Prayer for New Year's Eve 2014

I used to get all worked up about New Years Eve. The night can be one of heightened emotions and danger out there as people do some funny things. The need to be with people and to be loved on this night seems to be more than any other night. Yes, there are people and places I would dearly love to be with tonight but I am not there. I am quite content with a glass or two of Bailey's Chocolate Liqueur and Jules Holland on the telly, or Queen from Methodist Central Hall and some fireworks on the other side. I will text some friends later and will be "with people" that way. My Mum is here but she goes to bed at 8.

Why do we think tonight so important? Why do we think tomorrow suddenly life will be different? Why is being alone so bad and painful tonight for many people, some who will go out and make huge mistakes after a glass or eight. We were hearing from the manager at Pontins at Camber Sands recently exploring Street Pastors going in there on nights like tonight. There are some horror stories relationship wise in that place! Perhaps we need in life nights when we look back, perhaps with regret but also thankfulness. I have made some mistakes in 2014, I have got into a situation I still can't resolve which bothers me, despite me not being able to do anything about it. I have also had a good year with my churches being lovely, and despite being in a place and a role at the end of the year I did not expect, I am content. There is much to look forward to. The most precious thing I have rediscovered in 2014 is that I am not on my own, I have special people, and some very special people who journey with me, and who enrich my journeying. You know you who are and I thank you tonight. I hope people who find tonight hard, don't make too much of it and go to bed. I will sit up, I am not sure why but it feels important to mark the year's passing and to quietly enter a new one, whatever that means and whoever comes with me in it. Happy New Year everyone!

God of time, thank you for the year that is coming to an end in a few hours, the new opportunities, my work and my churches, my friends who have become important to me and my family. 

God of every moment, be with those who find this night impossible. Be with those who are racked with loneliness with the pressure to be with someone to kiss at midnight! 

God of new beginnings, may the New Year begin well, may I live every day, cherishing every moment. Where I get it wrong, forgive me. Where I miss your guidance, put me straight, and when I get bogged down, reenergise me and give me surprises to lift my soul and lighten my spirit. 

On this New Year's Eve, O God, in the words of the hymn writer, I praise you for all that is past, and I trust you for all that is come. Amen. 

Prayer for Christmas Day 6 - Time to do other things

I love these days between Christmas and New Year. I do a little work but not a lot as I am "on call" until Saturday. I notice people taking time to stock up on things to make the New Year more effective. Many shops are now full of sale items and the queues at the tills are large. We seem to need new things for a new year! Here is my Mum eyeing up saucepans in Dunelm Mill here in Hastings. No saucepans were bought as they were, she said, cheaper in the shop we had come out half an hour before. This brings back memories of Saturday shopping trips with my Mum and my Auntie who would always look at every shop to weigh up things and they always drag my poor Uncle back to the shop the afternoon began in!

It is also good in these days to take time to do other things at leisure. I have just cooked a meal for my colleague Peggy and Mum to share at teatime. It will be "sort of work" as we need to discuss Sunday's Circuit Service but it will be good to spend time with no agenda and just be. 

I treasure these "inbetween" days. 

God of activity and of rest, help me treasure the "inbetween" in life. January and its pressures will come soon enough. Help me in these days to work out what I need to begin a New Year well, not necessarily a new saucepan, but quality relationships and some perspective. Amen. 

Prayer for Christmas Day 5 - Resting

This is the beginning of a funny few days in between festivities, with one or two things to do but not very much. 

I reflected on times of relaxed waiting as I waited for my Mum to be delivered unto me at Folkestone services this afternoon. People were enjoying a coffee prior to moving on somewhere or waiting for someone like me. There is plenty of work ahead but for now it can wait and I can semi chill this week, in the in-between time, 

God of all time, thank you for days when I can leave things to come and relax in the moment. All will happen at the appointed time. Help me to rest and not rush on to deal with things that can wait for a few days. Give me coffee opportunities this week. Amen. 

Prayer for Christmas Day 4 - Anticipating if not knowing

Today, the last Sunday of the year, I chose to focus in church on angels and the fact that angels appear in the Christmas story, announce something about to happen, clear off and leave humanity to work out how to respond. We had an amazing service this morning - I thought few would be there, we had 51!

I took this picture on my walk in Hastings this afternoon. It is taken from "Bottle Alley" and is looking out to sea. You can't see what is beyond the horizon, but it looks bright and positive. From the safety of the shelter, we are invited to look and dream and see possibilities. We might not see all the detail but we have a future, a direction we are told will be okay. I end the year having managed to make up Superintendency as I go along, without anyone noticing (!) and I have six churches full of possibility as we prepare for 2015. In church 1 we are suddenly engaging with families and children and plan to open our doors for open house every Thursday morning from February; in church 2 we are about to host a hosted Post Office service for the village which will bring new opportunities for conversation with people who live around us; in church 3 we continue to build on young people's work and we are starting serious reflection about how we will be church as our building fails us; in church 4 we are planning to put in glass doors to enable us to be more open to our tourist context and in partnership with other churches we have opened a Food Bank and will launch Street Pastors in the Spring; in church 5 we have seen a sudden new confidence and we are developing work beginning Messy Church and new house groups and receiving new people into membership in May and we are seeing our coffee morning on a Friday grow and in church 6, we are seeing Messy Church and Cafe Worship grow dramatically we are almost full up as our building is small. All of these initiatives have come from people seeing possibilities and going for them. It seems to me the Christmas story is about journeying. The shepherds went, not knowing every detail, but they still went. They didn't discuss it for long, they went quickly. This morning in worship I felt a confidence in people that maybe 2015 might be a special year for us all as we believe in God's call and in our own ability to travel. We need to look out to sea, to the bright sky and believe...

