Third Sunday of Advent Year A 14th December 2025 Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 35 v1-10; Psalm 146 v5-10; James 5 v7-10; Matthew 11 v2-11. Work it out for yourself. Here is a message for all who are weak, trembling and worried. “Cheer up! Don’t be afraid. Your God is coming. The blind will see and…
Would you prefer to be happy or joyful, (or both)? It seems easier to describe happiness as we see happiness around us. People out celebrating look happy. When Ipswich Town score the fans look happy – unless of course you are a fan of the opposition! We might meet a friend who has received some…
My sister found this photograph recently and sent me a copy. I’m related to most of the people in the photo. My grandfather and my dad are in the middle of the picture, holding the mugs. Goodness, it’s like a different world! My grandfather and my dad are in the middle of the picture, holding…
Do you have a nativity scene in your home? Sometimes they come as advent calendars now with a different figure to add each day in the run up to Christmas. When I had my children small, we had a nativity and I remember often glancing at it as the preparations got more intense and the…
I recently had an interesting conversation with two colleagues who, like me, are beginning their retirement. The point for discussion was legacy folders and documents, both the physical sort and the electronic ones. For me, pressing delete on many hundreds of documents and even more emails was easy, but I am stuck with the bottom…
This week – our 10 minute service reflects on Luke 2:8-12.
In the Northern hemisphere the seasons fit well into the churches calendar. As we descend into a time of limited daylight hours, dark mornings and evenings and cold conditions we remember in our churches the time of darkness that the Jews went through in the two centuries before Jesus’ birth. They came through a period…
I find it amazing that events spring to mind randomly. Such an occasion occurred recently as I listened to Graham Kendrick’s The Servant King. I was taken back to the time when I was working in an office when a new manager was appointed. He was the person whom many staff dreaded, and it didn’t take me…
Second Sunday in Advent Year A 7thDecember 2025 Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 11 v1-10; Psalm 72 v1-7, 18-19; Romans 15 v4-13; Matthew 3 v1-12. Hope draws near. The Old Testament reading today is from Isaiah and records his prophecy about the origin and nature of the Messiah. “Like a branch that sprouts…
As we approach the end of the year we look forward to another year, what will it bring? There are so many “bad” news stories in the media, it is tempting to say – “it can’t be worse than this year.” Hope, however gives us something to look forward to. “I hope for a white…