Simon Says ...

Have you ever held a new-born child?   It is an experience without peer.   A tiny life.   A person in miniature.   Holding a new-born for the first time, I was told by her parents to support the baby’s head – a baby’s head is too large for her neck to support at first.   New-borns do very little – they cry, feed, sleep and poo.   There are no smiles or coos to reward the parent or visitor.   And yet it is one of life’s greatest experiences.   Parents are driven by biology to protect and nurture their child, but non-parents too can understand the imperative to care for the bundle of warmth that barely fills a hand.   To hold a new-born child is to hold something that is simultaneously immensely fragile, utterly dependent and unimaginably precious. Christmas is when we mark the time that God took flesh in a new-born child.   God became fragile, dependent and precious and was born to an unmarried teenager.   S...

Isaiah 52.7-10 ; Hebrews 1.1-4 ; John 1.1-14 Some words from that very familiar Gospel reading: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us … full of grace and truth”.   If you want a thread to help you understand St John’s Gospel, then you could do worse than to look at the way that truth appears in the Gospel from the beginning to the end.   The Gospel begins with the passage that we have just heard.   Here we learn of the true light which was coming into the world, and the grace and truth of the Word made flesh.   Truth remains a theme throughout the Gospel.   Near the end, Pontius Pilate asks Jesus ‘What is truth?’ as part of his trial.   Truth is important to John’s Gospel, and so tonight I want to say three things about truth.   First about the truth shown in Jesus; second about truth as a life; and third about being witnesses to the truth.   First then, the truth shown in Jesus.   The whole thrust of the Gos...

A Sermon for Christmas 2 Ecclesiasticus 24.1-13 ; John 1.1-18 Some words from our Gospel reading this morning: “we have seen his glory”. Let me begin by wishing you all a very happy new year, and (because today is still the 12 th day of Christmas) a very happy Christmas.   Tonight all the decorations should be stowed away for another year, trees come down, fairy lights are boxed up and lots of us will be making trips to attics and lofts with boxes of stuff.   And in the midst of this we hear again the Gospel read at the heart of our Christmas celebrations, with this line that “we have seen his glory”. Glory is not something that we should put away with the decorations, but there is a real danger that we miss the glory for the trappings of Christmas.   There is a Christian tradition, which we will observe here at the Cathedral, that crib sets do not get put away on twelfth night, but that they remain out until the end of the greater C...

It began as a blogpost, but ended up in the Church of England Newspaper.   Here is my piece on the ChurchAds.net Christmas campaign for Christmas 2012 .

Tonight. 8pm. The Undercroft, St Mary Redcliffe. Incarnation; Virgin Births; happy sins; and Christmas carols. Many thanks again to Marc for the picture.

Tonight. 8pm. The Undercroft, St Mary Redcliffe. Reaching the parts of Christmas most carol services leave alone. Many thanks to Marc for the picture.

Christmas in an Hour Simon Taylor explores the parts of Christmas most carol services leave untouched! 7 th December The Stories of Christmas 14 th December The Word made flesh · Tuesday evenings, 8pm – 9.30pm · The Undercroft, St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. · Entry is free, but a donation to cover costs would be welcomed. Visit virtualtheology.net to download any talk you miss and to find previous series of the Bible in an Hour.

Advent started on Sunday, the season of preparation for Christmas. There then follows a struggle for most clergy (and especially for any working here) to keep any sort of Advent in the midst of all the Christmas stuff. It's already started: 1. First Nativity Play. This was on Sunday afternoon. It was very good (performed by Bristol Old Vic Theatre School). 2. First Christmas Card. Received yesterday. 3. First Carol Service. The Women's Institute this afternoon. 4. First Easter Egg. In front of me on my desk. Happy Advent. UPDATE - Wednesday evening First Turkey sandwich as well.