Christ Church Huntingdon Blog

Do you wish it could be Christmas every day? Yes or no. Have a think this morning. Would you like Christmas every day. I think for many of us the answer is no. Turkey Tinsel and trimmings every day. We’d certainly put on the pounds. New presents would be nice, but we’d be stuck in a kind of groundhog day of constant new amazon deliveries. And also I think I’d get a bit bored of the Christmas music with crooners singing out “have yourself a merry little Christmas” day on day.  But for the Christian actually there is a sense in which it is Christmas every day. When Jesus came into the world it wasn’t a one hit wonder. He came as the light of the world, and he brought a new dawn for those walking in darkness. That new day was permanent. Christmas (in the sense of the new gift of life through Jesus Christ, and the spirit of generosity that he brings) is for every day. I have a pair of socks with Christmas puddings on that my sister gave me last year. And I don’t just keep them for Chri...

Weddings have been really strange this year, haven’t they. I’m going to a wedding on Saturday in London, and yesterday we heard that London is moving to tier 3 Covid restrictions, and so there won’t be a reception. It was bad enough only having 15 guests there and nobody being able to sing during the service, and having to social distance all the time – but now it’s even worse. And the groom called me, just after the new tiers had been announced, and I asked him how he was doing. And he said “Yeah, I’m fine really. We’re going to get married – that’s the important thing. And I’m really excited.” See a wedding is great fun because it’s a party, and you get to see all your friends, and eat lots of cake, but really, it’s about two people who love each other making promises and starting a life together. That’s what marriage is all about, and so we can be thankful this year, that even though weddings are weird, marriage doesn’t change And it makes sense that we’re excited by weddings,...

I don’t know if you heard the news article yesterday, but a stolen key has been returned to English Heritage after nearly 50 years. The location is St Leonard’s Tower in West Malling, Kent. It’s the site of a well-preserved Norman tower that could go back nearly to the time of William the Conqueror. For around 50 years, the key for the tower was missing. That is until a few days ago, when English Heritage opened the post to find the missing key and a note saying “Borrowed 1973, Returned 2020, Sorry for the delay, Regards”.  Well English Heritage were so intrigued by the anonymous note that they put a message out there on social media encouraging the sender to get in touch. They’ve said that unlike library books, there is no fine for late return of a key, and in fact they would like to reward the honesty of the person who returned the key with free membership of English Heritage. I love that. It’s always satisfying when something from many years before turns up. But for me there’s s...