Christmas is coming...

The national poster campaign for churches this Christmas has been revealed.  Provocative and profound, I really like it.  What do you reckon?

Cardinal Sin

Banksy's latest is this sculpture for the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.  It's called 'Cardinal Sin', and he offers this Christmas greeting, “At this time of year it’s easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity – the lies, the corruption, the abuse.”   


Merry Christmas everyone!


Footnote - Cardinal Sin was the real name of the head of the Catholic Church in the Philippines at the time of the overthrow of Marcos after crowds of people refused to accept the corrupt elections.  Some of those leading the line were nuns who sat in the path of tanks.  Grrrrrr - those pesky Christians, nothing but trouble!   

Beatbox Nativity

What's not to love?  The Nativity as you've never heard it before, explained by a real-life vicar.  Already think about how I can use this in a service.  This was pointed out to me at 607 views on YouTube - think there will be a lot more before Christmas is over!

Christmas!

And so it came to pass that today, the first of September, saw the blogger take a day off and spend the morning in hot sunshine at the beach with his family. In ten short minutes he passed three separate advertisements for Christmas meals in different pubs.

The kids go back to school tomorrow.

Wish I could be like Isaac Watts

Had a great Christmas with family and some good services over the holiday. Boxing Day was very low attendance wise, just 35 of us due to Christmas services and the lethal ice that was covering town, but still a lovely feeling of being family together.

Well, after a day off yesterday I am briefly back in the saddle today for a (quite a) few hours in order to be able to take the rest of the week off. But I had to do this today or a) take it with me when I visit friends, or b) have nothing to preach when I get back on Sunday.

As I was looking for the words of a different hymn, I found this classic first verse of an Isaac Watts hymn. It's a pretty good argument for the updating of the language in hymns and translation of the Bible.


Blest is the man whose bowels move
And melt with pity to the poor;
Whose soul, by sympathizing love,
Feels what his fellow saints endure.

Billy Graham on Christmas

"But when I looked into the crib or the manger and saw that little baby who was going to rise to become the greatest teacher that ever lived, to die on the cross for my sins, to know that I'll be forgiven because of what He was doing, it absolutely transformed Christmas for me."

Billy Graham on Christmas from an interview with Fox News, 20/12/10.

Fuller interview at http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=34303

Animated Jesus Storybook Bible

Another resource that would be useful for a Christmas service. Too late for me to use this year but could be useful to someone out there?

The Jesus Storybook Bible is a fabulous piece of work. It tells in about 40 stories the story of the Bible and is a particular favourite because of the beautiful illustrations and the fact that it shows how the whole of the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) fit together and point to Jesus. It is so good that about three years ago we read the stories one a week in church to give young and old a simple Bible overview. Probably about time we did it again, actually.

Well, now it comes with moving parts. This is a clip I found telling some of the Christmas story. I do hope this means that they are animating the whole thing. Click the top right hand link under Our Friends Eclectic to see it for yourself.

BBC's Nativity

Watched the first of the BBC's The Nativity this evening, it looks promising. Written by Tony Jordan, better known for his work on Eastenders, Life on Mars and others, it seems that researching and writing the nativity story changed him - even though there's no chance of him attending a church this Christmas. There's an interesting interview with him in the Telegraph on the subject:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8210800/Tony-Jordan-interview-The-Nativity-has-changed-me-and-thats-the-gospel-truth.html

The Tardis and the Stable

A friend has posted the following quote on his Facebook page and it's very useful for a service this Christmas.

'There is your hope lying in a manger. He is much bigger than he looks.'
J Wilson (no idea who he/she is I'm afraid).

I think it ties in nicely (or could be made to!) with this quotation from C.S.Lewis' The Last Battle.

"It seems, then," said Tirian, smiling himself, "that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places."

"Yes," said the Lord Digory. "Its inside is bigger than its outside."

"Yes," said Queen Lucy. "In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." It was the first time she had spoken, and from the thrill in her voice, Tirian now knew why. She was drinking everything in even more deeply than the others. She had been too happy to speak.

