Sunday's coming!

It is nearly time for the child to be born. The birth of a child is always good news. In the bit of the world I come from – the Yorkshire/Lancashire border, there’s a poet who’s well known - Sam Laycock. In his poem ‘bonny brid’ – written about the birth of yet another child to a poor family during a time of famine in Lancashire, he manages to be realistic about how hard it is and yet strikes a positive note of good news at the birth of a child: Tha’rt welcome, little bonny brid , But shouldn’t ha’ come just when tha did; Toimes are bad. We’re short o’ pobbies for eawr Joe, But that, of course, tha didn’t know, Did tha, lad? Cheer up! These toimes ‘ll awter soon; Aw’m beawn to beigh another spoon- One for thee;- An’, as tha’s sich a pratty face Aw’ll let thi have eawr Charley’s place On mi knee. (For those who want to see more about the poem, there's a webpage here ) It is nearly time for the child to be born. And that birth is Good news. It’s a night for goo...

A very short reflection...we all have turkeys to cook, don't we? Christmas Day So all through Advent we have been looking at the Advent gifts ‘ God can’t wait to give’ The lit candle – hope in the darkness. The Word of God - which brings comfort. The water - which reminds us of John the Bapitst & the new life from God. The baby, born to Mary – who shows us how God chooses to enter the world. Today’s final gift – is.. a crown (a simple paper crown from a cracker!) We are reminded that the child, Jesus, the baby born to Mary & placed in the manger, is the King of all. He will grow to heal, teach, lead and ultimately to save people. His life, his death & his resurrection will demonstrate the amazing gift of the love of God. God is born in human flesh – come to be among us and yet born to be our King and our Lord. The crown also reminds us of the 3 wise ones who are traveling to worship this baby king – with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Bu...

Advent 4 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Luke 1:26-38 The Advent gifts ‘gifts God can’t wait to give’ just keep coming. We have had the lit candle – a sign of the light of hope in the darkness; the Word of God, which brings comfort; and the water – to remind us of John the Baptist and the promise of new life. This week’s final gift is…a child (photo of a baby), which reminds us that God decides how he will come into this world. The idea that a child can be God’s gift to us is certainly not earth-shattering. I had a friend who used to joke ‘children are a gift from God – don’t tell him where you live!’. But Advent tells us that God does not just give us the gift of a child – but that the child who comes is God’s gift of himself. We know this – it is why we sing ‘O come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Immanuel – God with us’. But you might wonder about the relevance of the reading from the second book of Samuel, where David wants to construct a home for God. Through the prophet Nathan God...

This coming Sunday I have two more Carol services & just one 'preaching service'. The theme for this week is Mary: ‘God decides how he will be ‘housed’ in this world’ Object in the 'bag' will be a baby photo The readings are 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 Luke 1:26-38 I heard a great sermon on the significance of the manger from Susan Durber at Westminster College, & I think I want to contrast to care with which preparations are made for any baby being brought into the world - and especially the birth of Jesus - and the whole 'laid him in a manger' bit. Luke has the angels tell the shepherds this is a 'sign'. A sign of what? presumably the identity of this special baby: Jesus, the one who will feed the world, who will be the bread of life for all.

R eadings this week: Isaiah 61: 1-4 John 1: 6-8, 19-28 Advent 3 Today’s advent ‘gift’ from God: is water. I don’t expect any of us will find ourselves unwrapping a bottle of water this Christmas day: but we couldn’t manage long without the gift of water. What does water mean to us? We associate water with life – growing, drinking, washing, cleansing. We have heard in the gospel reading how John the Baptist comes baptising with water – he is offering a new start, a turning around, repentance. John offers people a new beginning – but he is clear that his role is only to start people on the path to a better life. John is the forerunner for the Lord who is to come – he is clear that what people really need is not his baptism with water, but what Jesus has to offer: a new life knowing that God is with them. So our gift of water is only a sign of the Advent gift of life. What does this life look like? Stop for a moment & hear the voice of John the Baptist ‘Make straight the ...

Advent 2 Isaiah 40: 1-11, Mark 1:1-8 This Advent I’ve been inspired by the John Lewis adverts on the TV. If you haven’t seen them yet, they star a 7 year old lad waiting for Christmas. We see him staring out of the window, looking at his advent calendar, trying to make the clock go faster, and finally gobbling down his peas on Christmas Eve so he can go to bed, where he shuts his eyes tight & tries hard to get to sleep. On Christmas morning he finally wakes up, but rushes straight past all his presents… because what he’s been waiting for is the chance to get a badly-wrapped present out of his wardrobe which he proudly takes in to give to his mum & dad. The punchline is “For gifts you can’t wait to give”. I’m not being sponsored by John Lewis, but when I got one of their bags, having bought some candles for Whittlesford URC, I thought I would use it. But my version is modified – “Advent: for gifts God can’t wait to give”. Last week the gift was a candle – a sign of the ...