Today has been characterised by little surprise messages wishing me a happy birthday as well as some lovely treats... For once in a way, I made a deliberate decision to downplay it, but still people remembered and have made it a special day.

Cards, flowers, gifts, a cake... I have been well spoiled. 

Every birthday is a celebration.

I am very blessed.

Lucy Berry reading her poetry at Manchester - enjoy!  Plenty more talks available from here

And here she is in Reading - reading different poems

This from BUGB's Facebook page (apologies if formatting is iffy)....

The Baptist Union along with other free churches have sent this letter to the Guardian.

Subsidiarity without solidarity equals injustice
It is with a sense of anger and consternation that we the undersigned have learnt of the UK government’s decision to block the extension of the fund for the distribution of material assistance to the most deprived in the EU member states to support food banks and homeless shelters. At a time of growing demand for food aid from food banks in the UK, it is distressing to hear that the government has rejected this strand of funding in favour of funding for “immaterial assistance” to cover counselling and budget maintenance based on the principle of subsidiarity.
As churches who are at the forefront of delivering food aid to growing numbers of people across the UK, we take strong exception to the government pointing to our pastoral care as a prime example of the ‘Big Society at work’ whilst actively opposing EU funding to support this vital social service. This is not only hypocritical but unjust, as subsidiarity must always be balanced with the Gospel value of solidarity, as Catholic Social Teaching makes clear.
At this Christmas time as we once more reflect on God’s loving solidarity with suffering humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, we are reminded that ‘as members of the one human family, we have mutual obligations to promote the rights and development of peoples across communities and nations. Solidarity is the fundamental bond of unity with our fellow human beings and the resulting interdependence. All are responsible for all; and in particular the rich have responsibilities towards the poor. National and international structures must reflect this!’
We therefore issue an urgent summons to the UK government to rethink their decision to reject funding from the £2.5bn fund – European Aid to the Most Deprived – to ensure that not only are people helped into sustainable work (which we all agree is the best long term solution), but that as a caring society we are able to continue providing food aid and other essential services to those who find themselves in extremity in the midst of abundance.
ENDS

The Visitation

by Elizabeth Jennings

She had not held her secret long enough
To covet it but wished it shared as though
Telling it would tame the terrifying moment
When she, most calm in her own afternoon,
      Felt the intrepid angel, heard
His beating wings, his voice across her prayer.

This was the thing she needed to impart
The uncalm moment, the strange interruption,
The angel bringing pain disguised as joy,
But mixed with this was something she could share
      And not abandon, simply how
A child sprang in her like the first of seeds.

And in the stillness of that other day
The afternoon exposed its emptiness,
Shadows adrift from light, the long road turning
In a dry sequence of the sun. And she
      No apprehensive figure seemed,
Only a moving silence through the land.

And all her journeying was a caressing
Within her mind of secrets to be spoken.
The simple fact of birth soon overshadowed
The shadow of the angel. When she came
      Close to her cousin’s house she kept
Only the message of her happiness.

And those two women in their quick embrace
Gazed at each other with looks undisturbed
By men or miracles. It was the child
Who laid his shadow on their afternoon
     By stirring suddenly, by bringing
Back the broad echoes of those beating wings.

Well, there you go, for my good friend and wise priest Perpetua, 'In the Bleak Midwinter' the Darke tune is the 'usual one'.  So, for her and anyone else who doesn't know it, here is what I thought was the more familiar Holst setting.  Hope you enjoy it.

PS Around 11 or 12 years ago, on Songs of Praise this carol was sung with alternate verses in each setting - amazingly it worked and sounded fantastic!