It was this quote that has got me thinking and so I have called the Christmas Day sermon, "The Tardis and the Stable". I remember another friend using line about the Timelord and the Lord of Time; will be nicking that too!

Carol Service resources

This is a bit late but a couple of pieces that I am using in church over the next few days.

The New Zealand kids nativity is a great piece of video for a Carol Service. I am using it in the Crib Service on Christmas Eve and it even comes in HD.

The quality of the Lego Nativity is not so high but it's engaging and I plan to use it this afternoon in what is usually one of our biggest services of the year (only our Kids Holiday Club Service is bigger). With all the ice on the ground it will be interesting to see if that is the case this year.

You can see both videos by clicking the link under "Our Friends Eclectic" in the top right hand bit of the page.

Digital Nativity

Here's another great resource for a Carol Service, courtesy of the interweb thing. What would the nativity look like if played out through social media? Thanks to the Baptist Union for highlighting this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHNNPM7pJA&feature=watch_response

How To Find Jesus!

Made me laugh - could well be finding it's way into a sermon this season.

Churches fit GPS to Baby Jesus to stop nativity thefts
Updated: Sunday, 05 Dec 2010, 8:46 AM EST
Published : Sunday, 05 Dec 2010, 8:46 AM EST

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Churches in the US are fitting their baby Jesus statues with GPS trackers to stop them being stolen from their Christmas nativity scenes, myFOXny.com reported Friday.

Company BrickHouse Security is providing free GPS trackers to churches and communities across the country.

Religious institutions and nonprofit organizations can enroll in a program to get a free GPS tracker to install inside a baby Jesus statue. Jewish organizations can also fit them to their Menorah candle holders for Hanukkah.

The company said the tracker means that if a thief makes off with the cherished item the church, synagogue, or other group can log on via computer or mobile phone to track the missing items.

St. Ambrose Roman Catholic Church in Old Bridge, New Jersey -- about 40 miles (64km) southwest of New York City -- installed the device after suffering from thefts and vandals in the past.

"There's been no attempt of theft since we announced that we're tracking our Jesus," said Alan Czyewski of St. Ambrose Church. "This is our third year, and we love this. People are now well aware of our GPS Jesus, so they leave it alone."

Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/offbeat/church-protects-manger-with-gps-jesus-20101203-akd

Christmas Flash Mob

I do love this. It's almost a radical act - a guerilla raid on consumerism in the Christmas season. It made me cry, though that might be partly explained by a lack of sleep after staying up too late watching cricket.


Take a look at the link at the top right hand side of the page to see for yourself.

A good one

So this was Christmas...

We sang our last carols of the season this morning, the congregation a little disappointing with less than we would have most Sundays but a good time had by us I think.

After coffee and lots of friendly chat together we went our different ways. We had a couple of single elderly people back for Christmas lunch with us and it was a great experience again. Elderly man who lost his wife in '96, very witty and sparky and easy to have around. Woman of 88 (I was surprised to learn) and as sharp as a needle, funny, self-deprecating and almost embarassingly grateful to be with what she describes as "a normal family" for Christmas. Hmm, I wonder if she thinks we aren't very holy.

I took them back the long way home at about 5pm, taking in the Christmas lights and came home reflecting how such a small effort seems to have made a big difference to their day. It was far from a hardship for us. The kids enjoy it as well and it's kind of exciting to see that becoming a part of how they think things are done. These people would have been on their own otherwise and we are grateful for wise people who showed us many moons ago that this is a part of being church family together.

I hope you had a great day too and you get a decent break over the holidays.

PS - The picture is for illustrative purposes only, our dinner was much nicer. And far bigger.

How many?

The total number of carols sung this year (barring any late changes tomorrow) has been just 50. This is less than I thought it would be but is still enough.

I am coming down slowly I put the finishing touches to tomorrow's service by listening to a vintage XTC concert from 22nd December 1980. The picture is a bit earlier than that I think as I think that is Barry Andrews on keyboards and he had left by then to be in Shriekback.

Like you care!

Anyhow, MERRY CHRISTMAS - have yourself a merry little one!

