10 December 2025 ‘ A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.’ This is how Isaiah begins his prophecy about the coming Messiah. It has an insignificant beginning – a shoot from the stock, a branch from the roots. But it has been located in the lineage of a man called Jesse. Jesse was the father of David who became Israel’s greatest king. You remember that he was the youth looking after his father’s sheep when Samuel came to anoint the king. He was the youngest, the smallest of seven sons, ignored and forgotten out in the fields. But as the Lord said to Samuel about the other brothers, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’ But the shoot from the stock and the branch from the roots did not have its origin with Jesse but with Jesse’s grandfather Boaz and h...
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9 December 2025 It is within the prophecy of Isaiah that ‘a little child shall lead them’. But first he paints a beautiful picture of a world at peace with itself. Isaiah chooses to celebrate this with unusual images from the animal kingdom. ‘The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them.’ The Christchild took upon himself the mantle of childhood and imbued it with holiness. Isaiah gives the child a leadership role. Jesus too when he says to his friends, ‘ The greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child.’ Two things follow. Firstly, the child’s vocation is hidden. When we look at a baby we cannot see what she will be able to do or say or achieve. The development of her life is hidden from view but the seeds of her future happiness, development and faith are there waiting to be nurtured. Every great ...
8 December 2025 Jesus and John were both baptising. More people were going to Jesus than John. His disciples were concerned but John was not disturbed by the news. In this, he gives us a pattern of a true and sincere discipleship. He says three things. Firstly, my gift comes from God. ‘No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.’ he says. How we would love to have different gifts, more effective gifts or gifts which others notice. But we only have the gifts which God has chosen to give us for the common good. Secondly, I am the bridegroom’s friend. Not only that but he ‘rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice’. Far from being bitter at playing second fiddle, he finds joy in the front-runner, the one who is more successful at baptising greater numbers. And there’s something very holy in this joy! Thirdly, I must decrease. John shows great discernment here. Not only does he value his own gift and recognises the gift which God...
7 December 2025 In 2016, Pope Francis set up a commission to explore the possibility of ordaining women to the diaconate. It failed to reach a consensus. In 2020, another commission was appointed. It reported on Thursday. By a majority of 7:1, the commission decided not to ordain women to the diaconate. Interestingly, the decision was not made on theological grounds nor historical research but because ‘there are two currently irreconcilable schools of theological thought on the question, requiring the Vatican to take a prudential approach.’ said Cardinal Petrocchi. Division seals the status quo. Almost a fifth of the world are Roman Catholic so what it says about women is significant. More than half of the Church’s membership are women. What message does this send to the Taliban and all those other misogynistic dynasties who continue to malign, abuse and brutalise women? And what does this say about the unity of the Church? We are all one in Christ Jesus, sa...
6 December 2025 Peter Carl Faberge is considered to be the greatest Russian jeweler of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Every Easter, he was commissioned by the Tsar to produce an Easter Egg of exquisite beauty. Inside each one, there was a secret. Inside one, there is a yellow rosebud. Inside another, there is the golden Coronation Coach. This is a photograph of the Winter Egg. Inside it, there is a basket of anemones. This egg was sold at Christie’s on Tuesday for £22,895,000! It was a record! Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, commissioned Faberge to create two eggs each Easter - one for his wife and one for his mother. His mother received the Winter Egg in 1913. It is one of fifty eggs which Faberge created. Only forty-three have survived. The Winter Egg has been sculpted from a crystal featuring diamond encrusted platinum snowflakes. The bouquet of flowers have been made from white quartz anemones. They are held together by gol...
5 December 2025 Margery Williams wrote a beautiful and now very famous book entitled, ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’. It’s all about a rabbit who is trying to work out what it means to be real. The answer in a nutshell is that to be real is to be loved. We all understand that. Williams wrote other books. I have another. It’s called ‘The Hurdy-Gurdy Man’. He arrives at a town with his hurdy-gurdy on his back along with his pet monkey. The adults in the town are not keen on associating with him not least because they think the monkey is dirty. But the children view things differently. When he begins to play his hurdy-gurdy, the children are entranced. They love the music and they are attracted to the monkey. When the teacher calls them into school, they do not go. When the mayor orders them to leave the town square, they do not go. A second tune is played on the hurdy-gurdy and gradually, the adults are drawn into the orbit of his entrancing music. They begin to dance and to laugh ...
4 December 2025 Despite having two services last Sunday, I just managed to hear the morning service on Radio 4 live from St. Salvator’s Chapel in the University of St. Andrews. The choir was exquisite. The Chaplain threaded the service together in such an informative way. It was more like a journey of discovery. Professor Alison Jack gave an address in two parts on the Scottish poet Edwin Muir. We did some Muir at school famously studying and enjoying ‘The Horses’. Somehow I missed his connection with St. Andrews and his experience of being touched by Christianity which Jack opened up for us all. I sought out his autobiography. When the family lived in St. Andrews, Willa, his wife, became ill. She was in a nursing home. Muir was walking home at the end of February 1939. He saw some boys playing marbles on the pavement. ‘The old game had ‘come round’ again at its own time, known only to children …’ I remember the outdoor games and their seasons. Marbles was certainly one. ...