Tag Archives: Christmas

It’s All About Love

Reading John’s letters always makes me smile, he just can’t stop talking about love. He’s completely obsessed by it. Don’t forget that the first time we met John he was in a fishing boat on the lake of Galilee, probably as quite a young man. Jesus calls him and off he goes, with his brother […]

Songs of Praise

This morning we’ve heard the songs of two women who share a name in their own language, though separated by the early translators of the Bible. Miriam and Mary, also separated by centuries of history, but singing from the overflow of the same joy in their hearts at the working of the same God in […]

Oh Come All Ye, Get Full

I wonder if anybody here has seen the advertising billboard on the station car park? Can anybody remember what it says? It is an advert for a KFC “Colonel’s Christmas Banquet and it says this, “Oh Come All Ye, Get Full.” See what they’ve done there, “Oh Come All Ye, Get Full.” Now, I like […]

Together at Christmas

Who knows what this is? It’s a toasting fork. On Friday my Dad and I went to the British Ironwork centre just outside Oswestry and spent a couple of hours in the forge there having a blacksmithing lesson. My Dad made a poker for the stove on his canal boat, and I made a toasting […]

Bells and Lights

I wonder if I might begin by sharing a poem with you, written by a bloke called Bob Hartman. Lights and bells, Bells and lights. Cold pale mornings, Long dark nights. As winter’s grey Grabs hold and bites, Christmas comes With sounds and sights. Lights and bells, Bells and lights. Lights and bells, Bells and […]

Glorious: Diamonds and Gold

As I was reflecting on the readings for tonight the word that stuck out for me was, “glory”. It’s a word that we use every week in our worship, coming as it does in the first line of the Gloria, “Glory to God in the highest”. But it’s also a word that we come across […]

Stirring it up a bit

So, here we are on the last Sunday of the Christian year. In the BCP tradition it is “Stir up” Sunday, a nickname that came from the first line of the BCP collect for this Sunday, “Stir up, O Lord, the wills of your faithful people, “ a prayer that we will pray later, after […]

Spreading the news

Who knows the carol, “In the bleak mid winter”? I really like its poetic language about Jesus’ light and warmth coming into a cold, dark, and bleak world. I’m also challenged by its last verse, to bring all that I am to Jesus, because that is all that he asks of me. But, I do […]

The missing men

As many of you know, in October I spent some time in Uganda. Whilst I was there, I helped to run two conferences for the local church. At one of these, I was talking to a group of pastors and small group leaders from some of the parishes in the area. We had been talking […]

Glory to the New Born King

Hark the Herald Angels sing. While mortals sleep the angels keep their watch of wondering love. The Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell. The angel of the Lord came down and glory shone around. A shining throng of angels praising God. A few weeks ago I spent a Friday night in Hanley at Nightchurch. […]