God of new beginnings and bright skies, help me to be like the shepherds of old on the hills of Bethlehem. When I am confronted with good news, with divine activity or told to believe a bit and go for it, help me to trust and to try. As a little card I have somewhere says "with God, there is nothing he and I cannot do together." Thank you for the last couple of years of travelling where we have discovered some foundations. Help us to be expectant and to journey on in confidence. Amen, 

Prayer for Christmas Day 3: Angel songs

I have discovered again this year that people want to be presented with a different way, because things aren't going very well for them. Part of Christmas I enjoy is engaging with people who perhaps only encounter “religion” once a year. Reflecting on December in my church in Hastings where I will share some of these thoughts tomorrow, our carol singing round the streets was excellent, a lot of people joining in, a lovely spirit, and children excited. Our Christingle was like a party – the children in the back corner excited that they knew me. Our community carol morning in our hall was a fun occasion, with Santa in the doorway attracting the attention of passing van drivers, the lady opposite peering out of her curtains and children passing by. Our Christmas Tree Festival got our church open and those who came appreciated some space to look and to wonder. Part of our plans for 2015 include to get the church open far more, to say to people there can be a different way. You need not be lonely, you are not on your own, God is involved in your life, and there can be deep joy for you.

Our task, call it evangelism if you must, is to remind people of the divine in our midst – do not be afraid. We are to sing a song that there has come a different way. We need to keep alive the rumour of God and we need to remind people of sudden explosions of joy in life, the incarnate love and peace of God in our midst. Immanuel, God with us. 

An Iona book of reflections puts the challenge well:

In that region, where people are afraid to go outside, where there is little hope for people, a world of darkness and desolation, people wondering what tomorrow will bring.

The Christmas angels come singing “Do not be afraid” in fearful places. They flew first to the ones in need of good news, least likely to be looking for it, or even expecting it, and quite frankly with more reason than most to refuse the invitation to believe in anything as unlikely as hope.

It is said that angels are simply God’s messengers – bringing with them a simple, if unbelievable, possibility. “It doesn't have to be this way,” they say. “Come and see this new thing that has been made known.”

If there is to be a stirring of angel wings, a new song building in the air, then in this region God’s messengers, you and me minus the haloes, have to be audacious enough to sing in fearful places.     

Angel songs tell us things are about to be different, and we are to be the angels who take God’s message where God calls us to be. Who needs an angel today?

Someone wrote in something I read that angels bring disturbing news to settled people. They open the eyes of working people to a vision of heaven, and they noisily and untidily being good news to a people who are willing to get off their backsides and come down the hill to a stable.

The writer then says angels just bring the news, open our eyes, have a party and clear off again, leaving us to work out where we go from here. No one forced the shepherds to go to Bethlehem. Their hearts were suddenly full of wonder and they could do no other than go and find out more.           

I wonder whether we need to be reminded to be more God centred and less church centred as we go forward. We can get so caught up in being church we have no energy to encounter God, and if we do, we want our God to be safe, and only to do things we can cope with. “There aren’t many of us now, we are getting older, please leave us be,” we cry. But if we close our hearts to the possibility of God, we miss something we celebrate in this Christ event, and if we close our hearts to God doing anything we pack away our hopes and prayers with the decorations at the end of all of this Christmas thing and that cannot be.

Luke tells us that the shepherds went back and glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard, different people. They had an encounter with the glory of God, through angel song and the simplicity of a child in a manger.

Do we forget the wonder of God coming TO us? How do we respond to the glory of God, and good news for all? 

None of us know what God might do with us next, but we have to be open as his people that angels will come to us, give us good news, give us a sign, and move us on to possibilities we never thought possible. How will 2015 be for us if we keep that positive attitude going beyond Christmas and try to live it every day? Someone in my Circuit said to me the other week, “the trouble with you is your glass is always half full. You are always so positive.” Well, I was sorry she saw me as a problem. I make no apologies for my style. I believe the Gospel, Jesus, God’s love, is positive and needs to be shared with some excitement. A church that is miserable, and drones on about problems will soon die. 

God, thank you for angel songs. Help me to be open to hear them, not just when it is Christmas. Amen. 

Prayer for Boxing Day

We are so exhausted! More so than yesterday! 

So a simple prayer:

Thank you for our bed, God! Amen! 

