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Christmas can be really hard to get through, for those who are grieving or feel they have nothing to celebrate. Some churches put on a special quiet service before Christmas for those who simply cannot face the crowds or joyful singing at the usual Christmas and Carol Services. A quiet alternative service like 'Blue Christmas Service' can be just what some people most need at this time. Such services give permission not to be merry, say it it OK to grieve while others rejoice. We are still in the season of Christmas and during these 12 days from Christmas Day to Epiphany (January 6) the church calendar has a number of special days that often get forgotten. Today's commemoration certainly gives permission not to "laugh and be merry". Rather, it gives permission to weep, to protest, to rage in anger, to ask 'why do the innocent suffer'? Today, the 4th Day of Christmas is called 'Holy Innocents Day'. It commemorates t he story of a dreadful

It's Christmas Day and today's #AdventWord2018 is #celebrate. Yes, today is a day to celebrate. The reason for celebration is the birth of Jesus. Christians celebrate because the message of the angels to the shepherds is of good news of great joy to all people. Christians celebrate because we believe that in Jesus, God gave himself to the world, not in overwhelming power or extraordinary ways, but in the vulnerability and weakness of a baby. And that greatest of gifts is the gift of love, something to be shared and celebrated. Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning,- Jesu, to thee be glory give'n; word of the Father, now in flesh appearing; O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord. If, for whatever reason, you feel you have no reason to celebrate today, may you know peace and discover before too long a reason to be joyful. Image Credit: Pixabay, CC License

Todays #AdventWord in 2018 is #peace. It is also now Christmas Eve in the UK, so Christmas is almost here. One of the main messages of Christmas is 'peace'. Many Christmas cards carry images of a dove of peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He brings, not the sort of peace that is merely absence of war and conflict, but the deep inner peace that "passes understanding." One of the prophecies from Isaiah , often read at Carol Services, speaks of a child born to us, a son given to us, who is named: "Wonderful counsellor, Mighty God,   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6) . And on Christmas Day, alongside a gospel account of Jesus' birth, other verses from Isaiah may be read, like these: "How beautiful upon the mountains   are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,   who brings good news,   who announces salvation,   who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns'. " (Isaiah 52: 7) And yet, we have to go

It's the 20th day of Advent and this year Advent only has 24 days. If you are wondering why, then take a look at Preparing for Advent 2018 . We've reached that stage in Advent when even those who try to observe the whole season of Advent, find that Christmas seems to be so almost here that we just allow Christmas to overtake Advent. I certainly found that to be true when thinking how to respond to today's Advent Word #sign. The word 'sign' immediately made me think about what the angel of the Lord told the frightened shepherds on the margins of Bethlehem, on the night Jesus was born. How were the shepherds to know that the good news of great joy for all people that the angel promised was true? The angel gave them a sign: "This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."  Luke 2: 12 (NRSV) What an unlikely sign of universal good news! The shepherds decided to investigate and went immediately t

On this 14th day of Advent, the #AdventWord2018 is #prepare. To prepare for Christmas is a task that can be enjoyable, stressful, sad or exciting. It depends on your situation just now. One of my happy childhood memories is helping to stir together the ingredients for a traditional Christmas pudding. I still love the smell of a mixture of dried fruit soaking in rum or brandy, before the other ingredients are added. Ideally this Christmas pudding preparation should be done a long time before Advent begins to allow the cooked pudding to mature for a few months. A common question at this time of year is, are you ready for Christmas? To which my answer is almost always, no. Last year, in a post called 'Prepare' , I wrote of how Advent is a time to prepare for the coming of Christ and how that involves: preparation of heart, mind and will commitment to God's kingdom values of justice, love and peace. What helps you to prepare to celebrate Christmas? What helps y