Carols by Candlelight

Well, despite the onset of carol fatigue we had a great day yesterday. The morning service was a good time, especially as we welcomed two couples into membership. One couple are already deeply into the life and work of the church but have taken some time to get to this point concerning membership. They are great people, really solid, and an encouragement ever since we got here - in fact they threw in their lot with us at the time we arrived, as did a number of other people; more than a coincidence, I feel.

The other couple are older retired folk who have been in churches all their lives. They described themselves yesterday as being comfortable when they got here but that they were less so as a result of being in the church (!) and that they had both re-dedicated their lives to God since being here. There's a good definition of effective preaching that fits - that the comfortable would be disturbed and that the disturbed would be comforted. The sermon looked at Christmas from a Child's Viewpoint and challenged us to be more like children in order to enter the kingdom. Child-like as opposed to being childish.

The evening service is perhaps our best of the year. We light dozens, perhaps hundreds, of candles and the whole thing has a wonderfully intimate feel to it. We sang favourite carols together with the best of the new ones; Underneath the Shining Star, Joy Has Dawned, and From the Squalor... and read the usual passages plus a couple from the wonderful Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. And afterwards we all came out of the service to see a light dusting of snow on everything. It was like being in a film. A good day.

Nativity!

Our local Ritz does a great deal on a Thursday morning where you see a film for £4-20 and get a free cup of coffee and a biscuit as well. It's a perk of having Thursdays off.

This week's offering was Nativity! I partly went because I was desperate for new Christmas talk illustrations but really enjoyed it. The previous week I had been to see the one about "The men who stare at goats" and this knocked it into a cocked hat.

If you get the chance then go - it's great fun and quite moving in a soppy sort of way. I certainly had something in my eye at one point. Will be going again next week and taking my family with me.

(Not quite) all aboard

Today a whole lot of people from church are going on the Carol Train. A steam train makes it way up the line and at every station people get out and sing a coupel of carols, all pile back in and do it again at the next station.

I managed to shock someone from the congregation today who had dropped into the office and in parting he said, "See you tonight". His jaw literally dropped and he didn't know what to say when I told him I wasn't going. "But you...", he spluttered before being unable to finish the sentence. Because surely if there's one thing a vicar likes more than singing carols it's steam trains?

I went to a carol service last night and I have two more tomorrow. So far I have sung 32 this season. Why would I want to sing carols tonight as well?

Humbug!

Joseph - a good man

Quickly trying to regain lost credibility (a scarce commodity as it is) after the last post.

I preached on "Christmas from a man's viewpoint" (idea from Hybels) last Sunday. In the course of my research I googled the phrase only to get, "Did you mean to search for: christmas from a woman's viewpoint". Says it all really. We looked at the stereotypical male who, like Jim Royle, sits in front of the TV rather than doing anything constructive to help at Christmas.

Contrasted that with Joseph who is described as being a righteous man. He was someone who left his fiance alone before they got married and then decided to do the honourable thing and go for a quiet divorce when he was devastated by the news that Mary was preggers. Also looked at him as a man who listened to God and obeyed him and someone who was fully involved in the business of raising Jesus. Amazing to think that Jesus would have learnt about God as a child from Joseph!

I then asked how we guys measure up to Joseph's qualities. Not so well I suspect. My conclusion? As a Christian I am supposed to become more and more like Jesus. I'm not sure I even look much like his earthly Dad.

The ladies loved the sermon. But next week it's their turn.

Anyhow, I only discovered this track today - too late to use in church even if it had been culturally relevant here. But it could be useful for a youth club talk on Friday. Don't know how I missed the song last year but there's a link here for those who are as out of touch as me.

Could be even better than the Wombles...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJe0ITqHHZA

Wombling Along

Heard We Wish You A Wombling Merry Christmas in the supermarket today and, you know, it rocks! You don't believe me but listen to it on the internet and then tell me I'm wrong. If I were doing a disco this Christmas it would be one of those you slip in at the end of the night. The store followed that with ABC's All Of My Heart; I'll be going just for the playlist at this rate.