Sharing some thoughts

from Helen May I speak in the name of God:Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN I love pink, it is not a slight like of a colour it is an almost unhealthy obsession with my favourite colour. With this in mind this Sunday is one of the best Sundays in advent because we light the pink candle. Now advent is all about waiting, preparation, getting ourselves ready to greet Jesus and praying for Him to come again but this Sunday is about JOY ! Joy is a beautiful word, and this Sunday is almost like party Sunday, it is the breather in the preparation. When I was thinking about this morning I was desperate to talk to you about joy and the fact that this morning is almost like a glimpse before the real thing. A little like seeing Father Christmas but knowing that when he next comes to visit there will be even more presents and rejoicing. Or like the time when Ian and I went to Rome and waited in St.Peter’s Square for the pope to give a blessing. We arrived early and the number of people started t...

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight now and for evermore O Lord our strength and our redeemer. AMEN  The readings from Isaiah (40:1-11) and Mark (1:1-8) today are my favourite for the advent period. The prophet Isaiah writing, ‘In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill will be made low, the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain…’ And then John the Baptist, hundreds of years later echoes that cry as he prepares the way for Jesus. And those words must surely be our advent call as well. Today Churches, here and everywhere, are given some very simple commands by Jesus – love one another, love God, and share the good news of a salvation won for all by Jesus.  They’re not complicated  commands , and advent is a good time to reflect on how well we are achieving those things. ...

Today in our Church calendar we move into the season of advent –  T he first Sunday in advent is traditionally new years ’ day in the life of the Church,  and we begin to look forward again to the celebration of the birth of Jesus.  Like any new year, advent is a time of reflection  – it’s a time of looking back perhaps,  but a dvent is  primarily  about looking forward, perhaps to the nightmare of Christmas shopping, if you haven’t already done it, perhaps to the joys of spending time with family, the Christmas parties… perhaps even to new year, Christmas being over, and the chance to start again – to make and try and keep those resolutions once again !  But the looking forward in advent could be much longer term than any of those things, because in advent we look forward to the promised return of Jesus, and on this first Sunday in advent one of the themes of the day is ‘Hope’.  In the current economic state  many  peo...

from Helen May I speak in the Name of God: father, son and Holy  Spirit.Amen Today we celebrate the end of the kingdom season as we approach advent. This Sunday is like New Year's Eve for us in the Church. Next week will begin our new Church year. I always think that it's quite interesting to think about the differences between the celebration of  advent  Sunday and New Year's Day, although on advent Sunday we start a new leaf as we get ready to welcome Jesus at Christmas. There I said it the C word... I am sure that you have all bought and wrapped presents by now...... Today though our New  Years  Eve is a celebration as we think of Christ the King. This Sunday used to be called the Sunday before Advent but actually Christ the King is a day which will be celebrated throughout the Anglican Communion and I am glad that it is.  On this day we think of our King, the ultimate King  -  Christ Himself, who turned upside dow n all conventio...

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 ...

This week we’ve been asked in our services to think about the 2020 vision of the Church in Wales – next week there is a conference being attended by 30 people from each diocese with the  theme being, “The time is now”. The 2020 vision is almost a  relaunch  of the Church following the extensive review. You will have heard of mission areas, and an increased awareness of, and recognition of new forms of church and ministry.  As Helen mentioned last week we’ve been here very nearly a year now and I’ve spoken about change on a number of occasions in different settings and in sermons – and change isn’t something that is just my particular hobby, it is something that is happening in the church today.  Having said that, I don’t want to hide behind that fact and just say that change is being imposed, because I think change in every part of our lives is inevitable and necessary. The world has changed hugely through history – massive changes have taken place even...