May I take this opportunity to wish you a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. I am sure that like me you will be hoping for peace on earth and goodwill to all people. However it has to start with you. peace on earth can only happen when there is peace at home. Goodwill to all people can only happen when we are aware of the needs and requirements of those around us. If we do not act with compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility and patience in our dealings with family, neighbours, those we meet on the street or in the shops then peace on earth can never be a reality. So let us make sure that we walk the walk in 2017 and not just talk the talk.
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Home for Christmas
What a weekend! The church was packed for our unrehearsed nativity on Sunday as our young people, aided by the young at heart acted out the Christmas story aided and abetted by the angel Gabriel and a narrator. It was a wonderful morning and great to have so many young people involved as we worshipped together. However it has to be said that the minister was not at his brightest and best having been up half the night trying to help his older son fly home from college in America. I am glad to say that he did arrive home safely, albeit nearly 12 hours late.
However my son is not the only person trying to get home for Christmas. Planes, trains, buses and cars are going to be full over the next few days as people try to get home to spend Christmas with their loved ones, to go through familiar routines and family traditions and for the most part there will be many versions of the phrase, “it is good to be home,” heard throughout the land.
It is good to be home, yet many people do not understand where they are really at home. I firmly believe that we were created to love and to be loved by God. That is why Jesus said it was they greatest commandments, to love the lord our God with all our heart, soul mind at strength and to love our neighbour as our self. When we recognise that purpose and start to live that purpose then we truly feel at home and we experience peace. If you really want to come home this Christmas and experience the peace of which the angels sang then I invite you to come home for Christmas, to your real home, to your spiritual home. We have services at 11pm on Christmas eve, preceded by carol singing with mince pies and mulled wine from 10.30 and then a short birthday party for Jesus at 10.30am on Christmas morning. There is always a warm welcome at your home in Kinnoull.
From the Manse
One of the highlights for me in the run up to Christmas is watching Bethlehemian Rhapsody. It is the birth narrative acted out by puppets as they sing an adaptation of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody telling the Christmas story. It is so clever and of course, in my mind, the music is not exactly shabby either. Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW1pbuyGlQ0 it is well worth a visit.
This Sunday we will be having fun at our family service doing a no rehearsal nativity in which everyone will have a part.
There will of course be services on Christmas Eve at 11pm, with mulled wine and mince pies from 1030 and there will be a service on Christmas day at 1030am. So invite Jesus to his own birthday party this year and join us in church on Christmas day.