A place for the kids and adults of KFC to share their thoughts, pictures, ideas and all sorts of stuff throughout Advent.

Friday, December 24, 2010

dec 24th the flints

ok, so i'm having technical problems here ! I think i mucked it up by trying to post videos.

Lenny has made a full recovery after his pneumonia and my ankle is better.thanks to all those who prayed.sorry for missing our last blog spot.

Happy christmas to all
I had never heard of this carol before sufjan setvens did a cover version of it,than i heard it on the west wing.(2 american culutural highlights i can recommend)
That is because it is a 19th century american carol. however it perfectly expresses how jesus coming will bring justice to the world

SONG O Holy Night
O Holy Night, the stars are shining brightly,it is the night of our dear saviour's birth....

Surely he taught us to love one another,his law is love and his gospel is peace,
Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name all injustice shall cease....

Fall on your knees and hear the angels voices,
O night divine, o night that Christ was born....

Video

Muppets Christmas carol-scrooge

This is the video i was trying to post up. check it out on youtube

Whilst we laying on the sofa during our prolonged family illness we watched the muppets verison of this dicknes classic.its very touching how scrogge changes from a mean,greedy,rude person into a generous kind and caring person through a spiritual experience at christmas.

Happy Christmas to all. love the FLINTS xxxx

the flints 24th december

dec24th the flints

Thursday, December 23, 2010

day 23...

i have a confession to make - i'm not feeling very christmassy this year.

some years it's like that i guess - work piles up, there's too much stuff to do and even though advent is a time for waiting, and for preparation, somehow there's just no time or space to focus on what it's actually all about.


so today i've got all my festive music on itunes shuffle and will be trying to get in a more yuletide-like mood.

one of the tracks that will probably come up is this mp3 which leesun recorded for us a few years back [for a revive advent event i think...]
[you may recognise the bloke speaking on it.]

it chimes in with something that simon hall and i have spoken about a few times recently - that, even from the moment of his birth, christ turned things upside-down.
i like that idea a lot.

maybe i need god to turn my life a little bit upside-down a bit this christmas :-)

si

Sunday, December 19, 2010

day 19...

We have this picture hanging in our hallway - the innkeeper's advent. It was one of the exhibits from the advent show at leftbank last year and it had many admirers.
On Christmas day I unwrapped it as a present from Si.
I hope you enjoy and wonder at its creation [make sure that you click the 'see a detail' and 'read the story' buttons too...!]
Sue

Friday, December 17, 2010

Day 16

Oops, sorry this is a day late!

Been thinking about thankfulness / gratitude.

Have a look at 'mybestthingtoday.com'

With 3 different characters growing up around me I can see that some people have a natural bent towards being thankful, whilst others have an automatic disgruntled / it's not fair response.

Am exercising my own thankfulness muscles, and encouraging the children to do the same.

Let thankful hearts be heard.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Day 17

The days are growing shorter than ever - I've noticed I switch on my car headlights almost without thinking on the run to and from work and, in surgery, opening my blind around 9am there was still not much morning to light my office. I have been meditating on Isaiah's words - quoted by Rob earlier this month - "the people who walked in darkness....". Earlier this week I found myself plunged into darkness when, before anyone else in the house was awake, a fuse blew as I switched on a light, leaving the entire middle floor of the house without power. Not wanting to wake anybody up, I attempted to dress entirely in the dark. The process probably took me at least half as long again as it would have done if I had been in the light. Later, also before light, I walked past a gateway into a closed yard and reflected on how, in the dark, I was vulnerable to whatever might have sprung from it. These experiences got me thinking about the effects of darkness - the fumbling, the slowing, the fear.

Of course, once the light comes, the darkness is forgotten. But imagine walking in perpetual darkness, not having the respite of the light, even for a few short hours. Jesus is the "great light" or, in the words of the carol, the "everlasting light". The reason we burn an advent candle is to remind ourselves that He is the Light of the World and that darkness is no longer.

This poem shares some of these themes. It was written, 21 Christmases ago, by Faith Forster.

