Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Almost certainly not.  But the story of how that date came to be chosen as His ‘birthday’ is one that stretches back long before His birth. it seems to have started on the Greek island of Rhodes in 283 BC. That year the solstice fell on 25th December, and it was also the year that...

I had a bit of a Scrooge moment recently. There was a man outside my usual supermarket collecting money for the local children’s hospital. He was a bit scruffy and was holding a bucket which had some writing on I could not see clearly. Do not get me wrong, charities depend on people being generous...

by various authors, CHP, £1.50 single, see website for multiple orders  Follow the Star is a pocket-sized booklet inviting you to travel in the footsteps of the Wise Men this Christmas to meet Jesus.  It contains 14 daily reflections, one for each day from Christmas Eve throughout the 12 days of Christmas, ending with the Epiphany...

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...

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...