Prayer for Christmas Day

Two services done, no more O come all ye faithful for 11 months! A sleep and now enjoying Kiss Me Kate on the telly. Time to rest.

My services today were very different - a party atmosphere at the first with many younger people coming home to Hastings for Christmas with families. The second was quieter, but had two little children excited over what they had received. One had a Frozen costume and the other a scooter. At the end of the service I was given an enormous hamper with things every person in the church had put something in. I was thanked for everything I do and was told by my organist I am a treasure! 

Christmas is about being valued. I am in a good place here and I thank God for six lovely communities. I am hoping people are finding value today especially those who are on their own or who are being helped in shelters and in other temporary places of good will. I hope some of this value is still here in the darkness of January, when need is still there and I need to push my church on to make decisions... 

So to a nice evening eating and watching Danny Dyer implode in the Queen Vic. 

God of amazing generosity thank you for the gifts of today, nice words, gifts and now the gift of rest. Christmas God, help me to accept your gifts and share with others when this day is over and the realities of life are all around. Amen. 

These reflections will continue until January 6th so please come back.

Prayer for Christmas Eve - Expectation

I love Christmas Eve - rather more than Christmas Day! Singing along to the radio this morning, preparing worship, installing a new fridge (don't ask) and two Christingle services both full of families very excited. I used a verse from the Apocrypha today "sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will work wonders among you." Both churches I was in today had the largest number out for Christingle in recent years and there was a lovely spirit. 

I need to stay awake to share in a midnight communion. The expectation is all around me. Somehow this night is one of deep spirituality and possibility and I am glad to experience that. 

God of expectation, on this night long ago you worked wonders in this world. 

Do the same tonight, bring peace and comfort to those who need it most. Bring laughter and celebration to those who need to have some of those things in their lives. Bring peace to those who are on their own. Bring rest to clapped out ministers with three services to go. Most of all, God of surprises, thrill our hearts as you come again. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 24 - Appreciation

I arrived home just now from taking a funeral to find these flowers above and then this card below.
The flowers are from a little church I am merely watching over this year but which is a real blessing to me as it grows. The card is from a baptismal family I helped last month who had been turned away from other churches and have found an acceptance and a welcome in one of mine.

Small acts of kindness can make a huge difference. I don't do this work to be thanked but two days before Christmas it is lovely to be appreciated and given energy through people being thoughtful.

I wonder what kindness we might do every day to help people keep going and remind them they are valued. Often this season it happens for a few days, but, as one of my friends wrote in a Facebook post the other day, people still need to know they matter in February.

God, thank you for these flowers and this card. They are insignificant but they mean a lot to me tonight. Thank you for people who remind me I matter. May I help people in small ways, not just at Christmas, but every day. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 23 - What we need for Christmas

A prayer for Monday, three days before Christmas, reflecting on people in the supermarket at lunchtime...

God, what do I need to do Christmas? Does my trolley need to be so full I cannot fit any more in it? Do I need to buy sprouts and dates and Christmas pudding and those cheesy footballs for it to be Christmas? Tempers were frayed in the shop, people were panicking, it has to be perfect. 

This year, O God, I just want a simple Christmas. I am trying to understand why people fill it with so much. All I need in these days is to know your peace, rather than stuffing myself silly with things I never eat at any other time of the year. Forgive me, Lord, though, I seem to have eaten a whole box of chocolates while writing this prayer which happened to be on the desk! 

Prayer for Advent Day 22 - Done in!

A simple prayer tonight after four carol services... All very lovely. This morning after service 1, someone said "see you on Thursday" to which I said, "Why? What is happening on Thursday?" Genuinely!

Lord, were Mary and Joseph in a heap after days of doing your will. Did they collapse in that stable before birth began? Were they done in from doing? I just wonder...

Lord, I love this Sunday more than any other of the year, carols, telling your story, meeting people, and I've had a lovely day with four very different services, it was especially lovely seeing a small village church have a real all age celebration this afternoon and the place full of all ages. 

But now Lord, let your servant depart in peace until Tuesday morning! Let your servant enjoy a ready meal and a glass of red. I wonder if Mary and Joseph were fed when they arrived in Bethlehem, exhausted. At least I have a home to come home to, and warmth and food. They had very little. 

And Lord, if there is justice, please let Bianca win the Apprentice! 

Prayer for Advent Day 21 - Donkeys

We hold a Carols in the Barn service in one of my villages in aid of Farm Africa. 

It reminded me powerfully tonight that God came into the world in human form in the smelly and unlikely place, in the cold, away from civilisation. 

My prayer simply tonight is to help us remember where God came and will come today. Are we prepared to enter the smelly and cold places and find God in them, or are we too comfortable? 

A highlight of tonight was when one of these donkeys nearly ate the baby Jesus who was placed rather too near this rail for a while!

O God, remind me tonight where you come, into the darkness, into the cold, into the dirt, into the smelly reality of life, outside. Remind me tonight that is where I should be too. If Christmas is really to come, then it is not my church who should be celebrating, it is people I have not yet met. If I do not enter their world and help them and remind them where they are, that God comes to them, then I have misunderstood the story I am singing, sharing, reading, preaching over and over again in these weeks. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 20 - Laughter

I hit another Advent wall this afternoon and went to bed. This year, Advent feels relentless and sometimes I have needed to stop. 