We know what Mary was doing on the night Jesus was born, but what was Joseph doing? No, I think it most unlikely he would have been helping Mary to give birth. That was a female duty and it is inconceivable that local women would not have rallied round to assist a young woman in labour with her first child, whatever the circumstances. While the midwives or Joseph's female relatives of Bethlehem supported Mary through labour and the birth of her firstborn son, what did Joseph do? Stay nearby to protect her? Most probably, but it would have been hard to do nothing through the long hours of waiting and wanting do help but feeling helpless. So, there's plenty of room to imagine what Joseph might have done during the hours of Mary's labour.  Thanks to Byrony Taylor's post I came across an animated poem by Nick Morgan about how Joseph might have kept busy. It is imaginative, simple and profound. I am grateful to Nick Morgan for giving it a Creative Commons licence

It's the 3rd day of Christmas, the first day being Christmas Day 25 December. There are  12 days of Christmas  and they've only just begun. Or did you think that Christmas is already over this year?  This 3rd Day of Christmas is the day when according to the song '12 Days of Christmas' someone's true love gave him or her yet another gift to add to the previously given 'partridge in a pear tree' (1st day) and '2 turtle doves (2nd day). The 3rd day gift is '3 French Hens', hence the photo of 3 Faverolles Limoges which I believe are genuinely French hens.  I think that the '12 Days of Christmas' song is probably a pure nonsense rhyme, composed and passed on just for fun, probably in France. The English language version was first published in England in 1780, without music and may have been chanted as a children's game, or sung to a variety of tunes. The standard sung version most British people know today was an arrangement by

Today the winter solstice happened. (Summer Solstice in Southern Hemisphere.) It was at 04. 49 Greenwich Mean Time, so I'm told. That was when the North Pole was tilted furthest from the sun, giving those of us who live in the northern hemisphere the longest night of darkness and the shortest day of light hours. I had to look this up as usually in the UK the shortest day is 21 December. I spent yesterday thinking it was the shortest day but it wasn't. It's today, as it often is here. The winter solstice varies between the 20th - 23rd December. A 20th December solstice is rare. The next one is due in 2080. The last 23 December solstice was 1903 and the next is due in 2303. I won't be around to see those! I looked for the winter solstice sunrise this morning. It was just after 08.00 but there was no sun to be seen for the clouds. I have to take the sunrise on trust. It is light now, but rather gloomy light. I'm one of those people who longs for the

Christmas Prayer Thank you, scandalous God, for giving yourself to the world, not in the powerful and extraordinary, but in weakness and the familiar: in a baby; in bread and wine. Thank you for offering, at journey’s end, a new beginning; for setting, in the poverty of a stable, the richest jewel of your love; for revealing, in a particular place, your light for all nations. Thank you for bringing us to Bethlehem, House of Bread where the empty are filled, and the filled are emptied; where the poor find riches, and the rich recognize their poverty; where all who kneel and hold out their hands are unstintingly fed. Kate Compston, from Bread of Tomorrow . Image Credit: Commons Wikimeida, public domain

Christmas celebrations often focus on sentimentality with attempts to recapture childhood innocence and wonder at all things magical. So to be plunged into a heart-rending description of the inconsolable rawness of a mother's grief in the second chapter of Stephen Cottrell's book Walking Backwards to Christmas  is painful. This book is my rather slow Advent reading this year. In the chapter called 'Rachel', Stephen Cottrell puts himself in the shoes of one of the mothers whose child was slaughtered in Bethlehem after Jesus' birth, according to Matthew's account: "When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 'A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her chil

Advent begins next Sunday. What? Already? where did the last year go? The trouble with Advent is that it rushes at me and by me too quickly. It can be hard to make best use of it in a 'watching' and 'waiting' sort of way. Perhaps it is the same for you? I've found that planning ahead can help. It seems odd to think about preparing for Advent, when Advent itself is a preparation season. On the other hand when I don't plan to prepare I don't prepare well. If you are wondering how to take a few regular quiet moments for prayer or reflection during Advent, here are a few suggestions to choose from: Dreaming of a "White Christmas"? Why not dream of a green one instead? Better still - do something about it. A Rocha has an  online Advent Calendar 2014  with daily "life-altering tips and ideas for a greener Christmas and beyond" .  Jon Kuhrt has a simple Advent Challenge to use between 1st and 24th December. The idea is to set aside

Lord Jesus Christ, your birth at Bethlehem draws us to kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth: accept our heartfelt praise as we worship you, our Saviour and our God. a Christmas season prayer from Common Worship Daily Prayer Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The house is clean (ish), the tree decorated, presents wrapped, food stocks ready for the family who will arrive over the next 3 days. Advent is almost over. Christmas is nearly here, the great celebration of 'God with us', 'Emmanuel'. If you have been busy preparing, why not take 3 - 4 minutes to be still, rest, watch a flickering candle and listen to this beautiful  version of 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel'. For another version of this last of the 'O Antiphons' for use in the 8 days before Christmas Eve see my post last year here .

