I’ve been seeing lots of people posting on Facebook recently about roll on 2021. Also, they have been putting ‘can we just write this year off?’ I have also seen people who have been positive saying what they have learnt something new and all the new things they have done. It got me thinking: How…
Dear Friends WISHING YOU ALL A BLESSED 2021 For this January newsletter I thought it would be a good idea to share with you a little of the history of the Methodist Annual Covenant Service. This year the Covenant Service may take place a little later in many Churches due to the pandemic. The Covenant…
If there is one thing positive to take from this grueling year of global pandemic, it is the amazing ways that people have responded to the needs of others. Volunteers have come out of the woodwork to feed the hungry, comfort the lonely, clothe the naked in a very practical demonstration of Matthew 25 :…
Recently, clutching my letter telling ‘to whom it may concern’ that I work in the food industry and therefore should, in the words on my passport, be permitted to ‘pass freely without let or hindrance’, I was let out on an excursion to Scotland. The purpose of the trip was not exciting; an insurance property…
I’m sure many of you will have received the annual letter from friends. I’m sure that many will share a similar flavour this year, with the tone being set by a roundup of the woes of the year. Through advent and on towards epiphany, as our hopes have been building, there is a much more…
About halfway through a rehearsal conducted by Sir Michael Costa, with trumpets blaring, drums rolling, and violins singing their rich melody, the piccolo player muttered to himself, “What good am I doing? I might just as well not be playing. Nobody can hear me anyway.” So he kept his instrument to his mouth, but he made no…
Second Sunday of Christmas Year B 3rd January 2021 Lectionary readings: Jeremiah 31 v7-14 Israel will return to its own land. Psalm 147 Sing and praise the Lord. Ephesians 1 v3-14 Christ brings spiritual blessings. John 1 v1-18. The Word of life. The ‘Ultimate Blessing’. Jeremiah foretells of a time…
During the Autumn of 1996 we decided in the Grimshaw houshold that we would work hard to make this Christmas a Christmas to remember, our girls were still young and I had all but worked right through the previous two Christmases, so we put some real effort into Advent ninety six, I even took time…
If you are familiar with the writings of Beatrix Potter you may recognise this from The Tale of Peter Rabbit: ‘But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor’s garden, and squeezed under the gate!First he ate some lettuces and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes;And then, feeling rather…
We got my grandson a toy garage for Christmas last year and I must confess that his dad and I got hours of enjoyment on Christmas day, taking all the components out of the box and linking them all together, it wasn’t a very practical present, because once built up it wouldn’t fit in their…