closed for building works, we had a choice this year to do nothing, or to take the opportunity to do something different to mark Christmas in the community. We wanted to give the community the opportunity to be part of the story, rather than just listening to…

  • Don't talk to me about Christmas…

    However, this did arrive this morning… If you are quick, you might the last one from Fair Grounds though you may have to email as it is not on their online shop!! Apparently there are shepherds and sheep coming next year.