Sunday's coming!

Christmas night I’ve got an uncle who is forever sending me emails of jokes & little quotes & things. I thought this was a wonderful quote from a 7 year old named Bobby: "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." It’s really tempting to spend a few minutes giving you the talk that goes ‘never mind all the presents & cards & decorations & stuff’ the REAL meaning of Christmas is this – the birth of Jesus. But the real meaning of Christmas is that God became human, that God takes all the human stuff seriously. God shows us how he feels all of our lives are important – not only spiritual, heavenly airy-fairy bits. God being born in Jesus means that God is earthy, grounded - real. The real meaning of Christmas is that it is all real – that God comes to us in all the ordinary stuff of life – crying babies, overbooked hotels, cold shepherds, so-called ‘wise’ men who are lost & won’t ask for directions. God...

Amid all the carol services I thought I had only 1 sermon to preach tomorrow - at an 8am. Then I've realised I'm not doing that service - so some of these thoughts will no doubt get recycled at some point next week. Funny how when you're up against it you create yet more work for yourself by doing unnecessary things! Advent 4 It has been the hardest preparation for Christmas I can ever remember. Like so many I have had the chesty/throaty/coughing and rasping bug. I’m sick of it, if I’m honest. I’m tired of keeping saying to myself – ‘just keep going – one more thing and then you can rest – just do this & then stop’ and ‘oh I wish I felt better’. And now it’s here – well Advent 4 anyway – and all the carols services and wonder of Christmas Eve & Christmas Day & then… oh blissful moment when I can stop. And here, right here, in these readings is the reminder I have needed – that Christmas is God’s initiative, not mine, and I have to ready only to croak out a ‘yes...

Well, can you believe it? Advent 3 already! This means 'Experiencing Christmas' at one church - a series of 'stations' inviting people to journey with the shepherds, the magi & with Mary & Joseph to the stable at Bethlehem: we're adapting material from the diocese of Gloucester which looks very effective. I also have a sermon to preach, on: Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11 John 1: 6-8, 19-28 God’s gift to u s ‘What would you like for Christmas?’ I’d be very surprised if most of us haven’t been asked that by someone or other this year. Friends or relations who want to get us something, but get us something useful not the usual ‘bathsalts & inexpensive scent & hideous tie so kindly meant’ that John Betjeman puts his finger on so well in his poem. So we try to think – is there something we need? A little treat we wouldn’t otherwise get for ourselves? Something that’s broken & needs replacing? And of course we have to assess how much the person asking the questi...

Another frantic week: many funerals I'm afraid. Anyway here is the finished article, based on Isaiah 40: 1-11 Mark 1: 1-8 ‘Preparing the Way’ It’s coming to that time of year when the newspapers and magazines will be full of ‘key events of 2009’ – what they think will happen next year. I’m a sucker for these. I always read them and realise it’s because I would love to know what’s going to happen. But of course we can’t really know. Apparently Thomas Watson, who was Managing Director of IBM – which made millions from the sale of computers in the 1990s is quoted as saying in 1958 that he thought there was a world need for only 5 computers. I find it strangely reassuring that even a person whose company has capitalised so much from the great computer age couldn’t at first see what was coming. It seems that the whole church is facing a time of change right now: there is a lot of talk about ‘new ways of being church’, ‘emerging church’, even ‘liquid church’. We might wonder – what i...

Advent Sunday (Isa 52: 7-10, Romans 10: 12-18, Matt 4: 18 -22) As we mark St Andrew’s day, we remember one who gave his life to share Christ’s message with the world. And what shall our message be, this Advent Sunday? The world doesn’t need the church to tell it that it's nearly Christmas - every advertisement is shouting it at us, each shop is crammed with tinsel and trimmings, and tomorrow we get to start opening our Advent calendars. But what the world does need us to tell them is...what? What shall our message be? Well, today is also ‘buy nothing day’ – an international attempt to make people stop and think about how materialistic and greedy they – and therefore their celebrations of Christmas – have become. But before you either nod vigourously at me because you don’t want to be greedy, or stop listening because you’d planned to do some Christmas shopping this afternoon – let me say that I don’t think the church is here to tell the world to be less materialistic. Christmas – ...

Since this Sunday is our patronal festival at St Mary & St Andrew our readings will be Isaiah 52: 7-10 Romans 10: 12-18 Matthew 4: 18 -22 But I think these also fit the Advent theme pretty well. The world does not need the church to tell it that it's nearly Christmas - every advert is shouting it at us, and tomorrow we get to start opening our Advent calendars. But what the world does need us to tell them is... what? If we say 'the Lord is coming' we will see some people immediately write us off as the sort of people who want to walk round with a sandwich board which says 'the end of the world is nigh'. And yet our message is vital - and the world needs it now more than ever. Of course our message is more than what we say - it is how we live and how we treat people. If our following Jesus has taught us something about who he is and what his coming means, we need to share this with our neighbours.. somehow. Just opening thoughts - more to follow soon I hope!

For those who know me & have asked - I'm fine, thanks: down to 3 month check-ups at the dermatologist now & all nasty moles removed with no sign of more cancer. Meanwhile, back at the coal-face: This week's sermon so far (will need finishing off later/ tomorrow morning: Christ the King Today is the very last day of the current lectionary year – next week a new year begins for the church, with Advent Sunday. That means today we mark ‘Christ the King’. You might wonder what it’s all about. What does it mean to acknowledge Jesus Christ as King – and why are we doing it now, just as Advent is about to start, rather than after Easter, perhaps even at Ascension, when the hard part is all done for Jesus and he is about to take up his triumphal place in heaven. And anyway, you might well be wondering, does the lectionary and its themes really make any impact on our real lives? What’s it all about? This week’s gospel reading is another well-known one, but another quite tricky o...