Posts

Advent Waiting

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I love this Advent meditation by Christine Sine, encouraging waiting for the coming of Christ. The music is Christ Child Lullaby played by Jeff Johnson. On this 1st Sunday of Advent that's all I want to post.

Nothing Impossible: Elizabeth's Story

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Do you know Elizabeth's story? This post was first published on 14 November 2011 on the Big Bible Project as the 2nd of my monthly series 'Blogging Women of the Gospels. Here is what I wrote: Watch out Watch out for Elizabeth’s story on the Twitter Nativity, starting soon. You can follow ‘Natwivity’ on  Twitter  or be a fan on  Facebook . If Elizabeth’s voice seems absent from this year’s ‘Natwivity’, what’s stopping you tweeting for her? Elizabeth’s story sometimes gets forgotten in telling of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. But without Elizabeth’s encouragement and insight, who knows what might have happened to her young relative Mary? Elizabeth’s pregnancy was as unexpected and seemingly impossible as Mary’s. Disgrace and Disappointment Elizabeth was a good woman, from an elite family. She was married to a priest – Zechariah – for too many years not to have produced the expected children. Zechariah and Elizabeth were a faithful but childless couple. In th...

Forbidden Word: Nice

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I loved Mrs P when I was 9-10 years old. She was one of the most engaging and creative teachers I had at school. Things she said stayed with me. Mrs P  forbade the reading (in and out of school) of a well-known children's author Enid Blyton . She gave 2 reasons: her pupils were far too intelligent to waste time with such simplistic drivel; Enid Blyton only ever used one adjective and this was 'nice'.  'Nice' was a word Mrs P. would not allow her pupils to use. She considered this lazy because, as she told us, her pupils were capable of finding adjectives that more precisely and creatively said what we meant. I can only imagine how she might have responded to the American phrase, 'have a nice day' - she would have challenged this this with some edgy questions. We couldn't say 'nice' at school. At the same time there was a clearly understood code of conduct that we "gels" were expected to "be nice". Not that the forbidd...