‘Most of the Christmas story is legend’
I've mentioned before that this blog is nothing if not up-to-date. So I'd ...
‘The Nativity’ – too much doubt, not enough joy
It all came together in last night's final episode of the BBC's 'The Nativity'. ...
‘This will be a sign to you’ – sermon notes
Text: Luke 2:12 - "This will be a sign to you" There is something surprising ...
An interview with Joseph – ‘sermon’ notes
Text: Mt 1:18-25 [Note: the following was presented in the form of a semi-scripted, ...
Anna – a meditation
Text: Luke 2:21-38 More than 80 years before Jesus was born in that manger ...
Christmas – what a curious mixture!
As everyone knows, Christmas is a curious mixture of pagan, folk, and Christian ...
Christmas is coming, preacher
Peter Mead suggests some starting points from which the creatively-challenged ...
How (not) to preach a Christmas sermon
At Christmas, fact and fiction, truth and legend, are mixed so thoroughly that ...
Immanuel, God with us – sermon notes
Text: Isaiah 7 The time is 735 BC or thereabouts. The southern kingdom of ...
Matthew 2:2 – The star of Bethlehem
With regard to the identity of the 'star of Bethlehem' (Luke 2), scholars have ...
Much ado about ‘The Nativity’
The Daily Express has melodramatically announced that there is 'fury over BBC's ...
One language, two religions
It was J. [...]
Out of Egypt – sermon notes
Matthew 2:13-23 V13 - ‘When they had gone’ – that same night? Whatever ...
Poor Joseph?
St Matthew-in-the-City Church in Auckland, New Zealand, has put up a billboard ...
Preach this Christmas
Ian Paul has commented on the thoughts of David Walker, Bishop of Manchester, ...
Sacked for denying the existence of Santa
A primary school teacher has been fired for telling her rowdy youngsters that ...
Should we rewrite the Nativity script?
As I like to point out to anyone who will listen, a number of features in the ...
Simeon – sermon notes
Text: Luke 2:25-35 When Jesus Christ laid down his life on the cross of Calvary, ...
The birth of Jesus – sermon notes
Text: Luke 2:1-18 ‘History teaches us’ claimed the philosopher Hegel, ‘that ...
The blessings of Immanuel
According to Matthew 1:22-23, Jesus received the name 'Immanuel' ('God with ...
The Man Who Invented Christmas
It was the 31-year-old Charles Dickens, of course, who invented the modern ...
The visit of the Magi – sermon notes
Text: Matthew 2:11 - 'On coming to the house, they saw the child with his ...
The Word became flesh – sermon notes
Text: John 1:14 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. [...] ...
The Word made flesh
This is based on an article by Prof Donald MacLeod in The Monthly Record, Jan ...
Top ten Christmas conversation starters
To the seasonally tongue-tied among us, Donald Whitney suggests that the following ...
What Christmas is really all about
And there were in the same country children keeping watch over their stockings ...
When, and where, was Jesus born?
How does 'main-stream' critical scholarship deal with the biblical narratives ...