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A young man sits round an open fire at night, warming his hands and dreaming of revolution.  He needs to think to stay awake – his job means that he can’t afford to fall asleep.  By the standards of the time he’s not particularly religious: can’t afford to be, his work consumes all hours, and … Read more

And so we get to the crucial moment in the story – Jesus is born!  Most of us know the story inside out… or at least we’re fairly sure we do. Images of how the nativity happens are so full of our minds, it’s almost impossible to imagine it any other way.  We’ve seen it … Read more

If you’ll allow a brief return to a day we’d probably rather forget: on 23rd March 2020, the UK entered a full national lockdown for the first time in 100 years.  One immediate effect of this was that all church buildings were shut.  No services of any sort could be held.  What would happen to … Read more

On this day in 2018, the writer C.J. English published the bestselling book ‘Rescue Matters’.  It charts the astonishing story of Keith Benning, who, using his own garage to house those rescued and with just a small team of volunteers, over four years rescued 4,000 dogs from terrible situations: unwanted, starving, mistreated.  As the subtitle … Read more

I don’t know about you, but it’s not easy to name a child.  It was a bit more straightforward with our first child Amelie, but for our second, we spent weeks batting around various names.  We didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or a girl, so we had to have at … Read more

Blessed are the self-sufficient, for they will never need help from God, or anyone else.  Blessed are those who have no problems, for they will avoid pain and discomfort.  Blessed are the assertive, for they will usually get what they want.  Blessed are those who don’t want to be too good, for they will avoid … Read more

Shared experience is a powerful thing.  So much of what binds us together as humans lies in what we can share – in a sense, we were made for it.  It is particularly powerful when people who have experienced similar challenges or opportunities find comfort and inspiration in each other. In today’s passage we see … Read more

It’s always a lovely surprise when you hear about people with unexpected gifts.  Friends you thought you knew suddenly appear in a different light, as they manifest some striking creative ability, or describe an unusual hobby.  People never fail to surprise you! I often feel the same way about Joseph, as he is described in … Read more

Today we flip from Luke back to Matthew, to allow us to cover the story in broadly chronological order.  Mary is now pregnant, so it’s time for Joseph to enter the picture.  Like Elizabeth, Joseph is another of the great unsung heroes of the text – he is usually pictured as being a frail old … Read more

‘How will this be?’  It’s not a bad question to ask, is it?  You’ve just received some of the most extraordinary – and shocking – news anyone could imagine.  Perhaps as you’ve read today’s passage, you found yourself remembering such a time in your own life, when you received news it was hard to take … Read more