Christmas 2018

Christmas! How do you help people to engage with a familiar story in a way that is enjoyable and meaningful? This was my attempt from our Christmas Celebration service on Christmas morning.

Christmas news 2017

What does good news look like when there’s so much fake news around? What about the links between our own news, fake news and good news?

Christmas 2016

My all-age talk for Christmas morning was about Star Wars and Easter eggs! I’m posting this now in memory of Carrie Fisher, who very sadly died this week.

St Stephen

St Stephen’s day is the day after Christmas, so he doesn’t often get much attention! This was my sermon last year from the first Sunday after Christmas, where we focused on the first Christian martyr. Cheery stuff – but there is a reason why we have one after the other!

Carols by Candlelight 2016

Carols by Candlelight is a much-loved part of Christmas, and is a great opportunity to help people reflect on how the story of God fits into the story of their lives. This year I tried to do this by reflecting on what sort of year had people had, and on what sort of year the…

Chocolate Nativity Story

A fun way of enlivening Christmas morning all-age services is to find an excuse to hand out chocolate! This is a version of the Nativity story with the names of as many chocolate bars in as I could get in and afford…!

Carols by Candlelight 2015

Many people enjoy coming to Carols by Candlelight as part of their Christmas celebrations. It’s a great opportunity to help people reflect on the difference that first Christmas can make to our lives.

Trees of Life

Decorating Christmas trees is a good opportunity to reflect on some of the trees in the Bible, particularly the Trees of Life that are used as symbols for God’s kingdom.

Carols by Candlelight 14

Carols by Candlelight is a much-loved part of Christmas. The challenge for me is to make it an opportunity to reflect on the events of the first Christmas, and why we remember it, rather than it simply being part of ‘what we do at Christmas’.

Saint Boniface

Christmas Tree Festivals are a great addition to the church calendar at Christmas, and the story of Saint Boniface and the first Christmas tree is a good topic for the talk!

Christmas Tree Festival

Christmas Tree festivals are a great way of the church getting more involved in the local community and celebrating people’s interests, hard work and talents.

Light in the darkness

Christingle is a great service, which brings people to church and raises money for The Children’s Society. It’s a good opportunity to demonstrate the practical differences that God calls us to make.

Resolutions

New Years’ resolutions, the Sunday after Christmas, and a Wholeness and Healing service; this sermon was the result!

Don’t be afraid

As part of our Christmas celebrations, the children put on a Nativity play during one of our services. This is the all-age talk I gave as part of that service.

God’s promises

A sermon for our ‘Senior Friends’ carol service which I did during Advent, using the lectionary readings. I focused on God’s promises and on the meanings behind the names of the people in the story.