Lego Nativity

I was shown this by Sam, a colleague at work. Her sons homework recently was to make a nativity out of anything they choose. He choose Lego and this is the result.

Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus in the Crib. Angels, camels, donkeys and even a King with a chest contain Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. I just had to ask for a copy to share with you here. Well done to Sam and the whole family who spent ages looking for the right bits of lego to do this.

Pope Benedict XVI - Thought For The Day

Taken from the BBC website you can find and listen to a recording of the Pope's Thought for the Day from Christmas Eve's Radio 4 Today program. ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/today/pope-thought-for-the-day/ ) We on the diaconal formation program in Clifton are encouraged to write and deliver thoughts for the day as if we were preparing them for the radio. So it's wonderful to hear and re-read the Pope's first ever radio though and to take his message to us this Christmas into our hearts. Heart speaks unto Heart.

Pope Benedict XVI - Thought For The Day



Recalling with great fondness my four-day visit to the United Kingdom last September, I am glad to have the opportunity to greet you once again, and indeed to greet listeners everywhere as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ. Our thoughts turn back to a moment in history when God's chosen people, the children of Israel, were living in intense expectation. They were waiting for the Messiah that God had promised to send, and they pictured him as a great leader who would rescue them from foreign domination and restore their freedom.

God is always faithful to his promises, but he often surprises us in the way he fulfils them. The child that was born in Bethlehem did indeed bring liberation, but not only for the people of that time and place - he was to be the Saviour of all people throughout the world and throughout history. And it was not a political liberation that he brought, achieved through military means: rather, Christ destroyed death for ever and restored life by means of his shameful death on the Cross. And while he was born in poverty and obscurity, far from the centres of earthly power, he was none other than the Son of God. Out of love for us he took upon himself our human condition, our fragility, our vulnerability, and he opened up for us the path that leads to the fullness of life, to a share in the life of God himself. As we ponder this great mystery in our hearts this Christmas, let us give thanks to God for his goodness to us, and let us joyfully proclaim to those around us the good news that God offers us freedom from whatever weighs us down: he gives us hope, he brings us life.

Dear Friends from Scotland, England, Wales and indeed every part of the English-speaking world, I want you to know that I keep all of you very much in my prayers during this Holy Season. I pray for your families, for your children, for those who are sick, and for those who are going through any form of hardship at this time. I pray especially for the elderly and for those who are approaching the end of their days. I ask Christ, the light of the nations, to dispel whatever darkness there may be in your lives and to grant to every one of you the grace of a peaceful joyful Christmas. May God bless all of you!

Dreams

This though got heavily edited. On first writting I was way over the two minute target. Re-reading it now a year and a half later it seems a little disjointed. Maybe it was edited a little to hard and maybe I need to just add a little more back in. However, it still brings a smile to my face when I read it.

Dreams

Our recent holiday has got me thinking a lot about dreams, different types of dreams. 

We have just got back from Florida, where we visited Disney world, the place where dreams come true. Every girls a princess, every boy a pirate or space ranger. A place where after a small queue you can fly to Mars, sail with pirates, visit a haunted house, go on safari, journey to Neverland and save the galaxy from Zurg. Its a place of fantasy where boys and girls of every age suspend the real world and believe in magic for a while.

A few minutes away is another theme park called Sea World, there I had one of my dreams come true. We were able to go behind the scenes of the penguin encounter and meet the penguins, I held a small rock hopper penguin on my lap. He was slightly damp, warm and smelled of fish, it was great.

An hour further on is Kennedy Space Centre, where the men who went to the moon were lunched from. Going to the moon was a dream in 1961 when president Kennedy announced to the world that America was going to send men to the moon within the decade. For the men that went and the 400,000 people that collaborated to make it happen there was no suspending reality and wishing it to happen like the rides at Disney World. It was hard work, and belief in the dream.

The bible to speaks of dreams too. Joseph, of coloured coat fame, had dreams and interpreted dreams that lead him to do Gods work and lead his family to Egypt. In the new testament Joseph, husband of Mary, also had a dreams one about marrying Mary and another about going to Egypt to avoid Herod. God sometimes uses our dreams to direct us.

Dreams are important, they inspire us, they are part of our future, they give us hope. Your dreams and those of the people around you are worth holding onto, they are worth encouraging. Not all dreams need to be big or seem important. Watch the joy children get being a princess or pirate for the day. For me holding that small penguin filled me with joy, joy is a gift from God, it's worth chasing after, why else would God give us dreams.