Category: followers of Jesus

  • another pome, of sorts

    A pome by my son, when he was six. Shepherds throwing their smelly socks about One night in Bethlem shepherds are throwing their socks about. At the sheep. Oh the Shepherds are singing the song: “Let’s throw our socks about, oh let’s throw our socks about.” The socks hit Bethlem, the socks hit the sheep,…

  • pome four the day

    Having run from the hills as fast as they were able, What did the shepherds expect to find in the draughty stable? And when they went back to the sheep were they very happy – To have been the first people to see God in a nappy? (pome by me) Be blessed, be a blessing

  • all you need is

    I have a talk I have used a couple of times at Christmas. I lug on a big bag and say that I have everything I need for Christmas. And because I know that someone will say ‘Jesus’ I get out the knitted nativity scene that my Grandma made and put it on the table…

  • expect the unexpected

    That’s a daft phrase isn’t it: ‘expect the unexpected’? How can you expect what is, by definition, not expected. You might as well say ‘watch the invisible’ or ‘stop the inevitable’. But when it comes to God, he seems to flesh out that phrase. Expect the unexpected – a pregnant teenager carrying The One. Expect…

  • miss-advent-ure

    So here we are, it’s 1st December again and while the season of Advent technically started on Sunday, today’s the day when we open windows in calendars and see what’s waiting for us. I am going to attempt an advent bloggage every day in this Advent calendar season, so consider this door number one. How would…

  • The One About Cheering Parents

    Originally posted on Honest about my faith: I just got back from a choir competition that my daughter was taking part in. My standout memory of the evening was a fanatical mum cheering wildly for her child in what was probably the worst performance of the night. The mum clearly wasn’t analysing the performance for perfection…

  • how free is speech?

    One of the foundational principles of life is ‘freedom of speech’ (or freedom of expression to use the more inclusive term). In many countries it is enshrined in the Constitution and a basic ‘right’, and where it is denied by those in power it is one of the things that the people crave. It is one…

  • Lord’s Prayer

    So now Christians have got all hot under the collar because an advertising agency has refused to allow an advert by the Church of England featuring the Lord’s Prayer to be shown in cinemas. Boo. Hiss. Nasty advertising agency. Poor victimised Christians. It’s another sign of a secularised society. We’re always being picked on… and so…

  • when autocorrect thought it knew best

    I was sending a message from my phone to a Minister who was going to the same meeting as me and who lives relatively nearby. I thought it would make sense to travel together so I asked, “Do you want to share a lift?” Nothing wrong with that. Except that for some reason the autocorrect system in my…

  • oh behave!

    How do you know how to behave in church and as church? You watch what others are doing don’t you. I was in a church a while back (preaching) which had a very different tradition to the one I was used to. There was standing, sitting, kneeling, responding, singing, praying, chanting and incense waving and…