Virtual Methodist

Around this time of year Christians are often encouraged to sign up in one form or another to a campaign to "keep Christ in Christmas." Depending on how contrarian I am feeling I will either endorse such a campaign or seek to debunk it... A key factor is often whether the campaign has any sense of humour... One of my virtual friends who is consistently humorous (and I frequently laud her as such at this time of year in my VM Awards , which may or may not make an appearance this year depending on whether I can be bothered) is WhyNotSmile . Last week Mrs Smile took on an atheist campaign that, Grinch-like, seeks to take Christ out of Christmas... There isn't a lot of humour in her response, a lot of her characteristic wit, but not much to laugh out loud at... Instead there is a depth of feeling that is important to hear in the run up to this "season to be jolly..." Let me quote a huge chunk of her piece where she says why she needs Christ at Christmas even mor...

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ He is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, He comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort others in trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. From 2 Corinthians 1:2-4  It's with those words that we begin our morning worship today, where we'll be exploring the prayer that Jesus taught us - a prayer where we are encouraged to call the almighty God "Our Father." In these couple of verses from Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church, we are reminded what sort of a father he is... not a stiff and distant Victorian father, but "the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort." This past couple of weeks I have, sadly been astounded by the lack of compassion exhibited by some of my brothers and sisters in Christ... and have also, with certain justification, been ac...