Virtual Methodist

The theme that I am working on for my end of year sermon brought this dialogue back to mind... I posted it earlier in the year , but I thought it was appropriate for old year's night and the dawning of a new year. May the Light of Christ's Love burn brightly in your life in the coming year despite the gathering darkness of economic depression... The darkness will never overcome it. WOMAN: A night for singing songs… MAN: Old songs and new songs All based on an older song… WOMAN: THE song… MAN: The song of all songs WOMAN: The song of a lady for her lover MAN: The Lord for his beloved… WOMAN: A song which began before creation… MAN: A song of love which called light into being A song of love which breathed life into clay WOMAN: A song of love which gave us liberty… Yet pursued us when we went astray. MAN: I have loved you with an everlasting love… I have been eternally faithful to you. WOMAN: If only I could say the same. Yet I have not loved you as I should; I have not lived the...

Not everyone sees things the same way. That's one of the ideas that underpins this book "A Quiet Belief in Angels" and I clearly see it in different way from most of those who have been writing about it. People have been saying what a fabulous book this is... "beautiful... haunting..." claims Michael Connolly on the back cover... "Wow!" says one highly literate reviewer on Amazon, while another tells about sitting up half the night to finish this in a single sitting. It took me ages to finish this... in fact, the thought of not finishing it haunted me (I'm one of these sad people who refuses to give up on a book once started... not something I am proud of... its an affliction rather than a positive attribute). I ended up reading late into the night to finish it, but only because I couldn't bear the spectre of it looming over me throughout Christmas... Because, despite the mention of angels in the title, this is no uplifting seasonal read, nor ...

A new song for Christmas. To the tune of "Raglan Road." A work in progress, but its my humble offering to Christ for his birthday this year. Down Bethl’em road from Nazareth, Came Joseph and his wife Within her womb God’s promise bloomed His Word, the Light of Life. He came to take on flesh and blood To show us all the way And through the night a star so bright Hailed the dawning of His day. And on the hills round Bethlehem, Some shepherds heard the song, The angels sing of a new born King Awaited for so long. They find him midst the filth and grime In a bed of straw and hay, Ignored by the earth that he brought to birth The Lord Almighty lay. And from the east to Bethlehem Come men who saw the sign. These eastern seers travelled two long years To present their gifts so fine. Gold they did bring, fit for a king And a scent of untold worth. But the gift of myrrh that they offer third Spoke of death and not of birth. From Bethlehem his parents fly To save their son from harm Bu...

Before I became a minister I was an actor in the theatre... and I performed all sorts of plays, but I never became a star... It was maybe out of some sort of frustration that I wrote this monologue for a Christmas family service a few years ago... You have to imagine a grown man dressed as a star... Good morning everybody, I hope I’m not dazzling you too much... Here I am the one you’ve all been waiting for... The star of the show... Well the Star anyway... And I’m here today to do a few impressions... What’s that? (Points finger like gun) Bang! A shooting star... (Spins round) A star turn... (Jumps up) A star jump... (Falls fown) A falling star... (Makes fish face) A star fish... No no don’t applaud... There’s no need... I’m always making quite an impression!! Although the biggest impression I ever made was over 2000 years ago... It was the reason I was created... Most other stars are just there as pin pricks of light to make the night sky more interesting and give Patrick Moore ...

I’m no dreamer… not like my namesake, the son of Jacob, and friend of Pharaoh. I work with nails and wood, things you can touch and shape and hit with a hammer. And I did a lot of that when Mary first told me. I couldn’t believe it… How could she do that? Who was the father? All she would say was it was nothing to do with her, The baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit, ordained by God himself. Well I’ve heard some excuses in my time… “Who do you think I am – a fool born yesterday!?” But she seemed so genuine… so innocent… And, I thought… so naïve… “Who has taken advantage of you? Who?” I asked… But she named no-one… So I planned to drop the engagement quietly, leave it to her parents to ship her off to some relatives to have the baby… But I knew the news would get out… the shame would stick… To me as to her… And I took my frustrations out on the wood in my workshop… But then, I had that dream… I hadn’t been sleeping at all… It was my first decent night’s sleep and I was annoyed to be r...

A short liturgy for lighting the Christ Candle on Christmas Day. Voice 1: At last! The day has come! Voice 2: The first candle encouraged us to wait, and it was a long wait. [THE FIRST CANDLE IS LIT] Voice 1: The second candle encouraged us to remember God’s promises. [THE SECOND CANDLE IS LIT] Voice 2: The third candle encouraged us to prepare the way. [THE THIRD CANDLE IS LIT] Voice 1: And the fourth candle encouraged us to make ourselves ready. [THE FOURTH CANDLE IS LIT] Voice 2: But now the day is here! Voice 1: Christ is come. Voice 2: The centre of it all. Voice 1: Now we light the central candle to remind us that Jesus, the light of the world, is with us. [THE CENTRAL CANDLE IS LIT] Voice 2: Isaiah promised: Voice 1: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Voice 2: on those who living in a land of deep darkness light has shined." Voice 1: And John began his Gospel saying: Voice 2: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Go...

Well, as prophesied last week there will be a Hallelujah chorus this Christmas... Unfortunately the Simon Cowell/Alex Burke version of Leonard Cohen's song rather than the Jeff Buckley version... Although Jeff apparently ran her a very close second... making this the first time in history that the same song has held first and second slot in the British single's chart. But anyway, thought I'd take the opportunity to post this little ditty by my mate Mitch Benn, from the Now Show on Radio 4 last Friday/Saturday. Sadly not enough people rallied round, but then WhyNotSmile posted this wonderful little version, by our latest favourites the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Company on her Facebook site. It's my No 1! Cheers