Shadows

I do not want to walk in Shadowland
where doubts and fears and nameless ugly things
creep slithering from recesses of the mind
to lurk in corners or the bend of stairs
and cast their darkening shapes around my head
in my lone climbing.

I want to be like Mary when the Spirit came....
who knew the beat of wings above her,
the shadow of the Most Hight falling
gently
like a cloak about her....
stirrings deep within her and
a breath upon her face, like some
sweet zephyr from another world
where holy things are born....
where life springs out of barrenness,
no shade of doubt can linger
and where nothing is impossible
with God.....

May Jesus light your world today! Abby

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A Hall Family Nativity

Please look here for Jonny and Maia's latest effort.

day 15...

You may recognise this poem by Stephen Waling - we've used it at some of the advent-y events we've done with revive in the past.
i love it though, and it's always worth a re-read.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Advent day 12

We've been thinking about the journey Mary and Joseph went on when they travelled to Bethlehem. Mary was heavily pregnant and the journey was 70 miles long.


What's the furthest you've ever walked? 70 miles is a long way, especially when you're carrying a baby inside. When I was heavily pregnant with Evie and Tom I couldn't even walk to the end of the road without sitting on someone's wall for a rest.

How far is 70 miles? Think of somewhere that you go to a lot that is about 70 miles away... could you imagine walking that far? How long do you think the journey would have taken?


To give you some ideas I've written a list of some cities and their distance from Leeds.

Bradford - 10 miles
Manchester - 44 miles
Nottingham -73 miles
Liverpool - 72 miles.

Do you know why they went to Bethlehem? .... was it just the census?... what was special about Bethlehem?




[the Tappers]

another quick link...

...to a nice and little 30-second film...

Saturday, December 11, 2010

day 11...

Two links from the smiths for you to explore today...

firstly our friend ric is a methodist minister with an open remit to explore and engage with the arts and the artistic community. he lives in sheffield and throughout advent he's trying to find wonder in the everyday and mundane stuff around him.
he's posting a photo each day and you can follow his little advent project here...
i like this project a lot - i think that searching for the wondrous things that go un-noticed all around us is a valuable and very rewarding thing to do...

also posting a piccy each day throughout the month is our friend hannah, and you can follow her progress through the month here...
her pics are maybe a bit quirkier, but she's ploughing a similar furrow to ric, documenting some of the "little things" that make life worthwhile...

Thursday, December 9, 2010

ADVENT: Day 10

We enjoyed the story from the Shaws, thanks, and in answer to the Winter's challenge Peter said that being kind to our neighbour (giving her his unwanted tombola prize from the school fair!) made him feel really happy inside because she was so pleased to receive the present from him.

We've been thinking about waiting, and being thankful. The 4 advent calendars in our house are helping us count the days to Christmas, but we've realised that we are really very impatient. In our society we have got used to things being immediate (email rather than letter, text rather than waiting for time to talk on the phone) but God has given us as Christians some great promises as rewards for waiting.

See Isaiah 40: 30-31. In the NIV the word 'hope' is used instead of wait, which is interesting because we are both waiting for Jesus and hoping in him.
Also in Luke 2:21-35 the story of Simeon shows that the reward for his wait was seeing the Messiah. Good things are clearly worth waiting for. If you find any other Bible references to rewards for waiting, please share.

And on thanks, we are trying to be thankful for what we have, rather than seeing what we don't have and asking for more (presents, things etc). So today's challenge is to think of at least 3 things to thank God for, and pray with your family to share your thanks.

And finally, the link below is to remind us that some people in the world will not be celebrating Christmas with a lot of presents, but they need the essentials for life. So a way to show our thanks might be to give something to them. (from as little as £5)

http://www.musthavegifts.org/

The Simpsons

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

ADVENT: DAY 9

A man was walking along the ocean early one morning after a storm.
Thousands of starfish had been washed up on the beach.
He saw a boy, crouched down in the sand fixated on something.
The boy stood up and flung the object beyond the breaking surf.
The man asked the boy “Son, what are you doing?”
The boy replied, “I’m throwing starfish back into the sea because if I don’t, they’ll die.”
“But there are thousands of starfish. You can’t possibly make any difference to them…”
The boy looked at him, picked up another starfish, and threw it into the ocean.
“It’s going to make a big difference to that one!”

