advent

Wonder

“His name shall be called, Wonder” Those of us familiar with the Christmas narrative in the Bible know well Isaiah’s prophecies of the coming Messiah, 500 odd years before He graced a manger or a stable. In one of the most beautiful pieces (Isaiah 9: 6), Isaiah declares, “His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor,Continue reading “Wonder”

Sounds like Christmas

I love Christmas! During my time working for St Mary’s church I was known on the staff team for my love of Christmas. At my request we began moving forward our Christmas services planning meetings to begin in June or July. One year I even went early into the room where our meeting would takeContinue reading “Sounds like Christmas”

Two Hows

When it comes to disappointments in my life, I can see that often they relate to the timing of what I believe God has spoken. And the longer you have to wait for some answers, the more difficult that can be. Before we hear about the angel Gabriel visiting Mary in Luke’s gospel, we hearContinue reading “Two Hows”

Shaken

We tend to think of things being shaken as a bad thing, but the Scriptures reveal several times when the shaking preceded something good. There’s a shaking that leads to freedom for the captives: “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doorsContinue reading “Shaken”

The prayer you stopped praying

We all want to belong. As we read in Luke 1: 5-17, Zechariah and Elizabeth had spent their whole lives feeling like they didn’t fit in with the other families. Unable to have children, they faced their disappointment with a passion and focus on God. Zechariah’s name means ‘God remembers’ and here we discover howContinue reading “The prayer you stopped praying”

Jesus, the joyful announcement

In times of crisis like this, the world is waiting. Every eye is watching. Each day this year we’ve hoped for the newsreader to announce: “a vaccine has been developed!” Now we hope it will be quickly effective. We all want to know when the story will get better; when we can all (literally) breatheContinue reading “Jesus, the joyful announcement”

Unsurprisingly, the words ‘advent’ and ‘adventure’ both have the same roots in the concept of arrival, of something to come, of something about to happen. During this season of advent (probably my favourite time of the year, even more so now I’m somewhere where I can go out in December without a coat on!) IContinue reading “Advent”