Revd Caroline's Retirement Thoughts

  Garsington Sunday 29 th  December     Christian children all must be mild, obedient good as he. A well-known but not terribly realistic couplet from Once in Royal City, curry can be mild, weather can be mild, the boy Jesus the boy Jesus is anything but mild! Our gospel reading today is a supremely important reading.  It is a story only seen in Luke’s gospel and a reading which gives us a sole glimpse of Jesus growing up, so here he is a 12-year-old boy, who has given his exasperated parents the slip!   John Bell member of the Iona Community and writer of many hymns suggests an adaption to Once in Royal with the following couplet.   Christian children must abscond if of God they’re truly fond.   Mary and Joseph appear to have lost Jesus; we can probably easily imagine those feelings of cold-blooded panic.  Have you ever lost a child, grandchild or someone you were looking after even for a few moments on a supermarket visit or a wal...

  Horspath 2024 Christmas Day Today, both of our readings speak of a sense of darkness and of light and of the promise of hope entering that darkness.    The Revd Sue Lupp talking about these passages speaks of them as Estuary Readings, I have never heard that and was very struck by what she said. In an estuary, the freshwater of the river meets the saltwater of the oceanThe combining of the waters makes a difference as the salt content is changed.  I think that we see something of an estuary in our readings and songs Tonight/today. "The essence of Christmas is the greatness of God coming down to meet us and sweep us into the bigger picture of his love and His kingdom."  (“Christmas Eve: The Estuary of Christmas | The Irreverent Reverend”)  In our reading from the prophet Isaiah the people of Israel who Isaiah was prophesying to were in slavery in Babylon. The Israelites needed to be reminded that better times were ahead. God had not forgotten them; He was ...