When I had a cold at Christmas the first year I was here, one of my people observed "oh, ministers always have colds at Christmas, I don't know why."  Hmm.

Last year I failed to oblige - but judging by the sore throat, blocked sinuses, shivers and general grottiness this morning, I am set to give them what they desire this time... Ah well, courtesy of Smith Kline Beecham, Christmas will go on!

Check this out for a bit of fun (hat tip -Julie)

If you are too young to recall 'O' levels, I'm sure the GCSE version - complete with modules and course work - will be available soon.

... the Advent lunches raised £150 for HMF (or my wages, depending how you look at it!), when about 20 different people shared fellowship over four weeks, when it is going to turn into a monthly prayer meeting after Christmas... and I now have my living room back for a couple of days!!

I recall a Methodist minister colleague telling me how it felt quite scary when he saw his carefully prepared services for the Chrismas period laid out neatly on his desk - and the worry that he might pick up the wrong one.  Would that my desk were that tidy (it would, for those who can recall it, currently give Rachel Jenkins a run for a her money).

Only six more services to deliver - and I think that in terms of prepartion I'm almost there.

This week seems to be eat preach and sleep - in no particular order - with a bit of mega pastoral work thrown in for good measure.  By the end of Christmas Day service, since Sunday last, I will have had around 500 people-contacts  (not 500 different people, but certainly at least 300) in a gospel capacity.  Something tells me that that is more than worth the stupefaction I am already feeling!

There's a good initial reaction to this here which I think says most of what I felt.

To be fair, sitting down at 11 p.m to watch this, after a fantastic evening of our own, I was probably too exhausted to really appreciate it fully.

It felt to me that it tried to fit in too many songs, and that it was, as my university markers would say, overly dependent on Lennon and McCartney.  It was a tall order to get through the synthetic Luke-Matthew composite in an hour, not least as Mary and Joseph had to get the ferry across the Mersey, and these lovely little vessels don't hurry, so all credit to them for managing it.

I wasn't at all sure about Herodia as the villainess; though I thought it was pretty brave of them to include the slaughter of innocents aspects, something usually conspicuously absent from nativity plays/readings.  Maybe because the Bible has enough bad girls already, thank you, maybe because women of all faiths seem to struggle to be neither Madonna nor Jezebel.  Not sure, quite, just that it didn't cut it for me.  They could have had a woman as one of the Magi, if the intent was to have more female parts, or even a female publican.

I was struck, even through my late night stupor, by the strong political undertones, and admire the BBC for this.  Jesus as a revolutionary, questions of asylum and homelessness, politics and power.  This, for me, was a prophetic edge that I hope struck the thousands of people who saw, heard or took part in, the event.

For me, this one was less powerful than the Manchester passion, but it was a valiant effort and well worth the licence fee!