One of the greatest developments in science occurred – so the story goes – when Isaac Newton asked himself, ‘Why do apples fall?’ In fact, although there are an infinite number of stupid answers there are far fewer stupid questions and sometimes the most childlike questions are actually vitally important. Asking the question, ‘What does God want at Christmas?’ is therefore not as childish as it sounds.

There are two extreme views of God in this context. One view is that God can want precisely nothing: he is perfect in every way and so must be devoid of emotions. The trouble with this is that it is heading towards the God of the philosophers: an all-powerful being who is cold, dispassionate and utterly unapproachable, a He – or perhaps an It – who might be worshipped but cannot be loved. The other view is to imagine a God with limited powers but generous longings who is intensely frustrated because his desires cannot be met. The trouble here is that you are heading towards the God of the pagans who, while he might be loved, cannot be worshipped. The Bible balances the two views: that God is supreme and all-powerful but, at the same time, he loves and he desires. The result is that he can be both loved and worshipped.

So the question ‘What does God want?’ is a valid one. What does God desire? It’s easy to come up with things that we think God might want: peace on earth; justice; an end to hunger; the protection of his creation; and so on. Yet we find a clear answer about God’s priorities in Paul’s first letter to Timothy, where, in the context of living wisely, he says this: ‘This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth’ (1 Timothy 2:3-4, NIV). God’s priority is this one thing: he wants ‘all people to be saved’.

Notice that God doesn’t just simply want people to be saved, as merely wishful thinking. Paul describes God as ‘our Saviour’. Saviour is a word we will hear a lot in Christmas carols; it means someone who acts for us, who rescues us, who liberates us. That’s what our God has done: he is Saviour and if you want to know how he saves, Paul continues, ‘For there is one God and one mediator between God and humankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.’ The words could not be clearer. In Christ, God came down and became one of us so that he could represent both parties – God and humankind, become a ransom and, even, on the cross, a sacrifice. God wants us to be saved so much that he bent down, lowering himself from the highest heights of heaven to a cradle and then, ultimately, to a cross – a staggering descent from inconceivable glory to unspeakable shame.

Notice too that God wants all people to be saved. Don’t be distracted by thinking of criminals, crooked financiers, shady politicians or your neighbour. Think about yourself. You are included in that little word all. Have you realised that you are part of what God wants? Perhaps you responded years ago to God’s love for you but you have let the relationship grow cold and formal. Perhaps, though, that love of God in Christ Jesus is news to you and you haven’t yet accepted it? What does God want for Christmas? He wants you.

In Christina Rossetti’s poem, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, the last verse suggests that she too had considered the question, ‘What does God want at Christmas?’:

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a wise man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him – give my heart.

Exactly!

May God be with you – and you with God – this Christmas-time.

J.John

Reverend Canon

The Shepherdsʼ Play will be performed by the friends of Michael House School. Sadly the school closed in 2019, but some of the teachers and parents and friends are keeping the tradition alive and All Saints has kindly offered to accommodate the play so we can all share in the celebration of the Christmas Nativity. John the organist of All Saints will be playing the piano to accompany the singing.

The Shepherdsʼ play is one of three plays known as The Oberufer Plays. They were first performed by farm labourers and members of the community of Oberufer:- an Island on the River Danube on the Austrian Hungarian border, during Medieval times. The plays were passed down through generations and observed by Karl Schroer, an Austrian Professor who noted them down at the end of the 19th century. They were then edited by his student Rudolf Steiner who also grew up in a rural community in Austria, and translated by A. C. Harwood in the 1940s. These are the plays that are performed at Christmas in Steiner Waldorf Schools throughout the world, as a gift from the teachers to the pupils and parents. No mean feat when you consider the workload of teachers in that term and having to cope with overexcited children as Christmas draws near.

