weird but I like it

wetsuit

Carols

35 Angels from the realms of glory [youtube]
39 As with gladness
47 Away in a manger
80 Christians awake! Salute the happy morn
83 Come and join the celebration
102 Come Thou Long expected Jesus
105 Come watch with us this Christmas night
107 (tune ii) Cradled in a manger meanly
110 Darkness like a shroud (Arise shine)   
114 Dind Dong Merrily
116 Down from his glory 
120 Emmanuel
156 For unto us a child is born 
157 For unto us a child is born
162 From heaven you came
175 Glory be to God in heaven
177 Glory to God in the highest 
180 God came among us, He became a man
196 Good Christian men rejoice 
204 Hail to the Lord's anointed
211 Hark the Herald Angels Sing
216 He is born, our Lord and Saviour 
236 Holy Child, how still you lie
266 I cannot tell
337 In the bleak midwinter
342 Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
345 It came upon the midnight clear
393 Joy to the World the Lord has come!
425 Look to the skies (Worship the king)
451 Love came down at Christmas
491 O come all you faithful
493 O come, O come, Emmanuel
503 O Little Town of Bethlehem
535 O what a mystery I see [clip here]
537 On Christmas night all Christians sing
538 On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's cry
539 Once in Royal David's City 
588 See amid the winter's snow
589 See him lying on a bed of straw
597 Silent Night 
644 The first nowell the angel did say
652 The Light of Christ
690 This Child
693 Thou art the everlasting Word
700 Thou who was rich beyond all splendour 
713 Tonight while all the world is sleeping
714 Unto us a boy is born
740 We three Kings
749 What child is this?
752 When he comes 
764 While Shepherds Watched their flocks
928 Since the Day the Angel came
931 So many centuries of watching and waiting
959 What kind of greatness
965  Wonderful Counsellor
1045 From the Squalor of a borrowed stable
1235 What kind of throne


Other Ones: 
Thorns in the Straw 

Other Resources:

bostinnews

www.bostinnews.com

One of the reasons that I haven't been blogging much this month is that we are working on something special for Christmas. I say we, meaning a whole range of people from church and friends locally too [www.yourdecisivemoments.com].We have been working for a little while now, but the last few weeks a lot of things have needed pulling together. In all this we are very grateful to the Lord for his provisions.

Around 1st December www.bostinnews.com will go live (we hope) and in parallel a Christmas booklet (see image) will arrive in Tipton. Diane Bainbridge is currently hard at work pulling it together graphically and it will go to the printer on Monday or Tuesday!

This all ties into a Black Country Carol Service we are hosting - a service put on entirely by the Tipton Civic Society. If you are in the area - come along!!

Monster

Give me an abhorrence of all evil,
as a vile monster that defies thy law, casts off thy yoke, defiles my nature, spreads misery.
May I discern the deadly viper in its real malignity [p100 Valley of Vision]

MTD Syndrome

God created
God wants us to be happy
God waits around until we have a problem then jumps in to help
Good people – people who are nice – go to heaven 

& I must try harder.

These are the beliefs of moralistic therapeutic deists. 

Sometimes they go by another name - evangelical 'Christian'.

Offended? Well, see Ed Welch's latest article here.  

Life in Jesus, however, is restless rest, with the accent on rest. Faith, which is the primary human response to God, means that we trust him and not ourselves. More specifically, faith means, “Jesus, help!”

What we did last night

Check out the 3D edible map of the Kingdom of Israel before the 'splitting'

ASDA was right out of 'cakes with maps of Israel on'. So we had to do our own.

All you need to make it are two children under 2, a thousand other things to be doing and large amount of roll out icing & food colouring.

Not only the heroes

Who do we remember?

Nativity

While doing some research for our advent parade service this Sunday I found this. 

Genius.