Monday, December 13, 2010
An Advent Meditation from Brian McLaren
Have a look at this meditation on the magnificat, probably for grownups only...
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]
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]
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...
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
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
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
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
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