Advent was a very special time of year at Michael House. Each classroom had its own real fir tree decorated with real candles that were lit and Advent songs sung every morning: ”From the Forest bring the boughs of fir and spruce and pine, ring the bells, ring the bells, for now it is Advent time” and “People Look East the Time is Near of the Crowning of the Year” echoed throughout the corridors. Children would do candle dipping, make gingerbread and wreaths and paper stars. On the last days of term the teachers would perform the Paradise Play about Adam and Eve, followed by the Shepherds Play. Different teachers would take the different roles each year, so although the plays are always the same they were always slightly different and were eagerly anticipated….who would play the devil this year, were they better than the teacher who performed it last year? There is also an element of ad-libbing in the middle of the play and references to events in the school or the political situation in the country. In the last few years the Class 10 pupils, 16 year olds would take on the roles of the Shepherds, bringing an energy and hilarity to the performance. The third play – The Kings Play about the coming of the 3 Kings and the other 2 Kings Christ and Herod is a much darker play and was performed on 6th January, Epiphany. This was only performed a few times at Michael House.

The Shepherdsʼ Play tells the story of The Nativity. It is very simple, with the minimum of props and seems almost austere in this day and age when consumerism has taken over Christmas. Within the play, which has music and singing is the miracle of the birth of Christ. It is beautifully portrayed with just the gesture of Maryʼs arms. Then the Shepherds bring their humble, simple gifts to the Christ child. After all the hustle and bustle of preparations that go on during Advent it is a very calming to watch this play and feels like the beginning of Christmas. The songs and music will stay in your head throughout the festive time. It is an experience not to be missed!

Admission is free. There will be refreshments. A collection will be taken at the end for contributions to cost of heating the church.

Freya James

Earlier this year, Coppice school was visited by OFSTED. The result was that the school was rated as good overall with the Nursey in particular being singled out as exemplary.

There are currently a few nursery places available so if you have a child in your care of nursery age you couldn’t do better than enrol them in Coppice nursery.

For details see the poster below.

It’s a bit hard to swallow isn’t it? I mean come on!  Admittedly there  is a lot of independent evidence that Jesus did indeed exist around the early part of what we now call the first century AD, that he was an inspirational speaker who shook up the Jewish establishment and who was executed by crucifixion. All of that is recorded by Roman historians among others and virtually all modern historians accept that the evidence is overwhelming and in fact more compelling that it is for the existence of historical figures such as Julius Caesar, whose existence no one seriously doubts.

OK so Jesus existed and made enough of a mark to have a footnote in history but  that same ‘history’ confirms that he was crucified. Throughout the period of the Roman Empire where crucifixion was a common form of execution and estimates suggest that up to 1 million people were crucified. There is no record of any survivors! So why should we believe that Jesus was the only exception?

We shouldn’t!  There is no doubt whatsoever that Jesus along with all the other people who were crucified  did in fact die. The Romans were experts, but to be absolutely sure, a spear was  driven into his heart before he was taken down from the cross.  So what’s all this stuff about him ‘rising from the dead?’ about you might ask. Once again it is well documented that the body of Jesus was put into a tomb dug into a rock face and that the tomb was sealed and guarded. Now remember that Jesus’ disciples had run off at the first sign of trouble before he was arrested and one would expect them to be terrified of being rounded up and executed in the same way. In fact they were (terrified) they all went into hiding. It was only a few women who dared to sneak over to the tomb while it was still dark to see if they could finagle  their way into giving him the ‘last rites’ due to a corpse in the Jewish tradition of the day.  They found the tomb empty and spread the word. A few weeks later these same disciples who had run away and hid were standing on street corners and telling crowds of people that Jesus had risen from the dead as proof positive that he was the Messiah that they had been waiting for, for 1,000 years.  Something miraculous had happened to turn cowards into heroes. And why didn’t the authorities simply produce the body to refute what they were saying? Clearly they couldn’t—it wasn’t there!! Are we really to believe that a handful of cowardly despondent men in fear of their own lives  had managed to overpower a guard, move a boulder sealing the tomb, remove the body, hide it so well that it has never been found and then  put their own lives at great risk by  confronting those same people who had shouted for Jesus to be crucified with a made up story of his resurrection?  And this was far from being a flash in the pan. These same people plus the growing number of followers whom they convinced of the truth of the resurrection  of Jesus,  took this message, the Gospel, throughout the known world.  Could all of this really be based on a lie?  However difficult it might be to believe in the resurrection of Jesus isn’t it harder to believe that a collection of mainly uneducated fishermen could make up a story and then sell it to the world?

