Sharing some thoughts

A farmer went to see his bank manager one day and said that he had bad news and good news. "First, the bad news...""Well," said the farmer, "I can't make my mortgage payments. And that loan I've taken out for the past 10 years - I can't pay that off, either. Not only that, I won't be able to pay you the money I still have outstanding on my tractors and other equipment. So I'm going to have to give up the farm and turn it all over to you for whatever you can salvage out of it." Silence prevailed for a minute and then the bank manager said, "What's the good news?" "The good news is that I'm going to keep on banking with you," said the farmer. In the church calendar we continue today to celebrate the Christmas season and that is a reminder that God continues to put his faith in us regardless of the bad news that we seem to give him from time to time. Admittedly the new year sales have started, some decoration...

from Helen I don’t know about you but I find the time between Christmas and New Years Day very confusing. There are no normal days, we have eaten lots (well I have !!!) and we may have watched more TV than normal, spent time with friends and family. Life is just not quite normal.  I was thinking about this the other day and it actually caused me  to wonder what is normal really ? In one Church there was a lady who when I asked how she was would  answe r ,  laughing ly ,  “ I am ok – it’s all the others who need to worry.” I actually respect this response. I found a card once which said, “I tried being normal – and it was boring so I went back to being me.” I really liked that statement. Normal is something that can be quite confusing. As we move towards a new year so there have been a number of saints that the Church has remembered. First there was the first Christian martyr Stephen on 26 th  December. Then there was John the Apostle and Evangel...

This morning I want to repeat the story you’ve just heard in the gospel reading (Luke 2:1-14), but it’s told slightly differently. This account of the birth of Jesus was written by an 8 year old girl, a member of a Sunday School. It reads :- “Many, many years ago there was a young lady called Mary. She lived in Nazareth. Also in Nazareth there lived a man called Joseph. Mary and Joseph were going to get married. When Mary was alone a very bright light came down from the skies. It was a messenger from God. Mary covered her eyes. The Angel said, ‘do not be afraid’. Mary uncovered her eyes and saw Angel Gabriel standing before her. ‘I have come with a message from God. You have gained his trust and are going to give birth to the king of the world. You will call him Jesus.’ Then, a rule came out that every person has to go back to where they were born, so Mary and Joseph now married, travelled to Bethlehem. Mary was sitting on a small donkey, Joseph was trudging wearily alongside ...

This evening we will begin our Christmas celebrations as we move towards Christmas day tomorrow. We are looking forward and we have filled the crib ready for the arrival of Jesus.  I often think that I could have been a good Children’s television presenter, as I love stories.  This morning I want to tell you a story, I want us to step back into our childhood and wonder at God and His love for us, as we celebrate Him coming to Earth as one of us.  I am sure you have all heard of the story of the Velveteen rabbit, but I want to tell it to you again and think of how it relates to Christmas, so in the words of  Jackanory  “Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin.” One Christmas a little boy had a cuddly velveteen bunny rabbit, which he loved very much.  There was a problem though this rabbit did not feel very special because he could not move like all the other toys that the little boy owned.  The rabbit could not move by itself, it did not ...

from Helen Well we are ne a rly there,  after weeks of shopping and preparation today we come to the last Sunday of Advent. Tomorrow of course will be Christmas Day.  I have to say that I think I got through advent with prayer, Bible reading and lots of chocolate. I am not sure if I need to lower my chocolate intake from now  on  …. We have been preparing and when I think about preparing there is no better person to think of than Mary. Mary the very young girl, possibly even as young as 10 being visited by an angel who had m ore than slightly su r prising  news for her. I can’t begin to imagine how she felt. I suspect that relaxed wouldn’t be the word. It may be that you are feeling more relaxed now we are so close to Christmas or if you are having a last minute stress but certainly Mary didn’t have the opportunity for this.  There was once a woman who realised that she hadn’t sent any Ch ristmas cards, she was in a huge  rush and it was ...

Most people at some time hear some really astounding news – news that is absolutely life changing. This was the sort of news Mary received in the gospel reading that we heard today (Luke 1:26-38) – Mary, still really a young girl, not married, a virgin, but the angel had visited and told her she was to have a child. Mary’s acceptance was incredible – there were a couple of questions and we’re told that she was perplexed but i think that’s pretty trusting and faithful considering the news she’d just received...  she could have panicked, she could have simply refused to accept this – nobody could have blamed her. Her example of faith and acceptance of God’s will is one from which we can all learn, but this morning I want to think of something that we often overlook in this story, and that is God’s faith in us, because in choosing Mary he was making a point that he could choose anyone to do his work - and trust them to do it... There’s a story about a kind British family who h...

A little boy came home from school one day and said that there was a new Indian girl in his class. His mother asked if she spoke English and the boy replied, ‘No, but it doesn’ t matter because she laughs  in English.’ Sometimes we read a  person  by what they do rather than anything we say. There’s a famous saying that ‘in years to come people may not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel’. In our gospel reading today (John 1:6-8, 19-28) we heard about John the Baptist ,  a man, we’re told, sent from God  as a witness to testify to the light… With the benefit of  hindsight we can recognise the light as Jesus and see John’s part in preparing people for Jesus’ arrival but the people we heard about today, the priests and Levites from Jerusalem ,  were a little bit confused and wanted to know who he was and what he was doing…  And John declared, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “make st...

from Helen There’s a true story which was reported in the USA Today news paper. ‘An elderly Florida woman did her shopping, and upon returning to her car, she found four men in the act of leaving with her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top of her voice, ‘I have a gun, and I know how to use  it !  Get out of the  car ! ’ The four men didn’t wait for a second invitation. They got out and ran like mad. The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her bags into th e back of the car and go t into the driver’s seat. She was so shaken that she couldn’t get her keys into  t he ignition.  She tried and tried, and then it dawned on her why… A few minutes later she found her own car parked 4 or 5 spaces further down. She loaded her bags into the car and drove to the police station.  The officer to whom she told the story doubled over with laughter. He pointed to the other end of the count...