This morning I had a meeting in the city centre, and I was a bit early, so I went for  wander, only to be greeted by the most wonderful panoramic view across the city looking west.  Although not in this photo, I could see the gold roof of the (new) sikh temple, and I walked past a synagogue.  So many towers and spires and domes, so many aspirations and endeavours.  It's a beautiful city, and it was a joy to view it from so high up.

The meeting was a joy too.

The photo shows a bowl of red baubles left over from last Sunday, and the paper-chain prayers we made this Sunday.

This morning's nativity in rhyme was great, with very small children miming part sof the story, teens as narrators and adults filling in where needed. It was rather wonderful to have an Iranian Joseph and a Nigerian-Scottish Mary, and very lovely when Mary's little brother followed the couple to Bethlehem.

There was some great singing of music old and new, some real laughter and lots of appropriate 'ah' moments.

It was a good morning, and I am, as always on such occasions, so proud of 'my' people.

Anvent 3 - Gaudete Sunday -  Joy - Sunday School Nativity... one of my favourite Sundays of the whole year.

The picture is my 'doodle prayer-reflection thing' from yesterday's GPRL focus on nativity and incarnation.

My Doodle was largely inspired by the objects I had taken along that 'is nativity for you'...

I was really struggling to think of an object, and in the end took three...

a checked teat-towel

a birthday candle

a star decoration I had made at an event for international students on Friday evening.

During the sharing time everyone laughed out loud and instantly 'got' the tea-towel, I had to explain the other two - the birthday candle (my sixth birthday was the first time I heard the story of the birth of Jesus via a school 'Christmas play'), and the decoration, which was all about people in our glorious diversity, which seems to me to be at the heart of the nativity.

Today I will enjoy every nano-second of the Sunday School service, and remember my six-year-old self wide-eyed and filled with wonder as I heard the greatest story ever told.

Sometimes what is needed isn't more deep stuff, it's more kitties... (old photo)

Evening came, and morning came, and the sun rose again.

I can only assume that, on a UK-wide basis, there are marginally more people feeling pleased this morning than those who are not. 

I am among the devastated - what has happened to the 'home nation' that taught me values of compassion, justice, generosity, gratitude and so many more?

I am saddened at pockets of smugness that 'we beat them' (whoever 'they' are) when the detailed results show that the big gainers also lost seats, and there are many marginals.

My social media feeds are full of people weeping, people fearing they will lose their homes and will have to surrender their pets to shelters, people whose children are shaking in fear and who clutch their infants closer and wonder what world they have brought them into.

Suffice to say, my track record on voting for 'losers' continues, but I am content that my vote was a 'for others' vote and that far from wasted, it expressed a view.  I'll never tell you who I voted for - that's always between me, God, and the ballot box, but it wasn't for what I fear will be a dystopian disaster.

It would be easy to despair, easy to give up.  Instead I grasp the truth that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot and will not overcome it.

We had a beautiful sunrise this morning, and the full moon hanging in the dawn sky is simply beautiful... there is always hope, however faint its glimmer. (Alas my phone photo is pretty poor!)