Christmas, Advent & Epiphany - a time to celebrate

Now that Christmas is truly over, the Christmas tree is down and the lights have extinguished I have finally found time to sort my Advent and Christmas photos.  There was lots of time for hospitality and celebration

Check out the rest of the celebrations on the Mustard Seed House blog 

They Tried to Outlaw Christmas

You’ve probably heard of the book by Fox News host, John Gibson,”The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought” (Sentinel, October 2005).that reveals to the whole world, a little known secret. There is a vast, left wing conspiracy to eliminate [...]

A Christmas Promise

Joy to the world our Saviour comes
Not in power, not in might
But in the tenderness of love
He comes as the promise of life
Hidden in a mother’s womb
Sing aloud and dance with the angels
God has sent his son to save the world
Love and faithfulness meet together
Righteousness and peace kiss each other
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth
Shout [...]

God moved into the Neighbourhood

I love the translation of John 1: 14 in The Message: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood.” Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have Jesus living down the street? And imagine if we heard that he was moving into the neighbourhood but we did not [...]

A Witness Will Go Before You

Tom & I have been reading the daily scriptures from the Book of Common Prayer and I must confess that I have been feeling a little depressed as I have read about the judgment of God in Amos & Haggai so the scriptures that we are focusing on in this Johannine synchroblog have been quite [...]

Put Christ Back in Christmas

Interestingly British Muslims are encouraging Christians to put Christ back in Christmas according to the Christian Science Monitor.  “Muslim Council of Britain spokesman Shayk Ibrahim Mogra said, “To suggest celebrating Christmas and having decorations offends Muslims is absurd. Why can’t we have more nativity scenes in [...]

Advent - Hoping for the Promises of God

It is almost the end of the first week of Advent and I am struggling to focus on the hope of God. This has not been an easy week. Monday our basement flooded and we spent the day helping our Mustard Seed House companions Anneke & Peter try to dry out their basement. [...]

Advent Traditions

On Saturday we set up our Advent wreath on the dinning room table. It is something we do every every year at this season.
Four bright red candles nestle in a bed of greenery around a central white candle. At breakfast each morning we light the appropriate candles, symbolic of the fact that [...]

Advent Synchroblog

I have been asked by Brother Maynard to be a part of an Advent Synchroblog . I am delighted by this opportunity as Advent really is one of my favourite times of year. The idea comes out of Brother Maynard’s book That You Might Believe: Praying Advent with the Gospel of John [...]

To Pray Without Ceasing

As we move toward Advent I have been thinking a lot about what it means to pray without ceasing - a concept that I have always struggled with and at times felt guilty about.  For most of my Christian life I have thought of prayer as constant intercession, something that gets both exhausting and draining [...]