I don’t think so do you??

A small boy on the way into the hall asked a vicar “Why is it called Good Friday when Jesus died on that day? Surely it should be called Bad Friday?”

If you think about it, the day when Christians commemorate Jesus Christ’s crucifixion does seem black and bleak. According to the Bible, the son of God was flogged, ordered to carry the cross on which he would be crucified and then put to death. It’s difficult to see what is “good” about it.

There are a number of explanations as to why the term ‘Good’ has been widely adopted as the name for the day on which Jesus was crucified but, whatever its origin, it was indeed a good day for  humanity.  Although, quite rightly, Christians celebrate Easter as the moment when Jesus was resurrected, the resurrection was the result, the evidence, that Jesus had taken the sins of the whole world on his shoulders when he who was entirely sinless, allowed himself to be crucified. It was on Good Friday that Jesus atoned for our sins and in so doing defeated death itself. Good Friday was indeed a very good day for us!       

The events leading up to the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus are well-told by the writers of Matthew Mark, Luke and John in the bible, But why Jesus died is why Good Friday is good?

The Roman authorities and the Jewish council wanted Jesus dead. He was a political and social trouble-maker. But what made the death of Jesus more significant than the countless other crucifixions carried out by the Romans and witnessed outside the city walls by the people of Jerusalem?

As Christians we believe that Jesus was far more than a political radical, he is the Son of God. For us the death of Jesus was part of a divine plan to save humanity.

For Christians it is through Jesus’s death that people’s broken relationship with God is restored. This is known as the Atonement.

The word atonement is used in Christian theology to describe what is achieved by the death of Jesus. William Tyndale introduced the word in 1526, when he was working on his popular translation of the Bible, to translate the Latin word reconciliatio.

Atonement (at-one-ment) is the reconciliation of men and women to God through the death of Jesus. That reconciliation is needed because of the wrongs we do each day of our lives (sin). In the beginning God’s creation was perfect but the Devil tempted the first man Adam and sin was brought into the world. Everybody continues to sin, just think of the things you think say and do each day that damage the relationship you have with God, other people, and how you see yourself. None of us are perfect and this sin separates us from God, just as Adam and Eve were separated from God when they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. It is like a great Chasm exists between us and God and no amount of being good, saying the right thing or going through the actions can bridge that gap. Only Jesus who was perfect can bridge that Chasm through his death on the cross,

Thinking of getting Easter gifts for your child? Want to avoid the chocolate and encourage your child to think. This could be the book for you to get for a child you know.

Questions are so important – they are how we learn to live our lives. That’s a Good Question! is a collection of 32 tricky questions which children commonly ask. Questions like Who made God? Where is heaven? Does God sleep? Were there dinosaurs on the ark?

J.John sets about answering these in a clear and concise manner. Of course, the answers to these important questions are complemented by a set of fantastic illustrations.

It is worth a look.

 Badger’s parting gifts.

At some point in our lives we will all experience the death of a loved one. Parents often ask about helping their children through grief. This is book is a tool to help with this. CHILD BEREAVEMENT UK has said that ‘Badger’s Parting Gifts provides young children with a means to understand grief’. It tells the tale of Badger.

Badger is so old that he knows he must soon die, so he does his best to prepare his friends. When he finally passes away, they are grief-stricken, but one by one they remember the special things he taught them during his life. By sharing their memories, they realise that although Badger is no longer with them physically, he lives on through his friends.

The 35th anniversary edition of this multi award-winning picture book about losing a loved one features a helpful reading guide from Child Bereavement UK that provides tips for reading Badger’s Parting Gifts with children and helping them better understand grief. It is worth having on your child’s bookshelf.

The Huge Bag of Worries

The world can be a worrying place and children can be anxious and have worries to. The Huge Bag of Worries is a reassuring picture book encouraging children to be open about their fears and anxieties to help manage their feelings.

The perfect book to soothe worries during stressful times. The story features Jenny. Wherever Jenny goes, her worries follow her – in a big blue bag. They are with her all the time – at school, at home, when she is watching TV and even in the bathroom! Jenny decides they must go, but who will help her get rid of them?  A funny and reassuring look at dealing with worries and anxiety, to be used as a springboard into important conversations with your child.