But tonight I went out for another lot of carol singing with a very small, but enthusiastic group from St Helens Church in Ore Village. At some points we were very out of tune, the carols were too high, and we were singing different bits to each other! But what was brilliant about tonight was we had great fun! There was lots of laughter and we felt better for being out on the road by our church, together. Sometimes laughter is the best medicine to help you keep going and put things into perspective. So, thank you to Mike and Gillian, to Katy, Connor and Finlay, to Vicki and William, to David, and to Carol (who only came out to put some Christmas cards through some doors and heard us and joined us) for a super night. I have renewed energy now for two services and a Christmas tree festival in one of my villages tomorrow and four carol services on Sunday.   

God of laughter and celebration, thank you for tonight and for people who came together to sing carols with joy and lightness of spirit, and thank you for our neighbours in Clifton Road who gave us £51 for Save The Children. Sometimes simple acts make all the difference. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 19 - a favourite prayer will have to do!

This prayer from Mary Fleeson who has a wonderful scriptorium on Lindisfarne hangs in my dining room. I love this prayer. Sometimes I feel wrung out and I need to remember my call. I post this tonight for all my lovely clergy friends who are knackered with one week to go. This weekend for us is the busiest of all year, even if it is the loveliest! I have a banging migraine tonight, I have an in box full of stuff that if I tried to deal with it now would not be sensible. Circuit Staffing Plan to 2019 can wait! So, "be who I am, be where I am and be what I am" tonight means going to bed for a bit, then feeling better, having a cuddle with the cat, and feeling better to face more carol services, school nativities and carol singing tomorrow!

Dear God, tonight I pray help me accept that tonight as I have nothing on, I need do nothing. I haven't written a single Christmas card, the house is a tip, and the desk is full of chaos. But I need to stop. That is okay! Thank you God for nights in in the diary. I am sorry I have a migraine. Thank you for the darkness and for my bed. All will be well. I will be back tomorrow. Grant me now good sleep and healing peace. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 18 - Carol Singing

We have been out in our local community carol singing tonight. Santa joined us!

It was brilliant to be amongst our neighbours who really appreciated joining with us from their doorsteps. Many children waved from windows and some got to speak with Santa which was really exciting for them. A tradition here is the lovely couple at the end of the route who provide alcoholic mulled wine and mince pies. 

What is it about carols that people love? It is just a tradition that you have them, or is there something more in them? They are all optimistic, about a different world, about positive qualities like love, joy, peace and hope. Perhaps people sing them and don't think about what they are singing. If they did, they would realise they are singing some of the most profound theology around. I still believe Hark, the herald angels sing is the greatest piece of incarnational theology ever written. If we think about those words, they are mindblowing. 

I have many more carol services and carol singing sessions over the next eight days. I am glad they provide a chance to do God around us. On Saturday we are trying an informal singalong in our community and on Monday we are singing in ASDA, which is quite an experience! Perhaps I will post an image of that then. 

God, thank you for carols and carol singers. Thank you for the messages of carols that a new world can come. I pray for people who hear carol singers that they may hear the angels sing through the message of the words. Thank you for the privilege of being able to engage with people in their own world. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 17 - Greed

I write this reflecting on the events of the last 24 hours: the siege in Sydney and innocent people having a coffee being massacred at the hands of a terrorist. We are not sure who shot who in that tragedy, but it is still a tragedy however it happened. Then today we hear of schoolchildren in Pakistan murdered at the hands of the Taliban. Our Prime Minister calls it, quite rightly, a "dark day for humanity." We live in a world where power, threat, a desire to dominate and overwhelm what isn't ours are real issues every day. 

It happens in my house. Molly goes out for a bit, I leave the kitchen door open. The fat cat from down the road comes in, eats all the food and laughes at us. Here is a scene from earlier this evening as I sat writing in the study. Molly is helpless and can only watch as her dinner is stolen from her in a invasion of greed - this fat cat doesn't care at all and keeps coming back. She is above any rules or shouting. 

Later tonight I am leading a Circuit bible study on King Herod and his place in the Christmas narrative. He was obsessed with greed, threatened by another presence on his patch, he struck out because he thought his way was being challenged. He became more and more unhinged as the power went to his head. We think, in the end, the power drove him to insanity. Pastorally, we have people around us who are daily threatened by people who want their own way, who want to invade others space or rubbish their ideas or accuse them of things that they never did. The more they push, the ore they come and eat out a bowl that isn't theirs, they hope they will grind those that they push into submission so that they can be vindicated and dominate. I love the verse in Matthew's second chapter where the magi return home by another road having been warned not to return to Herod by an angel. The fat cats will still be there, but it is how we deal with them that is important. Molly is okay, she will get another dinner. Others are not okay. The bullying culture and the threat from those in the world who want to remind us of their presence, is more of an issue that we never seem to deal with. (Even in churches....) 

