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Families shopping this festive season will receive two great giveaways telling the Christmas story. HOPE Together, Bible Society and Speak Life are working with The Entertainer toy stores to help customers appreciate the reason for the season. The Entertainer chain is the UK’s largest independent toy retailer and each store has a nativity scene in...

And finally, if you enjoyed the song Bohemian Rhapsody, and would like the ‘Christmas version’, complete with singing puppets, do visit this on You Tube.  It is from last year, but still well worth the visit!   https://youtu.be/IxvMkSKRWOA

Do you remember the excitement of Christmas Eve when you were a child? There was so much to look forward to the next day, and when you went to bed that night, probably later than usual, you were buzzing with excitement. Eventually you fell asleep and then the next morning you were woken by either...

On the whole British people are happy with the title ‘Father Christmas’, a suitably neutral name for the central character in children’s Christmases, writes David Winter. In America, however, and by a process of cultural indoctrination increasingly in other English-speaking countries, the same red-coated and bearded fellow with his sack of presents is known as...

When I was a choir boy many years ago, writes David Winter, ‘Good King Wenceslas’ was a very popular carol. A man sang the King’s lines, a boy sang the Page’s, and the choir filled in the narrative. It was not of course technically a Christmas carol but one for which most people know as...

The Church of England’s Environmental Advisory Group has called for all parts of the Church to recognise the Climate Crisis and step up its action to safeguard God’s creation. In guidance sent recently to bishops, dioceses and church leadership teams, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) points to the ambitious programme of action required, covering everything...

For many, Christmas is a time of happiness and holiday. An opportunity for parties, concerts, pantomimes and watching children perform nativity plays. We exchange colourful cards, and presents, and prepare special meals for family and friends. We sing carols. We adorn our homes and churches with all kinds of decorations. All our celebrations are a...

Everyone knows that it was on the feast of Stephen that ‘good king Wenceslas looked on’.  After all, it’s in a Christmas carol – but why? There’s nothing about Christmas in it: a splendid young page who rustled up some flesh, wine and logs, an old man out in the snow (’deep and crisp and...

Have you ever stopped to consider that the very first martyr of the Christian Church (Stephen died c 35 AD) was a deacon?  (But no, he wasn’t worked to death by his church.)  It was Stephen, one of the first seven deacons of the Christian Church.  He’d been appointed by the apostles to look after...

Most of us probably know that on December 26th (the Feast of Stephen) ‘Good king Wenceslas’ looked out, writes David Winter. We probably also know that the snow lay round about, ‘deep and crisp and even’. Beyond that, he’s just someone in a carol that’s not often sung nowadays. However, Wenceslas was a real person,...

The death of a very young child is perhaps the hardest grief of all to bear.  So the 28th December is a very poignant day in the church calendar.  It is when the worldwide Church joins with bereaved parents to grieve the loss of babies and young children.  For Holy Innocents day recalls the massacre...