A water bearer had two buckets, one hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One bucket had a split in it, the other was near perfect. At the end of each walk from the stream, the split bucket always arrived only half full. The perfect bucket arrived proud of its performance, fulfilled in the design for which it was made. But the poor split bucket was ashamed … [To read more, click on title]
Author Archives: St Francis Webguy
Be Prepared
As well as planning food and presents for Christmas, prepare spiritually … with prayer and meditation.
And the greatest gift we can give is thanksgiving. When we give presents, we give what we can spare, but in giving thanks for what we’ve received, we give ourselves … [to read more, click on title]
Mustard Seed Sunday
The Sunday before Advent is called ‘Stir it up Sunday’, a name which comes from the Book of Common Prayer and possibly dates back to 1549. The words of the Collect that have usually been said on this day are, “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people”. As traditions go, somewhere along the way the metaphor of stirring up the Christmas pudding or cake became a timely fit for the Sunday before Advent … [to read more, click on title]
Embrace Thanksgiving
Why don’t we celebrate Thanksgiving in New Zealand? We seem to have bought into Valentine’s Day and Halloween, and all those various Black Friday sales – at least, retail businesses have … oh, wait, there’s my answer: gifts aren’t given at Thanksgiving, so the retailers and media aren’t going to promote it … [To read more, click on title]
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