Blessed as Jesus was blessed (the baptism of Jesus)
Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22 Isaiah 43: 1-4 Happy New Year. I hope that you had some joy this Christmas and haven’t been too cast down by putting away all the cards and greenery and colourful decorations and restoring the house to normal. The third Monday in January, which is a week tomorrow, is apparently ‘Blue Monday’, when all the excitement of Christmas and New Year has worn off and the reality of cold, dark, January sinks in. We had a small surprise as we tidied up after Christmas. Our grandson, Jonah, had evidently had a card or present into which someone had scattered a handful of small gold stars. I didn’t notice them during the present-opening, but a few days later, after the family had gone, I was puzzled to keep finding a star, sparkling on the stairs, another in the bathroom, one on the landing, and finally quite a constellation in the room Jonah had been sleeping in. At first, I admit, I was a bit cross ‘another of those blinkin...