The first Christmas cards and annual newsletters are starting to arrive in the post. Some people are so well organized. I wonder if the age of those round-robin Christmas newsletters is well past in this digital age? Probably not. Most of those we receive come in the form of an email sent to multiple recipients. So they continue but in a different way. As far as I can remember we only once sent one as a family and that was at least a couple of decades ago. Such letters are hard to write if you have any sensitivity for the people to whom you send them.There are so many pitfalls - what to put in - what to leave out. If you had a miserable year do you moan about it and make the recipients feel guilty or sorry for you? If it has been a year full of happiness or remarkable achievements by yourself or your children, how do you say that without sounding unbearably smug and causing some to feel jealous while others may be delighted? And when annual newsletters are often written in a hurr

Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning,- Jesu, to thee be glory give'n; word of the Father, now in flesh appearing; O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord. Wishing all who read this a peaceful and joyful Christmas.  Image Credit: unknown Austrian painter c. 1400, Wikimedia Commons

It's Christmas Eve. A recent poll in the UK by ICM for the Bible Society found that children and parents generally know the nativity stories about Jesus. The best known fact was that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Luke 2: 4). 98% of those polled knew this. Here's the story of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem, told by 21st century Palestinians of Bethlehem - thought provoking.

The 4th Sunday of Advent has Mary the mother of Jesus as the focus of the scripture readings. Some thoughts from Meister Eckhart, a 14th century Dominican monk: We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly, but does not take place within myself? And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him? in my time and my culture? This, then, is the fullness of time: when the Son of Man is begotten in us. Meister Eckhart Image Credit:   Ondra Anderi on Flickr, CC License

http://churchads.net/2012/index.html Some people find this advert shocking. The truly shocking thing about it is in the title 'Godbaby' - a brilliant use of a new compound word. It starkly states what Christians believe - that Jesus is both fully divine and fully human. And yes, that is a shocking idea. It's also good news that God communicates with us in a language even the youngest child can understand - in this case with the wordless cry of a new-born baby' The BBC has now noticed the Godbaby advert produced for Christmas 2012 by ChurchAds.net . The BBC said early today that it was produced by the Church of England, which is not the case. The annual Christmas campaign is produced by an ecumenical network, involving people across the churches of the UK, using the services of award winning advertising executives and designers who give their work free.  I wrote a brief post Godbaby when the 2012 campaign was launched nearly a month ago. Now the advert is getti

http://churchads.net/2012/index.html Are you ready for Christmas yet?  Far too early I know.  ChurchAds.Net are ready. They have just launched the 2012 poster for the Christmas Starts with Christ Campaign that has been running the last few years. This one is likely to be as controversial as the posters of previous years, but that's the point - to get people talking about it and introduce the story of Jesus in a fresh way. What do you think about this one? 

Source Today is Holy Innocents Day - a day to remember the part of the Christmas story we may want to forget, in order to keep Christmas 'happy' and continue an escape from things that make us miserable or afraid. The massacre of infant boys by King Herod as told in Matthew 2: 13 - 18 doesn't often feature on Christmas cards - that would be too grisly. Such cruel images would spoil sentimental Christmas pictures. But a nostalgic and sanitised Christmas card scene was not the world into which Jesus was born and it is not the world in which we live. In a world where so many vulnerable children do suffer neglect, hunger, abuse and even murder, where tyrants still crush the powerless, the story of the murdered babies of Bethlehem still speaks into today's real world. The grief of parents who suffer the death of their children, for whatever reason, is still a universal story. The suffering of those forced by oppressive regimes to flee as refugees still goes on.