Christmas Eve Wednesday 24th December 2008

We have sung our Hark the Herald Angels Sing we have been out and about on a Bleak Midwinter and by now all our preparations are almost over, let the festivities begin! Spare a thought this Christmas time for those who will not be celebrating the joy of Christmas; the destitute, prostitute, vagrant and those who are alone with no love one to share in the joy of His arrival. Chances are if you are reading this, you will not be amongst this group of people but there are far more dispossessed, disenfranchised and poor people in this world that we will not give a second thought. Please remember that this season is not about the tinsel and the wrapping, its not about the joy of seeing our children's faces light up. If only it was that easy!

This Christmas we will celebrate the birth of a child, born to the Virgin Mary in a stable, in Bethlehem. Homeless, cold, without food or adequate shelter this Holy Family endured the toughest Christmas and all we will do is read about it, hear about it, but we will most likely never experience anything like it. The joy of Christmas is the arrival of the Immanuel God with us, Let us not forget that and let each of us put in our share!

From my home in Glasgow and on behalf of the Church at Coatdyke and our sister Church at Ebenezer, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year for 2009.

Wednesday 31st December 2008

I didn't think that I would get a chance to write anything else in this 'Blog' but a small window opened and I took advantage of it - pardon the pun!

It's been a very busy week as sadly we said farewell to one of our long standing and much loved church members but she leaves behind wonderful memories and she is with God and God is with us, so in many ways we are still together.

Anyway, I wonder what 2009 will hold for us.  Will it be a year of change, challenge or will we continue to limp on?  I am saddened by the departure from our High Streets of that great institution Woolworths.  Well, in my opinion it was once a great institution but sadly declined over the last decade or so.  The fact remains that I have a soft spot for the old lady, especially as I worked for the original company, F.W. Woolworth Co. Ltd.  Woolies as most of us knew it, vanished in America many years ago and in 1982 UK demerged from the States and became plain old Woolworths.  Mind you Woolworths had vanished from the other side of the pond  some years ago, replaced by Footlocker Inc.  Enough of my ramblings about the history of the company (Poor little rich girl, Barbara Hutton heiress, etc, only granddaughter of Frank Winfield, was left in todays money around £1billion and when she died rumour was she only had £1000 in her account - Winfield House in London is now the residence of the American Ambassador to the UK) Yes, I am handy to have for Trivial Pursuit....

Getting back on track after my Ronnie Corbett moment (sitting on the leather chair with a fancy jumper, only  Rev Alan Gibbon from Knightswood wears them these days)  The fact is the High St is going to look so different in 2009, with all these stores struggling, bank mergers, unemployment - there is a lot to worry about and in some ways, very little in the way of hope but I believe that we will get a few nice surprises along the way.

Someone asked me recently what was the difference between Santa and the Government, well Santa is the person your children ask for presents from and the adults are left to pay for them.  The Government on the other hand are making generous gifts to the banks, etc and playing Santa but it will be us, our children and our children's children that will be paying for it all!

Anyway, on that cheerful note - may 2009 be a wonderful, new and exciting year for each and every one of you.