Part of the message of incarnation is that an alternative way has come, is come, and will come. We need to enter the world with love and sharing, so that in the end, the fat cat will give up because goodness is stronger. We need though, for now to be alongside those who are constantly being got at and worse, whose lives are threatened daily in our world, and we need to keep praying for peace. 

God of justice and peace, I pray tonight for a world where people are constantly being threatened and abused because of others lust for power. 

I pray tonight for people who are going about their daily lives and suddenly in the middle of tragedy. I pray for all those who have lost loved ones in Australia and in Pakistan this week. 

God, you entered a world in a mess and you still come into a world like that. So, I pray for all those who need to know you with them while others try to dominate them and take what is theirs or destroy their self-worth. And I pray for people who are obsessed with power that they too may find peace. 

May your Kingdom come, soon. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 16 - Shopping

I braved Hastings town centre this morning. It was surprisingly quiet, including the supermarket. As I put my weekly shop on the belt, I thought "how will this be in here in a week's time?" Chaos, no doubt. This pile of shopping looks like I have more cat food than anything else! Even in the quietness some people were piling up their trolleys like food will be no more in a day or so's time. 

One of the carols we sang last night spoke of  "enough" - enough for him whom cherubim worship night and day. There is enough for everyone. We will have enough on Christmas Day (probably too much... so we will end Christmas dinner by saying "I cannot eat another thing ever!" Then a few hours later the table will be laid for tea.)

Enough, rather than excess. We must be aware some people will not have enough in these weeks to live, let alone party. Food banks will be at breaking point, shelters will be full, and loneliness through lack of deep relationship, will worsen. If only we would learn to share. 

Mind you, sometimes we deserve a treat. It is my day off, before any of my church members reading this have a word about the chocolate mid way down the shopping here! 

God of good things, you have given enough for everyone to be filled. But we have taken too much so that others do not have enough to live as you would have them live. May these next few days see a generosity of spirit, real sharing, beginning where we are, and may we be patient when the shopping world goes mad and we pop out on Christmas Eve because we have forgotten something important. Christmas is a funny time, O God. Some of it I just don't get! Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 15 - More Peace!

I have just got in from leading perhaps the nicest and most powerful carol service I have led and shared in for years. We tried a different, lighter, all age approach to it tonight in one of my "temporary" churches. Part of the service was getting people to write prayers for peace on post it notes while I read the powerful Christmas Truce poem by Carol Ann Duffy. (Beware fellow leaders of worship if you use this, there is a LOT of German in it!) Then I asked people to bring prayers forward as we sang Silent Night. I was deeply moved how many people came forward. We shared the prayers later in the service and then afterwards we placed the prayers in our foyer for others to see and share. There were some heartfelt pleas for peace.

This morning, I received a horrible letter which rocked me. I needed peace tonight and found it. I needed to know I am not going mad. I needed to know I can remain who I am and even if some people accuse me of stuff if I remain faithful and myself all will be well. I reminded the congregation of all ages tonight that Christmas maybe is about God seeing small bits of potential in us by coming into our lives and encouraging us to be us. So many people want to destroy our peace and our hope and our journey. So thank you my friends at Little Common tonight for putting me back together.

God, it is encouraging when people put their prayers together for peace. We all want a better world. We all want to make a difference. I pray for carol services this year and people who are encountering this story. Perhaps they are coming for some peace. I pray for difficult situations and problems that never seem to go away that peace might come. I pray for people who are not at peace with themselves at the moment. I pray for their healing. Most of all, thank you God for the privilege of sharing worship with others. May our prayers tonight offered for peace be answered and may we, by being community be peace bringers into the hurting places around us. In Jesus name, the Prince of Peace. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 14 - Peace

I love to watch the sun set over the houses the other side of the road from the manse window. It is a beautiful afternoon here today, cold but a lovely blue sky. Taking this picture I sensed peace and stillness. I am also feeling peaceful and still as both my services for tomorrow are written, early for me on a Saturday as my colleague and I are having a staff Christmas do (paid for by ourselves!) We are going to see Frank Skinner in Bexhill, so there is a sense of peace in "bunking off" tonight! 

In the busy period we are in, all of us need moments of calm and centring again. Nights out, staring out of windows, a sense of achievement jobs are completed and we need do no more today are vital to our well being, physically and spiritually. We need more of them. 

God of peace, thank you for calm moments, things to meditate on, the setting sun, and the promise of a night out! Thank you for times of rest and refreshment, especially before busy days. Help us to appreciate them and enjoy them. And bless those who say "how can you have time to go to things like that at this time?" In Jesus name. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 13 - Expectation

This is an empty stage in Staplecross Village Hall prior to our Methodist Primary School Nativity. Children were backstage when I took this, expectant about performing. When they got on the stage, they were excited about being there. I loved the angels especially who kept waving at the audience!

Advent is about positive expectation. Expectation that something good is about to happen. Sometimes our relationship with God is lessened because we have stopped being expectant. What are you excited about as you read this? What can't you wait to come?

