Sharing some thoughts

Advent is a really strange time in the Christian calendar. It is, along with lent, the most solemn season of the year – flowers are taken out of Church, the Gloria is omitted from the service, and the colour of the season is purple – only used otherwise for lent and for funeral services.  And yet, whilst we have few problems in recognising lent as a time for self sacrifice and reflection, this always seems more difficult during advent. And it doesn’t take a genius to work out why. Outside Church everyone and everything seems to be getting ready for Christmas – decorations are going up, carols are being sung, Christmas music is playing in the shops, and there are dinners and concerts and parties to attend.  There is a huge contrast between advent in Church life, and the preparation for Christmas going on everywhere else. And this perhaps reminds us of the huge contrast that there is between so much of what we as Christians proclaim and celebrate and the thoughts and pract...

I heard of a man who had preached one day about an economic crisis in the country – at the end of the service he was approached by one of the congregation who told him that he hadn’t enjoyed the sermon at all as he came to church to get away from thinking about news and politics… This week I suspect many of you will have heard quite enough about Brexit, whatever side of the debate you may find yourself on and you might be pleased to hear I’m not going to talk about it really except to mention a news crew who approached a homeless person this week asking what they thought about how the Brexit negotiations were going…  If the homeless person knew much about the current debate they certainly didn’t care – living to the next day was what was important. Their hope was very different to those who might plan ahead a long and secure and successful future…  And this, as I thought about today’s readings really made me think about what they’re saying to us today as well as ...

From Helen One time when I was preaching I told a story about the time in college when the tutor asked us all to think of one word that began with the same letter as the first letter of our na me. That letter had to describe  us. There are a lot of great words beginning with H so I was pleased I had a choice, until I realised that there was also a  Huw  and a Howard there. This narrowed down the word choice and they were both going to be announcing their names before me. I was keen not to pick a word that wou l d expect too much of me and so I waited as I heard a Hallelujah  Huw  and a Holy Howard. I hadn’t chosen either of those words as they expected  too much and  so  I went for Happy  Helen. The story I was telling was only the smallest part of my sermon. At the end two members of the congregation told me that they had really enjoyed that naming game. They carried on working out the correct names for every member of the congregati...

I wouldn’t normally do any sort of ‘show and tell’ at a service like this but today I’ve brought a chalice…. Apart from the oddness of a show and tell at this service, it’s quite odd also to bring a chalice to a service where there is no Communion. However to explain myself a bit, earlier in the week when I was leading a Eucharist service, not in this church, I suddenly thought of how many people had received wine from that particular chalice…  Who were those people ? Some young, some old no doubt, perhaps some famous, perhaps some who come at times of celebration in their lives or others who come facing some sort of real crisis…. The chalice obviously can’t tell a tale but the lives of all of those people would make, I’m sure, a great story, one of happiness, sadness, intrigue, perhaps even controversy…. We will never know all of the people who have received wine from this chalice, but many of those people would know the love of people close to them and all of them could kno...

from Helen When I was in my late teens a family joined our Church. The youngest in the family was a little boy of about 3. He really enjoyed Church and from Sunday School heard that my Mum was called Heather and I of course am Helen. The little boy called my Mum Hevver and me Heaven. Never was a child so correct in their terminology. I am clearly heavenly and perfect  - well maybe when I am asleep and not snoring !! We all have the most amazing pictures of heaven. In a song I used to sing on youth camp we always sang, “Heaven, is a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace I am going to see my father’s face coz heaven is a wonderful place.” In our reading from the book of Revelation (21:1-6a) we heard of the wonder of heaven. A picture of a new heaven and a new earth. A place where there would be no  more mourning or crying, a place where God wipes away tears. An amazing place where everything is made new. The picture of heaven is one where God is not only i...