The Pain of Christmas

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more.”

Matthew 2: 13-18

Comments

Questions

I mentioned in my previous group about one of my lovely youth groups. Its reasonably small and all the young people come from a church orientated background or have been going to church for a while. We started back in January and as a leader theres that post Christmas panic when you realise you havent planned a session let alone the rest of the term. So I used a cop out, I used my first session back to help get the young people to plan the sessions - brilliant, right! Over the last five months in post here in Conwy, theres been a real theme emerging from my work and my visits and my volunteering/volunteered(ness) at things like Faith and Order and 3Gen. This is the idea of questions and having a safe space to ask questions discuss them and not necessarily come out with a definitive answer, but having explored deeply the topic at hand. At Uni I hated the big questions discussed late at night, when one should have been writing assignments because then it felt like wor...

Reflection on #fando

My university degree assignments were largely theological reflections, and I largely hated writing them. But as I reflect I have or I have a responsibility as I get back on the train. What do I have to do now. My response to these two and a bit days. I have had a strong renewal in my passion for theology, and I don't want to keep this to myself. This has an impact with my ministry with families and young people. To help the, engage with theology, the communion of saints the richness in grappling with the big questions. Moving to not have a shallow ministry but a deep ministry allowing God to reach deeply in my life and of those around me. Being aware of the Wesleyan quadrilateral in the work I do not just as a a useful tool for graduating from a college with Methodist tendencies. There needs to be an investment in theology in the local church and I have a chance to facilitate this. Theology is integral to our faith and walk as Christians, I think people do want to engage wit...

The Arrival

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2:6-7

Thoughts From Just Another Passer By

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