God, come into our hearts today with your presence and peace. Help us expect much. Help us to be excited at your coming, and when what we expect happens, like children in a school nativity help us to really enjoy experiencing it, so that others may be infected with our joy. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 12 - Looking for answers

I spotted this poster in Tenterden this afternoon walking back from picking up my nativity story in Russian dolls at Waitrose. 

People are looking in these weeks for solutions to their problems and think the answer is Christmas! Why though do people get so stressed about these weeks and about one day? I don't get it. Someone today was horrified when I said I CHOOSE to spend Christmas Day quietly this year and on my own. That will be lovely, stress free and peaceful. Waitrose was horrendous this afternoon! 

What is the answer? Well, this poster suggested having your Christmas dinner (at an extortionate price) in the pub. Has the Christian Church the answer this Christmas to people's questions and problems? Perhaps not if we are remote and only answer what we think people want answering! On Saturday at the Little Common bash, after the Rector told people they could come and ask him and me anything about faith or about the story of Christmas, a lady came up and said, looking at us both, "How come you worship different Gods?" A perfectly logical question, seeing two different vicars introduced differently. The question threw us. 

Today I have sat alongside a bereaved family, I have shared in a fabulous school nativity and I have listened to where a church is struggling with priorities and mission. People have lots of problems and questions. I pointed out tonight it is important to admit we don't have answers every day and to air the questions and leave them in community and with God. 

God, people have so much stress today, stress about targets, health, church, family, job security, lists of things that get longer. They want to be stress free! If only it were so simple that we could go into a spiritual pub and be sorted, just like that. But maybe it is simple. Often airing the questions, sharing the stress with another person or in honest prayer can give us peace and perspective. I pray today for Waitrose shoppers who were getting very bad tempered over the endless choices of stuffing. Lord, I never knew how many different stuffings you can get. I don't do Waitrose very often!  God of peace, help me to meet people who question with patience and with honesty and where I don't get it especially in these weeks, help me to come to you a bit more. Amen.  

Prayer for Advent Day 11 - Forty Winks!!!

On the eleventh day of Advent my true love sent to me:

One school assembly

One phone call to chase up a grant which pays for a church Christmas dinner

One Circuit Lunch Club Christmas Dinner followed by "entertainment"

One staff meeting

One frustrating hour in a traffic jam

One Brownie concert

And one worship consultation

Inbetween traffic jam and Brownies I sat in the car and shut my eyes (taking this selfie first!) I slept for half an hour and nearly missed Brownies altogether!!! 

The sleep did me good. So, my thoughts today well into carols and dinners and more carols and services and more carols are, what will you do in the course of a busy day that is JUST FOR YOU? If you need a sleep, have a sleep. We cannot rush around all day. Even God had a rest!

O God, thank you for the gift of half an hour's snooze in the midst of busy activity. As Advent progresses and things get even busier, help me to stop more in order to cope with more. Otherwise I will be in a heap come Christmas morning and I will be so tired it will not be any fun at all. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 10 - Prayer at the heart

Our Circuit Advent Bible Studies began today. I invited the Circuit to come together for three mornings or three evenings to take some time out. 7 people joined me in Bexhill this morning and 17 in Battle tonight. A shame so many told me they were too busy to come.

We considered Anna in our sessions today, using Stephen Cottrell's excellent book of meditations "Walking Backwards to Christmas" and we thought about the wisdom of senior age, about constant prayer, about being certain about something, about waiting and about a journey as St Augustine put it once to "the end that has no end."

I love doing groups and I wish more people (especially those who say they are too busy) would come to them. I firmly believe that churches will only grow if we put spirituality, prayer and sharing faith problems and joys together at the heart of what we do. I know not everyone agrees with me!

I am thinking tonight about groups of people meeting in Advent to pray, to watch and wait and to enjoy reacting to the Scriptures and being together,

God of community, I get frustrated when Christian people tell me keeping a church going is more important than spending time with you and with others doing spiritual things. Sometimes we forget why we are here! Tonight I pray for little groups meeting all over the world to grow in faith, respond to your word and be better disciples. I remember how Anna when she knew you had come in a baby praised God and spoke to everyone about it. Help me to help people see the need to search for you, to long for you, to find you and then share you. Please help those who are too busy to find some space to let you in. They don't know what they are missing! Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 9 - What do you want?

Monday. Day off. Bliss!

But so far today has been spent trying to work out why Molly the cat is in a right old mood. She just sits on the stairs giving me evils and now she has moved to the bed and is sulking. She has food, she has been out, and I have been here all morning. I do not know what she wants.

Perhaps God feels like me with Molly today. He gives me everything he thinks I need, but I am still not happy. Sometimes I am diffident in asking for the thing I need most to enable me to move on from my mood which is hampering me. Today I am remembering people who are stuck, unable to share what they need with anyone, too frightened to pray, and those who want constant attention by putting their mood in others faces but not sharing what the real problem is.

I hope Molly's mood will improve after a sulk and a sleep. Otherwise, it is going to be a long day!