Story by Joel Barker, derived from a work by Loren Eiseley

----------

Join the Simkins in the challenge of today: to do one simple positive thing for someone (say something nice, smile at someone, give someone a hug, offer help, write a letter to someone who may be lonely or sick, phone someone...). It may make a big difference to that person's life today. It may seem an insignificant action or deed, but its effects could be big. Perhaps you can discuss as a family how it made you feel when you did that positive thing.

Look at Matthew 25 vs 37 to 40

Advent Day 8

from the Shaws...

For today's blog, make yourself a cup of tea/hot chocolate/ribenna/your favoured yule-tide tipple and sit back and enjoy our story....well, actually, it's not our story but Susie Poole's 'A Christmas Journey'

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2008329/christmasjourney.mp3

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Advent Day 7

The Winter's have been thinking about how we celebrate Christmas whilst many around us seem to be celebrating Xmas. Whilst traveling around over the past couple of weeks, the children have been asking about the decorations which are up round the city. Questions like, “What have penguins, snowmen and polar bears got to do with Jesus?”. Leeds lights are called simply that, ‘Leeds Lights’ not Christmas lights, or anything to do with it. There is such an effort by commerce to distract us entirely from thinking about the incredible underserved gift to us all of a baby who was born to die, who demands a response to whom He is and what He said. He is counter culture, dangerous and subversive, but if we leave Him in the manger, totally harmless, soft and marshmallowy!

There is a real challenge to keep the main thing the main thing at this time of year. We have chosen to follow a King who is truly worth serving. I’ve uploaded an mp3 file to my website for you to listen to, some of you may have heard this before, but it is well worth listening again so that we can remind ourselves who this king is that we serve.

http://www.familywinter.co.uk/files/MyKing.mp3

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Advent Day 6

Encouraging our Kids to give

As a child my Mum always encouraged me to pray at night before I went to sleep. I did this silently in my head every night. If you were to ask me what I prayed about my answer would be, I don't really remember except, at Christmas time I would pray that children who had nothing at Christmas would receive presents. I can't recall whether, as a family, we actually did anything about making this a reality. However Suzie and I thought how lovely it would be for our kids to be able to give some of their many toys to other children who may need them more. So with that in mind I have found a link to some kids that would benefit from our kids stuff.

http://www.childrensheartunit.org/adult/depart_donate.html

May God bless you all

Love The Hamlins

Day 5

ISAIAH 9 : The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
For to us a child is born,to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor,Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

Thought : At christmas we remember that god gave us his son.
We exchange gifts at christmas which is a lot of fun, but how often do you end up trying to think of things to give people who have everything.
The adverts try and get us to buy all the latest products and many people feel the
pressure to spend more than they can afford.
A few things we have done occasionally to try and do christmas a bit differently.(Which I am sure
many of you have done too.)
Secret santa presents (less,but better quality presents to cut down on the toot)
Buy some chickens through oxfam present scheme.
Christmas hamper for those in need.

On the last point a friend of mine, Andrew lives in East Leeds. He asked for money (£15) so he can make up hampers for needy friends of his round where he lives. I think some are asylum seekers. If anyone is interested in contributing to this let me (rob) know.


Happy Christmas everyone.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Advent Day 4

Hey y'all - Carol scores:
7(R), 10(H), 4(L), 4(D), 8 for a carol - 2 for something i want to listen to (J)

The Schorahs have been thinking about 'Shelter', both in terms of literal shelter in the freezing weather and the charity.

We have been looking at some Shelter videos about how easy it is to become homeless and what it's like to be on your own - not very nice!

Mary and Joseph were also nearly homeless in Bethlehem - if a dodgy looking couple came looking for shelter round here now would you let them in?

Shelter 2008 Campaign Film from Silent Studios | Resonate on Vimeo.




http://vimeo.com/1550099
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e57FQHdt-ws

ADVENT: DAY 3

Firstly apologies to all and especially the Schorahs as we agreed to swap with them to do the 3rd instead of the 4th.

