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Showing posts from December, 2011

The work of Christmas begins

Christmas now seems a long time ago – much has happened, normality has been resumed in so many ways… Even New Years festivities are completed for another year… This time of year is often referred to as the most depressing time of year – the time when winter gloom really sets in, the euphoria of Christmas has ended and people have to get back to living real life. Christmas is a wonderful interlude in our lives, but now it is very much time to get on with life… And this is kind of the sense of our gospel reading today (Luke 2:15-21). The angels had left, then the shepherds visited the new born Jesus and they went back to their fields glorifying God – and life went on… It was time for the Jesus to be circumcised to fit in with the Jewish traditions… One of my favourite Christmas verses says, "When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with the flocks, then the work of Christmas begins: to

Christmas 2011

This morning I read a news story about violence that had happened in various parts of the United States – I understand there was disorder in places as far apart as California and Georgia – in Seattle, Police used pepper spray on people causing trouble, elsewhere a policeman was punched, and in a number of places shops were broken into – the cause of this trouble though was not some deep grievance over poverty or anything like that – but because the people were desperate to get hold of a particular brand of training shoe ! ((Nike Air Jordan II Retro Concords) It would be easy to take this as the start of another Christmas message criticising the commercialism, even madness, of our modern Christmas – but actually tonight isn’t a night about negative things, but about stressing the positive message of a Saviour born for all people. And this message is often missed – or perhaps not even stressed enough by Christians… One of the most popular Christmas pop songs is Johnny Mathis singing ‘Whe

Chopsticks

A little girl wanted to become a great pianist, but all she could play on the piano was the tune, "Chopsticks." No matter how hard she tried, that was the best she could do, so her parents decided after some time to arrange for a great maestro to teach her to play properly. Of course, the little girl was delighted. When the little girl and her parents arrived at the maestro's mansion for the first lesson, they were escorted by the butler into the parlour, where they saw a beautiful concert grand piano. Immediately, the little girl dashed over to the piano and began playing "Chopsticks." Her embarrassed parents told her to stop, but as she played, the maestro entered the room and encouraged the little girl to continue. He then took a seat on the piano bench next to the little girl, listening to her play. After a moment he began to play along with her, adding different chords and so on. The little girl continued to play "Chopsticks." The parents couldn&#

Advent 1b 2011

A young girl asked her Sunday school teacher, "What's a lert?""A what?" the teacher asked. "A lert?" she said again. "Why do you want to know?" asked the bewildered teacher. "Because the pastor said that we should 'be alert,' so I want to know what a lert is, so I can be one. Today we enter the season of advent, a time when we are told to be alert, to stay awake - to be ready to greet Our returning Saviour... 2000 years ago after Jesus ascended from the earth people took this seriously - people expected Jesus to be back soon, ready to collect his followers... People were ready to shout the words of Isaiah 'o that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence' (64:1) But some of them grew impatient - today in the eyes of many that impatience has turned into indifference - There is a little-known fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm entitled “Der Mond,” or in English, “The Moo

Remembrance Sunday 2011

This week I have been away on a course . On the course one of the things that was continually stressed was the need to proclaim Jesus in all that we do - to make sure that people are not missing out on good news - that we might know about -but which was intended for all people - the news that Jesus came and lived amongst us, died for us and rose again from the dead... But then perhaps I thought Remembrance Sunday wasn't the day to do that -it's a day of civic remembrance and so on... But after reflecting on that for a bit I realised that there is no day when good news isn’t worth sharing and perhaps on remembrance Sunday it is even more relevant than on most. Today we remember people who gave up their lives or who sacrificed their health or time to fight in wars - they did it often because they were told to, but they did it also with a burning desire to make life better for their family and friends at home - they did it because they wanted to make the world a better place... To

Actions have consequences

I think some of the readings that we have for this time of year in the Church calendar are wonderful ! Not wonderful because of their enjoyment value but because of their discomfort value. That may seem a little bit strange but I think all of us at times as Christians need to feel a little uncomfortable. So often we over-complicate things in our lives, and we can easily reach the point where we’re so good at it that we can justify to ourselves and perhaps even to others that we’re doing all we can to do the right thing, that we’re living a good life… I attend Church every Sunday and pray every day… I read my Bible regularly… I send money to help charities… I help my neighbour with the shopping… The list can go on and on – we’ve probably all, either consciously or sub consciously thought such things, and there’s no doubt that every one of those things is good to do, and we mustn’t stop. But the point of discomfort has to be reached as well, as we examine perhaps what more we can do, or

Thoughts of heaven

Today's readings point us towards thoughts of heaven. Heaven has often been a subject of discussion and debate in the church - it has also been used as the great contrast to hell. But simply to judge in such a black and White way is to ignore the grace of God in calling his people to him. For years some preachers have earned their living out of frightening people about what hell might be like - heaven is not a wonderful gift but an alternative to the darkest and most painful experience imaginable. The American preacher Billy Graham once said, 'it is so easy to receive Christ that millions stumble over it's sheer simplicity.' Heaven is a gift and a gift isn't something that is earned but something that is freely given to give joy to the person receiving the gift. And so our thoughts should never be on the perils of hell but on the benefits and privileges of having a place in God's kingdom. Our thoughts should not be on how we or others may be punished but on what