No meeting this week but...

Hi to any Friday regulars calling in here... there's nothing for you in church this week but Tim and Fiona welcome anyone to drop by at their place on Friday instead... 7pm for 7.30

Merry Christmas

...to our reader(s)!

'The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.'

C. S. Lewis

Contemporary Christmas Celebration

... well it sounds dull I know but that's what it says in the church diary for tomorrow night.

Come and see what it means in reality.....

PREVIEW EXTRACTS FROM RUNNING ORDER:
Classic, twee nativity video. 2 or 3 minute clip. / Story about angel stealing Jesus / 21st century Holy Land pilgrimage / Discuss: how did you respond to this piece? Shock? Interest? Amusement? / church with things to see, read, touch, smell, taste / how can we help others to realise this baby is for life, not just for Christmas?

SOMEBODY SAY SOMETHING!

I know you read this because people have told me.

They say "nobody writes comments" but they don't write any themselves.

So, hey, write a comment.

Please...

More on poetry

For those still mulling over our debates last week, here's something that Bono did on a CD of Irish poetry a few years back:

First Appears On: Voices and Poetry of Ireland, 2003
Written By: Brendan Kennelly
Performed By: Bono
Someone had mercy on language
changed it into something else I can touch
I can touch grow to love, murmured Aceas
he heard the stranger talkingof how laughter comes from God.
Who, hearing words from his own mouth
and from others, can[not]* stop himself
laughing or freezing in terror
at sound bubbling up out of infinite
emptiness? Well fill it up with pride
and let vanity strut along for the ride.
When the ride peters out at the edge
of small daring, then that other sound
opens.This is the sound of God's laughter,
like nothing on earth, it fills
earth from grave to mountain-top,
lingers there a while, then like a great
bird spreading its wings for home
or somewherelike home, heads out into silence,
gentle and endless, longing to understand
children, killers of children, killers. Mercy. Silence. Sound.
Mercy. Sound. Word. Sound. Change, there must be
change. There is. Say flesh. Say love. Say dust.
Say laughter. Who will call the fled bird back?
Stand. Kneel. Curse. Pray. Give us this day
our daily laughter. Let it show the way.
Thank God someone has mercy
on the words we find we must say.

Note: * in the original text this word is "cannot." Bono, for reasons unknown, reads it as "can."

But is it art? Painting the Word

Well the poetry evening was much more interesting than I expected.

Now for an evening about religious paintings (mainly the classical Christmas ones) which we all probably remember seeing somewhere (on a chocolate box or in a magazine) but did we really look at them. These pictures were often painted to sit behind an altar instead of stained glass. What do they SAY to us. Is there a danger of differing interpretations?

Come and have your say. Be prepared for surprises!

Poetry????!!!

I think that I will never see
A poem that will interest me
Songs are really more my line
Instead of written words that rhyme
I think it really rather odd
That stuff like this would interest God
But if this Friday you're down our way
Come to THEFRIDAYSERVICE and have your say

Let's Dance!!

This Friday.... (2nd December)

... why do some Christians think dancing is not for church?
- or has that changed after Archbishop John's enthronement service at York?!

What were the Puritans worried about? Enjoying ourselves?

... and anyway... why is so much "sacred dance" so bad?

... and what has this go to do with hamsters?

Come on Friday to find out!