O God, sometimes I feel like Molly the cat. I have everything I need but there is always something more I would like. But sometimes it is hard to bring my deepest needs to you because I think praying for me is a bit self centred. Teach me on this Monday it is not wrong to come to you with my deepest desires, my problems, my frustrations. And where others need extra care, help me this week to be sensitive to them and to find them where they are, as Jesus did meeting people everywhere. In his name I pray. Amen. 

Leaving Molly to sleep, I am off to explore the new Aldi...

Prayer for Advent Day 8 - Nothing can trouble you...

This evening, I have led and shared with folk in Pett in a candlelit Taize Service. It was an amazing, peaceful time. The silence at the end of worship was very special and we all felt close to God. Several people had been invited who hadn't been to church for a long time. I hope they got something out of it. 

I ended the service with "nothing can trouble you, nothing can frighten you" and said that I believe incarnation is about knowing in the end all will be well. God enters every state and can transform it from within. Thank you Pett friends for two services where I as the minister have been encouraged today. 

God of light, shine in the darkness of our lives. 

God of peace, come into the strife of our lives.

God of hope, come into the doubt we feel when things feel difficult. 

God of surprises, come and startle as we begin a new working week tomorrow.

God who is everywhere, be with us, always. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day Seven - Being Community

I went to my first Christmas carol service and party tonight. I stood by this roundabout for ages waiting for Santa and the Mayor of Bexhill to arrive. And froze! It was the Little Common and Cooden Business Association launch of Christmas in the village. A huge do. We stood in the freezing road at the roundabout listening to Chris De Burgh blasting out “A Spaceman Came Travelling”, then the Mayor of Bexhill waffled on for a bit and then Santa appeared, and then we followed Santa down the street into the British Legion for a Carol Service led by the Rector and by me. It was a hard gig. A lot of people there for the free food and the children’s disco. Let’s get this pesky service done with quickly. 

The service was followed by party games and loud music and a baked potato and a glass of wine. A thoroughly good community occasion, much enjoyed by everyone. (Perhaps even the service!) I sat there and thought what is it that is making everyone so excited? It was if Christmas Day itself had arrived in Little Common last night. Well, we did sing “Yay Lord we greet thee born this happy morning” so perhaps it was December 25^th over there!

I think this season for people is about comfort and joy. We sang it tonight: tidings of comfort and joy. But where are people getting comfort and joy this year? Is Christmas escapism, or is there a permanent message in it and what is our place in it? 

Comfort. What is comfort? Well, we speak of a comfortable bed, a comfortable hotel on holiday, we need comforting when we are upset, we need comfort when life is hard. People want comfortable lives. They want the best they can get. A grandfather was talking to his granddaughter. “When I was a child all we got for Christmas was an apple and an orange.” The little girl clapped her hands in joy. “Brilliant!” she said, “I’d love a new computer and a mobile.” 

Tonight I watched a village community having fun. We were in the heart of it as a church. I wonder what tonight did for people? 

O God, it is good for people to come together and have fun in these weeks. It was a shock to some people tonight to see the minister stay for food and watch children dance to Cheryl whatshername now and that song from Frozen and down a glass of wine. But this is where you call us to be, in the middle of celebration, in the middle of community life. My prayer tonight O God, is for the Church, especially where she is still too obsessed with keeping a building going and having no energy to be amongst your people where they are. If Jesus really is Immanuel God with us, then we have got it very wrong in many places. May this Advent journey renew us for engagement and to discover actually being in the world can be fun! Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 6 - Hitting a Friday night wall

Six days into Advent... Friday night... Long day with some difficult pastoral visits and conversations... Is it okay to collapse in a heap six days into Advent? Is it okay to have a night in doing nothing except dinner, watching I'm a Celebrity and catching up with two lots of Eastenders? This is my dining room table, A Friday night mess. Keys, Christmas cards, letters, envelopes, a newspaper I haven't read, a Circuit plan I put a highlighter pen over this morning, an unopened Church Times. Perhaps this is how I am tonight. In a heap! 

I am reminded after a busy week it is okay and more than okay to stop and to be refreshed before beginning the journey again. We need stopping points. Motorway signs flash "Tiredness Kills - Take A Break"; we need some light in every day if we are dealing with difficult stuff. A Circuit Steward and I while having a pastoral conversation today enjoyed a fabulously wonderful bacon sandwich in the Village Cafe at Little Common at lunchtime. I know people who cannot stop. I am not one of them. Advent is a time to stop and be as well as journey. If we don't stop we will feel very bad. If we don't stop (note clergy people reading this) if we don't stop when we can, what state will we be in come Christmas Day? 

So, my friends reading this I will leave the mess on my table until tomorrow. I will leave writing Sunday services and preparing an Advent Bible Study or two until tomorrow. And I will not feel bad about it. 