Well here goes for my first ever blog entry anywhere, ever ....

-----------------------------------------------

Christmas to me means CAROLS played on BRASS instruments and it wouldn't be the same without it - all this modern alternative stuff just doesn’t cut the MUSTARD for me, not at Christmas anyway.

My favourite carol is the COVENTRY CAROL. Why? Because it’s a wonderful, sad tune with great harmonies:



By the way, can you tell me if you like it and I will compile a SURVEY:

10= this is the best thing I ever heard
1 = what a complete pile of tosh.

Also, if you can put your age next to your score and I will work out if there is a CORRELATION (steady..) between like and age.

I could have just put the link up and left it at that but I thought I should find out a little bit more about the Coventry Carol as I've never really understood the words:

Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.
Lullay, thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

What on earth does this mean? Could it be NONSENSE?

Well, it turns out this the Coventry Carol is a mother’s lament for her DOOMED child. The mother is Mary and the child, or course, is Jesus.

Hang on a minute, isn’t this all a bit negative? After all, Jesus wasn’t doomed. Perhaps I shouldn’t be listening to this stuff.

A bit of further investigation (good old Wikipedia) and it became clear that this is about Mary and Jesus when Jesus was very young and when King Herod ordered all BOYS under the age of two should be KILLED. So perhaps Mary was right to be sad, fearful and to think that Jesus was doomed. Try to put yourself in her shoes.

So yes, it is good to be human, but it can also be risky and SCARY. Jesus shared in this not only as an adult, but also as a new born baby.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Day 2 : ADVENT...

This Advent, I’d like to invite you beyond a merely sentimental understanding of Christmas as “waiting for the baby Jesus” to an adult and social appreciation of the message of the Incarnation of God in Christ. We Franciscans have always believed that the Incarnation was already the Redemption, because in Jesus’ birth God was already saying that it was good to be human, and God was on our side, and on the side of all creation.
The need on this earth for adult Christianity and the actual message of Jesus is so urgent that we cannot allow this great feast of Christmas, and its preparation in Advent, to be watered down in any way.

Adapted from Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr

*lynne*

a 'silent night' mixtape

i really like this freebie mp3 from 'FILE' magazine...

(from their website) "...To celebrate the festive season, this mixtape is “an alternative soundtrack for xmas”. Nine excellent interpretations of the famous carol Silent Night from the likes of fupper, klint, sparo, poplar, transistor 6, theboylucas, hint, my brother & caty b. styles rang from breakbeat to folk to electronica. Merry Xmas!

Franz Xavier Gruber was born in Hochberg, Austria 1787. He composed the Silent Night music in 1818 in Amsdorf..."

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

DAY 1: Praying Forward




Our family is pretty rubbish at praying together. However, there is one thing that we are quite good at, which is using our 'prayer dice.' This is a wooden cube which has a mealtime grace on each side.





It makes praying at mealtimes fun and the kids can join in because they just have to read a short prayer and don't have to make one up.




So... As we prepare for Christmas, we thought we would share this approach to prayer with you. We have included two pictures for you to download and print out onto A4. One is a blank cube, for you to write your own Advent prayers on; the other has a prayer written by each of the Halls, plus one from a Catholic website. You could have fun guessing which of us wrote which prayer!




Once you have your cube(s), you could use them at mealtimes or bedtime or any time!




Enjoy!



The Halls

Great song to research

Go to Youtube and search for O Come O Come Emmanuel. Sufjan Stevens' version is cool, Enya's is... Enya-ish. You get the idea.

Then try to find the words and see if you can work together to understand them!

A task for intrepid googlers!

Cubeecraft day

This is a little prep for parents who like making things with their kids (colour printer, scissors and patience required):

http://7ater.com/cubee/?cat=54

We're going to come back to the 'cubee' idea later for tomorrow's blog, but we promise it will be a lot easier!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Advent calendar plug...



The Leeds Charity Advent Calendar is now available from OK Comics, Waterstones, and other retail outlets in and around Leeds city centre!