Daily ScriptureFor if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered…... For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was passed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb: “The sow is washed only to wallow in the mud.” (2 Peter 2:20-22)Daily ReflectionIsn't that that a wonderfully simple image to understand?.... Washing the pig only for it to go and wallow in the mud as it did before. What a waste! So….. what does it mean to us, today? Peter is speaking to someone who has learnt about Christ and how this brings salvation, but then turns their back on the good news and ignores it in their life. They are worse off than before; they’ve rejected the true lifeline that they’ve been thrown. (To mix in another metaphor!) Christmas is very nearly here. It reminds us of the birth of God’s Son…. God came to earth as one of us. The same Jesus (the Christ) who died for you on the Cross – because of his love for you. Now you’ve been reminded of that, don’t go back to wallowing in the mud! Instead: rejoice and live! Happy Christmas.Revd David
Daily Scripture:‘For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name.’Daily Reflection:Christian writer and speaker Jennifer Rees-Larcombe lost her husband, and became wheelchair-bound in a short space of time. One day, in the throes of pain and desolation over her loss, she opened the Bible and was struck by the above verse. God showed her in this verse that He could and would fill the space of loss…. that He could be her “husband”, if she would have Him.Whatever you may have lost this year, please know that God can fill the gap; that He can and will be exactly what you need, when you need it – the Bible says so. God so loved each one of us, that He gave us his only Son, so that we needn’t be lost and lonely, but have life, and life to the full. Jennifer’s book, “Journey into God’s Heart”, is available online. As we celebrate the birth of God’s son Jesus this week, treat yourself to this book, and read about a God that longs to be intimately involved in your life - in all your hopes and your dreams, as well as all your fears and your losses. Vicki Young
Daily Scripture:In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’ (Luke 1:39-45)Daily Reflection:Here they are, both unexpectedly expecting! Naturally, they turn to each other, as women have always done, finding strength in the sisterhood. What came to me, as I read this passage, was actually Eurythmics’ hit “Sisters are doing it for themselves”! Because Mary, Jesus’ teenage mother, is no timid waif. She sets out alone to visit her relative, surely feeling only one will understand her; Elizabeth, who is also pregnant. And Elizabeth knows in the depth of her being that something wonderful is coming into the world through her young visitor and the child she is carrying. They draw strength from their shared experience, as we can, when we turn to each other in these strange and unsettling days. Now, more than ever, do we need our sisters – and our brothers! Rev Ylva
Please join us for this service via cut and pasting this link: https://youtu.be/OCTNvEuNLWUThe link will go "public" (ie be accessible) from just before 7:30pm on Monday 21st December so that we can all listen to the readings and sing along to the carols together - even if we're in our own homes whilst we do so. The carol service sheet is attached as a download (but the carols will also appear on your screen)Revd David
