create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

create yours here

This is the Celtic New Year Day liturgy from the Northumbria Community which I will be using in our house later today:

This day is a new day
that has never been before.
This year is a new year,
the opening door.

(Open the door – to welcome in Jesus and invite his blessing)

Enter, Lord Christ –
we have joy in your coming.
You have given us life;
and we welcome your coming.

I turn now to face you,
I lift up my eyes.
Be blessing my face, Lord;
be blesing my eyes.
May all my eye looks on
be blessed and be bright,
my neighbours, my loved ones
be blessed in your sight.

You have given us life
and we welcome your coming.
Be with us, Lord,
we have joy, we have joy.
This year is a new year,
the opening door.
Be with us, Lord,
we have joy, we have joy.

… to all of you, known or unknown to me, or for some weird reason visit this blog regularly.

Thank you for your comments, your kind words, your encoragements and your new friendships.

Whatevr your faith stance, I pray that God will bless you in 2006.

A good end to the year – a Gills 3-0 victory, a new baby boy Callum born to friends Mal and Abby, and a party tonight with friends on the theme of racing – I have the flat cap ready!

It’s easy to look back at 2005 and think what a terrible year- and in may ways it was as far as disasters, fear and personal tradegies go. Today, however, the Guardian editorial rightly points out that unless we look we miss the good stuff that happened too. It’s all too easy to look at the negative and forget that great things happened in the world as well:

– England won the Ashes
– London got the 2012 Olympics
– The IRA de-commissioned
– Gay and Lesbians got rights in the form of civil partnerships
– a $100 laptop was desinged to give internet access to the poor
– 2 successful elections in Iraq
– Ellen MacArthur sailed around the world in record time
– Liverpool won the European Championship
– Howard discovered scaremongering about immigration does not win votes
– oh yeah – a third Labour victory!

So … while we still need to hold in prayer those people affected by the terrible incidents of 2005 which will live with them long after we and the media have forgotten; it is also correct to give thanks for the good things that did happen in 2005.

As we welcome in 2006, don’t forget to thank God for the good of 2005.

We went ice skating at Hampton Court last night to celebrate Chris’ birthday.

It was a great family and friends time – with a spectacular backdrop for people to skate around. I enjoyed watching and taking pics as I am a bit of a woos when it come to the ice! My children certainly put me to shame.

Last nights show of Scrooge at The Palladium was a great performance. We left knowing that we had seen one of the ‘masters’ of the stage perform. Tommy Steele was superb and could still hold the notes despite his age – but I guess that is true professionalism.

The Christmas Carol story is well known, and there were no surprises in the performance, apart from me seeing or noticing things differently from before.

At the end of the show, Scrooge sees the error of his ways and buys presents, goes to the family party, promises a doctor for Tiny Tim and so on. A poignant moment for me came next when he started to cancel the debts of people who owed him as ‘my Christmas present to you’.

The reaction of the people was jubilation and breaking into song of ‘That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me’. The party started and people could not believe what Scrooge was doing. He used words along the lines of ‘I have forgiven you, your debt has been cancelled’.

The heart of the reason for the change in Scrooge was a reminder and realisation that he liked life. He had spent years trying to fool himself that he did not, maybe even trying to protect himself from emotion and vulnerability. In the end, however, he remembered – he actually enjoyed living. When he realised that, he was able to use his wealth to bless others.

The enthusiasm shown should be echoed by the enthusiasm shown in church at what Jesus has done. The sheer disbelief of these people should be see in our churches as they are amazed as tehy contemplate the debt they have had cancelled.

I have visited a lot of churches recently, and a number have been full of the most joyless people I could imagine – not all by any means, but easily the majority. IN fact the atmosphere was so bad and cold in one, that I did not stay for the whole service! People were not joyful, people did not seem that excited by the fact that Jesus had cancelled their debts, that they had been forgiven – that they had received a Christmas present from God himself, in the shape of the Christ child. An amazing present. No better present. WE could certainly sing ‘That’s the nicest thing …’

Maybe as church we need to re-capture that enthusiasm that we originally had when we realised what Jesus had cancelled for us, what he had paid for us, what his gift to us actually is. Maybe if we managed to do that, and managed to live a great and thankful life now, remembering that we can love life now and that it is not all about stuff after we die – then maybe, just maybe, a few more people might be interested in this Jesus who made a difference to our lives.

Jesus told us he came so that we could have life to the full (John 10:10). I’m making a big guess here, but I reckon he was talking about life in the present sense. It is true that we will live in paradise, but I also believe it to be true that Jesus wants us to live fully here, on earth, in the present as well.

Now … that is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.

Hello,

2005 is a year for campaigners to remember. The unprecedented level of global campaigning on poverty in 2005 has been fantastic.

Thank you for playing your part in MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY. You were part of the biggest ever anti-poverty movement and in doing so you made history.

In its focus on trade justice, more and better aid and dropping debt, the campaign raised awareness of the global impact of economic injustices. It has highlighted two key points:

Poverty is not inevitable.
It is possible to make poverty history if political leaders have the will to do so.
The Make Poverty History coalition believes in progress through democracy and has shown that governments can deliver real change when faced with such public demand – change that can mean the difference between life and death for millions of people.

I received this in my inbox today – if you have not signed up, sent a card, written to your MP – it is still not too late!

There is little doubt that the positive political decisions taken during the year would not have been taken without your passionate commitment and the commitment of campaigners all over the world. If governments follow through on their promises without imposing harmful conditions, millions of lives that would have been lost could now be saved.

The fight against poverty continues and your passion and energy and the momentum of 2005 will fuel future campaigning for the years to come. The call to Make Poverty History has inspired a generation: 2005 marks the beginning of something incredible.

For more information go here.

Thanks,
The Make Poverty History Team

A George Bernard Shaw quote on the back of the packaging for one of the boy’s presents.

I will use it when people tell me (again) to grow up!

We woke up this morning and look what we saw:

more snow play before we head off for London later to watch Scrooge.

The break and the Christmas celebrations have been great.

Christmas Eve’s party for Jesus was just a nice time with friends and family – the excitement on the children’s faces is always excellent and it must be the one night of the year that we have no problem getting the children to go to bed!

Christmas morning showed how blessed we are as ever – I was particularly impressed by Sarah’s gift of a year’s membership to the Tate galleries. If you can’t contact me now then you can guess where I will be!

Sarah preached on Christmas morning and spoke about Jesus being remembered. We took up her suggestion of after the present opening of replacing something under the tree symbolically with something from us in to Jesus, so that he stayed part of the festivities. We replaced a present and each time we see it, we can’t help but remember what Christmas is all about. I’ve found it a simple but easy way to remember Christ.

The day itself was very exciting – Chris (Sarah’s brother)and Juliet announced their engagement which is news we have been longing for as a family! The proposal occurred at the foot of the Matterhorn, but they kept it quiet until Christmas day. Now we all eagerly await the wedding date.

And the end of the holiday … well it was a white one!
Last night we went sledging and snowball throwing – look at that snow … excellent!