Dear Friends,

My Advent giving Box

Yesterday churches lit the first candle for Advent and tomorrow the first window of Advent calendars will be opened to reveal little — or, in some cases, BIB — treats to start the day.

Children will rush downstairs in the morning to open a window and find a chocolate or sweet with a parental warning that it can’t be eaten until after school. Or they might find a note with a clue to where a hidden treasure can be found. It might seem great fun, but I imagine houses full of lost tempers as parents try to insist that children get ready for school BEFORE the treasure has been found. Good luck with that one! CONTINUE READING ...

Dear Friends,

The Advent Challenge: Who can come in?

As we started Advent I was imagining what a guilty innkeeper might feel like in the Christmas story: “I told them there were no rooms available because of the Government decree that we are in ‘lockdown’”! CONTINUE READING ...

Dear Friends,

Don’t ignore the cracks

but fix them quick

to build a house where love can dwell!

I confess that I have indulged myself in watching more daytime television with a cup of tea during lockdown and I got a timely reminder from the BBC programme, Homes Under the Hammer, during the week of a lesson I learned many years ago: Don’t ignore the cracks, but fix ‘em while you can! CONTINUE READING ...

Dear Friends,

There are stars behind the clouds

Philippians 2: 3-17

The telephone calls you make this week can be like the wind that blows away the clouds to reveal stars shining in the dark sky above…

You will probably telephone someone because you know there are clouds hanging over their lives and you want them to know you are thinking of them in these stormy times. I have done it many times and more often than not I find a star bringing some light into my life! CONTINUE READING ...

Dear Friends,

Selling with love for the neighbours!

Matthew 19: 16-24

Once upon a time, there was a little old woman who lived in a dream house in a street full of wonderful people she loved in a beautiful village. Sadly, the day came when she had to move a care home and there were plenty of people who wanted to buy her dream house in a street full of wonderful people in a beautiful village. So she was offered top price for a house which only someone with a lot of money could buy. So what did she do? What would you do? What would 99% of the population do when offered top price for the house they had to sell? CONTINUE READING ...