The Shack

A book for adults or teenagers

With 20 million copies sold worldwide The Shack is an international bestseller that explores life’s toughest questions through the gripping story of one man’s struggle to find answers to his suffering.

Mack’s youngest daughter, Missy, was abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, still trapped in his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack. Against his better judgement Mack arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon. What he finds there will change his life forever.

The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, ‘Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?’ Mack’s experiences when he faces up to his darkest nightmares will astound you, and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. This is the kind of book you’ll want to tell everyone about. Millions have discovered it already. 

 

Why not join us for one or more of our services as we follow Jesus from Palm Sunday to the cross?

Monday April 3^rd 7pm Service of reflection

Tuesday April 4^th 2pm communion and reflection

Wednesday April 5^th 2pm Service of reflection

Maundy Thursday 7pm Holy Communion

Good Friday 9.30am meet at church of walk of witness in Heanor Market at 10am

Good Friday 2 pm A service of reflection in church – The final hour of Christ’s agony

Maundy Thursday is the fifth day of Holy Week – the final week of Lent, which begins on Palm Sunday and runs up until Easter.

It gets its name from the Latin word ‘mandare’, from which we get the word ‘command’. Christians remember Jesus’s command: “Love one another as I have loved you.”  On this day Christians remember Jesus sharing the Last Supper with his disciples before his death on Good Friday. We have a service of Holy Communion in church at 7pm to do this. As part of the service we also strip the altar as we remember that Jesus left the supper and went to Gethsemane where he prayed before he was arrested.

 At the Last Supper Jesus washed the disciples’ feet as an act of humility and service.  Some churches recreate this act of service at special services on Maundy Thursday. Foot washing is a reminder of how Jesus served others and of the kind of service we as Christians are meant to demonstrate to others.  

Every year the Sovereign distributes silver coins at a special service on Maundy Thursday. It is part of a tradition dating back to the 13th Century when the Royal Family took part in ceremonies washing the feet of poor people and giving money and gifts.

The Maundy Money ceremony itself began in 1662, when Charles II gave out coins. This year will be the first year King Charles III gives out Maundy Money as King.

Each year on the fourth Sunday of Lent, countries around the world celebrate Mothering Sunday. This typically involves lavishing Mums with gifts and attention and celebrating the women who have nurtured us throughout our lives. It is also a difficult day and sometimes a painful day for many. 
 
It has origins that start in the middle ages are some o traditions that have shaped Mothering Sunday into the celebration recognised today: 

In the 16th century, Mothering Sunday was less about mothers and more about church. At that time people would make a journey to their ‘mother’ church once a year. This might have been their home church, their nearest cathedral or a major parish church in a bigger town. The service which took place at the ‘mother’ church symbolised the coming together of families. This would have represented a significant journey for many. 

Another tradition was to allow those working in the fields on wealthy farms and estates in England to have the day off on the fourth Sunday of Lent to visit their mothers and possibly go to church too. This was a variation on the theme of visiting the ‘mother’ church and was a move towards a more family focussed occasion. Before the days of cars and roads, family get-togethers were far more rare, (zoom and Whats app were still a long way off). In some ways this tradition is still alive today as grown up children often visit their parents on mothering Sunday. 

Simnel cake has a strong affiliation to Mothering Sunday as it is usually associated with spring and Easter.  Also mothering Sunday is also known as refreshment Sunday as the Lenten discipline of a simpler diet are relaxed, hence cake. Simnel resembles a Christmas fruit cake but should be slightly lighter in texture. The other difference is the two layers of marzipan. Simnel cake should have a layer of marzipan running through the middle like a victoria sponge and then another layer of marzipan on the top. Traditionally, you should also roll some marzipan into eleven eggs and place these on the top. The eggs are supposed to symbolise the disciples who followed Jesus – note that Judas is excluded. 

The question is, do you boil or bake your simnel cake? Some say it’s necessary to do both because of an argument from folktale where two people could not agree on the correct way to cook the cake.   

