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We are very aware of how special the arrival of a new baby is to the family! This Christmas we celebrate again God’s gift of Jesus: ‘Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!’ (2 Corinthians 9:15). What can we say about this baby? He is God Himself:               ...

Christmas looms And cardboard boxes stored away With tinsel, tree and trinkets Are brought out – Fripperies spared the ever-growing landfill sites Because they have the power to bring our memories Of yester-year into the present day. So too the Church in all its Advent preparations Paves the way to celebrate the past and present...

So here is a challenge for you: learn a poem, by heart, by Christmas.  That is the challenge that Gyles Brandreth, actor and broadcaster has set his grandchildren this year. Memorising poetry is good for everyone.  Brandreth cites scientific research to say that memorising poetry can help keep your brain fit and well. The Duchess...

By Tim Dowley, SPCK, £14.99 Hillsong’s celebrity-filled services have recently brought attention to the denomination’s contemporary style of worship, with Christian thought and practice having a resurgence in Hip Hop and Grime, with rappers such as Stormzy and Chance the Rapper drawing upon gospel roots. But what is the musical legacy that led us here?...

‘Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.’ (Isaiah 7:14) This promise to King Ahaz in eighth century Judah is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus at the first Christmas (Matthew 1:23). However, the promise of ‘God with Us’...

by John Bell, SPCK, £14.99  The need to express grief, to sing our sorrow, is as old as humanity. The book of Psalms, side by side with expressions of deepest praise, contains cries of unfathomable despair. Both are not only acceptable to God, but essential for our mental and spiritual health. In The Last Journey, John...

This is frightening: one in seven university students has fallen asleep with food cooking on a stove, thereby risking a potentially bad fire.  Between 2012 – 2017, 911 accidental electrical fires took place in English halls of residence. These figures, provided by the charity Electrical Safety First, help to highlight some of the dangerous quirks...

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...

A friend of mine was diagnosed recently with breast cancer. A bright, vivacious lady in her fifties, she took the devastating diagnosis really well, but when the time came for her mastectomy, she understandably began to feel very nervous. Sitting with her husband in the hospital cubicle awaiting the operation she experienced for the first...

All in the month of December How Silent Night first began – 200 years ago Peaceful Praise on a silent night The Conversion of Ebenezer Scrooge How A Christmas Carol first began – 175 years ago The legacy of Miss Potter The podcast phenomenon Expensive Christmas cracker The great ‘Takeaway’ take-over  ** Editor:  We continue...

One in five people over the age of 70 in the UK eat all of their main meals alone.  This can have a detrimental effect on their health, as they tend to skip meals, or eat erratically. The survey was carried out by the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS), one of Britain’s largest volunteering charities.  Now...

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...