Peace and Joy
I've been trying to keep my focus on the real importance of Christmas this year. It's so easy to miss the point. Its not about all the material things we give or even receive. I've been trying to understand what it means to encounter the joy and the peace of Christmas.
I've been trying not be too stressed when things go wrong. For example the Christmas Eve service plans went hay wire this yesr. We ended up having no musicians to play. My sermon notes weren't...
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I had an interesting start to the day. I went in search of Alan Stewart farmer and road haulier. I've known Alan's family for many years. I wanted to meet up with a real life person connected with the business of sheep farming in order to make a podcast for Sanctuary First. When I finally tracked him down he was busy on the mobile sorting out the many deals he has to negotiate each day as he plans the movememnt of sheep from one part of the country to the other. He...
Church was busy tonight. We had a quick curry cookery demonstration going on in the kitchen while in the church itself people were putting the finishing touches to the Christmas decorations. The tree went up last Sunday but we left it empty so that we could use it as a prayer tree. Tonight we put our Christmon decortion on it and I must confess it looks absolutely fantastic. While we're talking about trees. I got the big holly tree that stands outside our made door...
My moble rang- the voice on the other end of the phone was inquiring if I still had a use for the empty Woolwoth store in Bo'ness. I had left a note of interest in the property about five weeks ago. To be perfectly honest I had moved on from the idea and I was preparing for Christmas without Woolworth. Having received the call the question now running through my mind was could we put together a Christmas use for the store in such a short time?
After the meeting...
Today is damp dark and a bit gloomy. Yesterday was a beautiful Winter's day. The sun was shining brightly as I drove to the crematorium. Such beauty in the middle of sadness. Sometimes I wish the weather would match the things I have to do. When I feel sad lets have rain, and when I feel happy lets have sunshine!
However the day ended with the discovery of these wonderfully red holly berries. For some reason I was drawn to think about the cross of Christ. The red...