On Mothering Sunday, churches around the country will be sharing their own traditions, celebrating and giving thanks to the huge impact mothers have on each of our lives. The main service on Mothering Sunday in churches across the country is central to the life of the church. 

The church recognises that the day may be difficult and complex for some people. If you are childless or the relationship with your mum or daughter is hard or your mum or child has died or that you feel you are not coping as a mum this day is a day you might wish would go away. For some women, it is the only day of the year when they receive flowers 

 As part of our service we include prayers for those who don’t find the day particularly easy and there is space for your own thoughts. Also if you need someone to listen ,we will do that too. 

Families across the country will be preparing little presents and cards and in some churches flowers are blessed and handed out during the main service. 

Families come together to have lunch, or children make breakfast in bed for their mothers, leaving all the mess to be cleared up later! It’s all about showing appreciation and many make a huge effort to make their mother feel special. 

What we do want to do is value each person and value the role of woman in our lives. We want to recognise that family is not just biological but contains the people who care for us and that might include friend, neighbour and church. This Mothering Sunday come and see what we have to offer.  

How about trying your hand at making a simnel cake

Simnel cake recipe – BBC Food 

Ingredients 

For the almond paste 

• 250g/9oz caster sugar 

• 250g/9oz ground almonds 
• 2 free-range eggs, beaten 
• 1 tsp almond essence 

For the cake 

• 175g/6oz butter or margarine, plus extra for greasing 

• 175g/6oz soft brown sugar 
• 3 free-range eggs, beaten 
• 175g/6oz plain flour 
• pinch salt 
• ½ tsp ground mixed spice (optional) 

• 350g/12oz mixed raisins, currants and sultanas 
• 55g/2oz chopped mixed peel 
• ½ lemon, grated zest only 
• 1–2 tbsp apricot jam 
• 1 free-range egg, beaten for glazing 

How-to-videos 

Method 

1. For the almond paste, place the sugar and ground almonds in a bowl. Add enough beaten egg and mix to a fairly soft consistency. Add the almond essence and knead for 1 minute until the paste is smooth and pliable. Roll out a third of the almond paste to make a circle 18cm/7in in diameter and reserve the remainder for the cake topping. 

2. Preheat oven to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 1. Grease and line a 18cm/7in cake tin. 

3. For the cake, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs until well incorporated and then sift in the flour, salt and mixed spice (if using) a little at a time. Finally, add the mixed dried fruit, peel and grated lemon zest and stir into the mixture. 

4. Put half the mixture into the cake tin. Smooth the top and cover with the circle of almond paste. Add the rest of the cake mixture and smooth the top leaving a slight dip in the centre to allow for the cake to rise. Bake in the preheated oven for 1¾ hours. Test by inserting a skewer in the middle – if it comes out clean, it is ready. Once baked, remove from the oven and set aside to cool on a wire rack. 

5. Brush the top of the cooled cake with the apricot jam. Divide the remainder of the almond paste in half. Roll out a circle to cover the top of the cake with one half and form 11 small balls with the other half. Place the circle of paste on the jam glaze and set the balls round the edge. Brush the cake topping with a little beaten egg. 

6. Preheat the grill to high. Place the cake onto a baking tray and grill for 1–2 minutes, or until the top of the marzipan begins to brown. Alternatively, lightly heat the cake topping using a cook’s blowtorch, until the marzipan is golden brown. 

Is Mothering Sunday/Mothers Day just another way of emotionally blackmailing us  into spending money? No more a homemade card and wild flowers picked as we go for a walk or snowdrops and daffodils from the garden.

Presents with Mother or Mummy printed on and a fancy bag to put it in with the onus on Dad to get it right.

Of course the next worry is when parents have split up – who takes the responsibility ,the estranged father or perhaps the stepfather. Where do the children spend their day?

The days when the young people in service in the richer households were allowed to return home for the day taking the simnel cake are history now.

The original Mothering Sunday was a Christian festival when people returned to their mother church, where they were brought up and baptized and this is probably why the custom continued for the domestic servants.

Should we worry that the custom has evolved to the more modern habits of commercialism as with Christmas or accept that things change?

But where does it end?