Procrastination9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. (Mark 1:9-13)I was going to start with a brilliant joke about procrastination, but… I’ll finish it later.Getting into the new year can be hard going. Some people of faith make a new start of reading their Bible, there are apps on the phone. Last year I managed to read through the whole Bible being led by Nicky Gumbell (Alpha course). If you want to start reading the Bible – Mark’s gospel is an excellent place to start. If you were to read its 16 chapters out loud it will only take two hours of reading. It is a book of quick things – Mark seems to capture the urgency of Jesus’ ministry. We start with John baptising Jesus, who doesn’t hang about with the crowd and disappears off into the desert for 40 days before getting straight on with his ministry because John has been arrested and Jesus’ time has come. He spots fishermen and calls them to follow him and straight away they do.He doesn’t get a measured reflection or lengthy interview process; it is a call to follow and an instant response. Sometimes we need to give a full commitment in life, when finding a life partner or a career, and sometimes we put it off – because it is a big decision. I remember after proposing to Joy and her accepting – she then asked “when?” and panicking I said “18 months”. She sensibly left it just a week and asked for my reasoning to wait – and when finding I had no reasons, we booked the wedding for five months later. If you put off a big decision – you risk missing the time, you may lose the opportunity altogether. We are called for follow God with our lives. I have known many people who came to believe in God as they came to retirement who then regretted that they hadn’t had the chance to make the most of the life they had with God, feeling His presence as they went through the journey of their whole life. There is nothing wrong with choosing to follow God in your mature years, but many of our nation put off following God thinking they will miss things, being held back by rules or stigmas. But the reverse is true. God gives us a freedom and peace that we miss out on if we don’t take the long journey with Him.The whole of Jesus’ ministry was characterised by his driving conviction that this was “the time”. John the Baptist prepared the way, and Jesus fulfilled what God had promised – he is, as we proclaimed in the Christmas readings.6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7) Brian Leathers December 2025
Wise men2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:1-3)Once we start our new year, in Church, we remember the coming of the wise men, the Magi, or star gazers who saw a change in the heavens and understood it to have spiritual meaning. They set off on a long journey to discover what it meant. It is the first time non-Jewish people come into the Christian story. I like seeing the bumper sticker in cars “Wise men still seek Jesus”However the story of the wise men has a villain – King Herod the Great. Whose character is shaped by stronger forces around him. Emperor Augustus ruled the Roman Empire and God caused him to want to tax everyone in order to move the insignificant Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to the prophesied town of Bethlehem, Herod was merely one of Augustus’ “puppet” rulers who was useful in the Empire as a buffer for the Emperor dealing with the detail of ruling his smaller part, but totally dependent on Augustus for his power. Herod was half Jewish and half Arabian, being made governor of Galilee aged 16, and Mark Anthony made Herod “Tetrarch of Galilee” after he proved able to pick his way through the minefield of imperial politics after the assassination of Julius Ceasar. So Herod ruled because the Roman Army backed him, and Herod tried to prove himself to the Jewish people by grandiose building projects. His ten marriages didn’t help with how the Jews saw him (interestingly his first wife was named “Doris”. Make a note for next year’s nativity play!)Towards the end of his life, he had an extremely unpleasant gangrenous disease and became paranoid – trying to influence the future succession he had two of his sons executed. It was into this unstable situation that the wise men blundered with their request to find the “King of the Jews”. We know the story – how the wise men found Jesus, and how Herod had all the little boys of Bethlehem murdered in his attempt to stop the future King from coming to the throne. There is a dangerous side to the Christmas story. Not the expected nativity scene, but a violent destruction as the world fights against the arrival of the Saviour. Perhaps a healthy reality check as we realise our Saviour was born into the real world of politics and violence, as well as children suffering from poverty and abuse. Jesus came to save the world from all the ills we see in the news each day. God is deeply affected by human pain and inhumanity; He feels injustice much more than we do. And He did something, He came to earth to bear our suffering, to win a way through. In sharing our suffering, and dying for us, He began an intervention that leads, slowly and inexorably to the promised time where there will be no more tears or death. There were tears because of that first Christmas, all those babies murdered by Herod, as some kind of evil response to God’s act of love. It should reinforce in us all our efforts to safeguard the vulnerable of our society. Christmas is not supposed to be a time when we pretend that all is well with the world for a few days. We should never let the celebration drown the sound of the mothers crying for their children. Christmas has a purpose – the arrival of a much-needed Saviour of the world.21 Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ (Revelation 21:1-4) Brian Leathers December 2025
Meeting held 4pm on 18th Nov 2025Churchyard: A party of local people have made a wonderful difference by strimming the Churchyard extension on Sat 8th Nov. Thank you if you were involved.Alton Advent Calendar is out – do get a copy and support many of the eventsBoiler Saga is ongoing. There are no spare parts for the old boiler that has worked well for years and new government rules mean the ventilation is not considered adequate. We will need to make a hole in the Church wall once a replacement is obtained. We have a temporary grill in the West door as we cope with the changes – this will be reinstated as it was as soon as we can. We had to consider electric heating for the Church but have decided to stay with Gas, but now are finding quotes for the work hard to source. Please be patient with us. There has been minor progress as we have been advised to get one industrial boiler instead of two domestic boilers. But we are still waiting for quote for the work. They look like being in the region of £22,000 which would wipe out our savings so we might not be able to pay the Common Fund to the Diocese in full.Fundraising: - Bingo went well – Lent Lunches are planned for next year – and there will be an organ concert on 25th April at 6pm in the Church – donations in aid of Church funds.Eco-Church: We are making progress. New LED lights in Church – change to Octopus energy which is 100% renewable energy. We were reminded that we have the silver award and we will look at how we stand with applying for a gold award. Quinquennial report: (This is the architect’s 5 year maintenance schedule) We have achieved some of the work (the boiler is the big part of this) and the list of other jobs will be on the PCC agenda until they are done.
https://www.youneedtotalkaboutgod.com/filmsFollow the link to five short films
