Category: Information

This Sunday we will read the story of a small man with a big reputation who found that he had to set an extra place at the table for Jesus. If you grew up in Sunday School, you sang about the man, acted the story out, coloured in the pictures. Once you’ve met him, you never forget Zachaeus

Have you ever wondered whether others are asking: What is s/he doing here? Who does s/he think s/he is?

It’s the feeling that maybe you don’t have the right to be in the conversation, or the experience to be in the team, or the skills to be used in a task.

Most of us have only got just-enough security, that it doesn’t take much for us to be destabilised. And the thought that people might be asking these questions can really rock us…

Excessive displays of adoration are always embarrassing for those watching on. It’s hard not to make a joke about it, or whisper some catty remark, or groan grumpily. After all, who wants to watch this emotional incontinence?

In a few months there will be opportunities to meet with groups of people again. In restaurants, coffee shops or in our homes. I’ve missed that so much.

But it’s coming, so it’s time to prepare ourselves. After a year of distance, we need to be ready to receive one another again.

It’s time to think about who you will want to invite.

A good ending is important.

Do ever turn to the end of a book to see how it ends so you can relax into the story? Or is that just me?

Do you ever to the end of a film and ask ‘is that it?’, feeling somehow cheated at the loose ends that haven’t been tied, or worse, with a feeling that the actors and directors got bored and just stopped!

You may be in the storm. But you know the God who is bigger than the storms. The storm may go on much longer than you would wish. But you are there for a purpose.

It takes courage to speak when you know that your views will be at odds with the prevailing culture. It’s hard to put your head above the parapet. I think it might become more normal for us to be shamed publicly for the views we hold. We might need to be ready to be unpopular.

This year we are going to need the strength that God can give to live well. That won’t happen just by hoping. I’m going to need to keep doing the things that I know will make the difference. And I need to start now.

Our conversation drew to a close. There was a pregnant pause. I waited. She said yes. She understood little of what would follow…

Christmas used to begin with the film of the Coca Cola Truck arriving on TV. This year Christmas begins with the delivery of the vaccines that just might change everything.

But like many things it all began in relative obscurity…

Advent is the season when we remind ourselves that hope for the world came with the relief of an exhausted mum hearing her new-born child crying. As every mother knows, those angry tears are the sign that there’s life, that things are well, that there is hope. Jesus came into the world crying so that our tears could have hope.