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Message.
There’s one phrase which comes again and again in the Christmas story, although it might not be the first to come to our minds when we think through it. That phrase is, “Don’t be afraid” (or, if you prefer, “Fear not”) and, if I’ve counted correctly, it comes four times, in fact nearly every time an angel, God’s messenger, turns up.
Read more “Christmas Eve – Minister’s Message”
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Message.
It seems as if I’ve was wrong about the shepherds. Perhaps you were, too. You see, I’d always thought of them as poor, unkempt, grubby and smelly – not the sort of people you’d want to have at your posh dinner party. And I’ve had good reason for thinking as I have: many scholars, over many decades, have said that shepherds in ancient Palestine were despised and dishonest people, ritually unclean according to Jewish religious law, outcasts from society who weren’t allowed to testify in a court trial. I’ve read that shepherds stood on the bottom rung of the social ladder, sharing the same lowly status as tax collectors and dung sweepers (that’s an interesting pairing!).
Read more “Carol Service – Minister’s Message”
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Bible Reading: Isaiah 11:1-9.
Message.
The film “Duck Soup”, made back in 1933, is a political farce about the small country of Freedonia which is on the verge of going bust. Salvation is at hand, in the shape of the wealthy Mrs. Teasdale. She is willing to provide the necessary finance, but with one condition: her personal agent, Rufus T. Firefly – played by Groucho Marx – must become Freedonia’s leader. Of course the next-door nation of Sylvania is busy plotting revolution and sends in its spies Chicolini and Pinky, played by Chico and Harpo Marx. Chaos inevitably ensues.
Read more “Minister’s Message – December 7, 2025”