God, help me to stop when I need to. When life is busy and energy is fading, when demands are too many, when issues that bombard me are one too many, when people are demanding an immediate response, give me courage to say no, I am having some time for me, I will respond to you, but when I can. In the stopping time, give me your peace. In the stopping, shower me with refreshment, sleep, calm, rebalance. If I keep on keeping on, what use will I be to anyone, and I will moan I have so much to do and feel completely knackered! God of activity and God of rest, help me know when to work and when to rest. Assure me the mess on the table will not grow bigger if I leave it overnight and that tomorrow when I feel more active I can deal with it more effectively. Amen. 

Prayer for Advent Day 5 - Companions on the way

Today has been a nice day on the Advent journey. Our staff team (all two of us) went and joined the staff team of the next Circuit in Lydd for a morning of shared reflections led by Deacon Carys Woodley (who is brilliant) and shared silence. It helped me remember I need sometimes to join others to share my road. We were led, we shared where we were with God and we enjoyed the space and the peace together and then a nice lunch in a cafe down the road. During the silence, I went out and found the Parish Church, known as the Cathedral of the Marsh. I was pleased to find Advent posters up, rather than Christmas ones. Today I have been blessed on the Advent journey with others who share in ministry like mine.



God, thank you for companions on the journey towards your birth in Jesus again. Help me to remember I am never alone. Help me to lean on friends and colleagues. Sometimes sharing my own story will help others, and sometimes other stories can help me. Thank you today for shared silence and space, which will help me carry on with all there is to do. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

A prayer about waiting - Advent Day Four

Today I have been thinking about waiting.

These two pictures are about frustrated waiting. The first is the infamous Harley Shute Road which leads onto the Bexhill Road, our local bottleneck in a morning. The traffic wasn't moving at 8.45 this morning and I had a 9am meeting. I was going to be late. The second was what I found when I got to the meeting. The Rector was late. I had to wait for him to arrive. I got cross inside. Why is he making me wait? I have five meetings today!

I think these weeks teach us a long about waiting. The waiting time can be time to find peace. Radio 1 was blasting out in the car while I was in the queue. Nick Grimshaw played "Christmas Rapping" by The Waitresses. It made me smile. When I got to the church, I was pleased actually to sit for ten minutes and breathe. The waiting time was transformed by attitude.

God has a right time, and that can be frustrating. But if we fret less while waiting and accept that we are not in control, God may surprise, and even a ghastly queue of traffic might be bearable.




Dear God, I hate waiting. I hate waiting in traffic, I hate waiting for people to turn up. More seriously in our world, people hate waiting for news of their health, news about loved ones, and people wait in war torn lands for peace, in lands of poverty for shelter and food, in places of despair for hope. But you can turn the waiting time into a moment of calm and peace. It is up to us. Either we fill every moment with anxious rushing around, guilty that we are not cramming every minute with activity or we can rest in the waiting time and see what happens. God who waits for the right moment, wait with us today. Amen. 

A Prayer for Advent - Day Three

It has been a cold, grey, raw day here in the South East today. I had a session with my spiritual director in Tonbridge this morning and travelled by train. Coming back, all the trains were late due to signal failure further up the line. This couple were having a good row and shout each other down the platform from me. He was really fed up, cold, wet, frustrated. I think his wife had dragged him out shopping! He doesn't look best pleased I took his picture does he? 

Why are these days so stressful for people? Ask yourself if you are stressed today, what is causing you stress and can you get rid of it? (Not easy if it is your wife making you shopping! A man we met yesterday told us "I am pretending to enjoy having a lovely walk round this Christmas market."

The angel song in these weeks is "Peace on Earth, goodwill to all people." It is not, "Stress on Earth, Bad Tempers to those nearest to us." I hope this man got home okay and that he had a better afternoon then his morning!

Why is it, O God, that we get so worked up about these next few weeks? What can I buy for Auntie who I only see once a year, who doesn't eat chocolates and who had a calendar last year? Where will I spend Christmas Day? How do I survive Christmas with so many expectations on me? Help me to cope with people who are stressed at this time. May my smile help them. I pray for this man and I hope he has a nice Christmas full of peace and joy. In Jesus name. Amen. 

A prayer for Advent day two

I have just made writing these thoughts inside day two of Advent. It is 11.35pm and I have been in Manchester all day. I encountered with my friend Louise, the amazing Christmas markets all over the city centre. It felt more like December 23rd than December 1st. The stalls were full of food, food and more food and people were having fun and indulging. I wondered what all of this says about people and this season. Since when has Christmas become a time to stuff ourselves silly, when God came in poverty? This picture was taken at 5,30pm on Market Street just off Piccadilly Gardens. Shoppers going home, laden with stuff. I wonder if part of what we need to do this month, without being killjoys about it, is remind people that happiness might not be bought, and that satisfaction in life might be more than eating to excess. 

God of good things, it is brilliant that in these weeks people will party and have fun and do community and share outings as families. Remind your world that all we have comes from you, but forgive us when we over indulge, when we buy more than we need, when we think love can be bought. While people in this country live in poverty, challenge us about our need for things in our lives. Your Son came into the world with little comforts. And if like shoppers on December 1st we get stressed over presents and lists of things Christmas must have, remind us somehow of simple joys. 

Amen.