Julie's December jottings

A colleague told me recently that an otter has a pocket under its arm in which it keeps a stone.  I didn’t know this fact, and laughed, but it is true.  Stones are needed to crack open shellfish for food, so keeping a handy stone in their pockets, prepares otters for getting the food they need. Apparently, an otter will hand on a good stone to its offspring. 

 It matters to hand on traditions, especially when they feed us in our inner being.  The traditions of Christmas remind us of a God who is, as a youngster recently told me, ‘loving, kind and forgiving.’ Christians see such a God in Jesus and his human example of God’s loving and forgiving kindness can give us something to aspire to in our own lives.
 
At Advent we look forward to a time when God’s desired Kingdom will come, which will be one where the suffering which people experience or inflict on each other will end, and peace which brings completeness will come.  Jesus is seen as the peace giver.

Here is a wishful Christmas prayer:

Though our world is full of worry, and strife, let peace come.
Stir up a hope, a good news expectation,
that causes us to look for what could be better.
Let love pitch up in the midst of our Christmas feast,
And kindness come with everything we give and receive.
Let our greetings express our goodwill
And joy and peace surprise us.
And at the end of the day, let there be no anticlimax,
Only a sense of purpose and a willingness to go forward
with a generous and hopeful heart.  Amen.

Rev Julie Norris