By the wonders of advanced posting...

 Wishing all my readers a Blessed Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Hope-Filled 2013.

Christmas Day sees me leading worship around tables with steaming mugs of coffee/tea and Christmas goodies, then we clear the tables and reset for a Community Christmas Lunch to wihcih all comers are welcome. 

I will be offline now until after the New Year, and would like to thank everyone who has supported this blog by reading and commenting (or trying to) over the past year.

May God bless you, and all those you love, today and everyday.

A jam jar nativity?  No, it's one of forty jam jar lanterns made for our families and children's watchnight service, waiting to be painted with glass paints.  I had an amusing morning transferring peel off stickers onto jam jars - stars, bells, natiivty scenes, snowmen, Christmas trees... you name it, we had it!

This year the level of coughs and colds and other lurgies is high, so I was very happy when we had half a dozen children and roughly double that number of adults.  Ably assisted by our knitted sheep and some sound effects we shared a retelling of the nativity story from a sheep's eye view!

Later I will going a midnight service, and hope to find something special there too.

Tomorrow is the 'big day' worship and then community lunch for whoever arrives... then that's it for another year!  Or is it?

What was the first Christmas Eve like, Lord God?

A heavily pregant girl going into labour in an overcrowded house in an overflowing town

A man watching, helpless, as his young wife moaned and pushed, assisted undoubtedly by the local stool-woman

And all around them life (and death) carrying on just the same as ever

Beggars begging

Soldiers soldiering

Bullies bullying...

And beyond neat alliteration people starving, weeping, cheating,

Hoping, waiting, cooking, drinking, cleaning...

Unseen

Almost unheard

A tiny waif slipped into the experienced hands of the midwife

Opened his tiny mouth

Filled his infant lungs

And let out a mighty yell...

And the man wiped sweat form the young girls brow

And the girl drew the infant to her heavy breast

And you, God, you nestled safe and content in her arms...

Emmanuel, God with us.