Thought for the Week

I live in a church house and there are three toilets. Well, what I mean is there is one working loo and two that haven’t flushed properly for a while, so much so that now they don’t flush at all.

I’ve nursed them for long enough, it’s time to call a plumber. Now that maybe just too much information but with Advent, the Christian season of preparation before Christmas, and family visiting over the season it will best that the toilets work. Especially as the one that does work is only accessible from my bedroom.

So there are more things to prepare for Christmas than just buying presents: wrapping presents and getting the food and decorations ready. There are more basic things that need to be done. And plumbing aside; approaching a Christian season it would be among the most basic things to prepare by praying and studying the season’s story.

You could join the Cambuslang Churches on a Wednesday night at 7.30pm at St. Brides if it helped you, or dedicate a moment each day to contemplate or pick up a bible to read the stories. Look at the Gospel books named after Matthew and Luke, the birthday stories of Jesus are near the beginning of the books.

Matthew tells the story a lot from Joseph’s point of view, while Luke tells it more from Mary’s point of view. If there are Magi wisemen then you’re reading Matthew’s account. If there are shepherds then you’re reading Luke’s account. But if you want a more philosophical account without the stories of Jesus birth read the first chapter of John. There won’t be stories of angels, of magi or shepherds, but it is a quite beautiful image of the origin of the Word: Jesus. So perhaps you could say it’s from the ‘babies’ point of view. Rev Paul Fletcher, St Cuthbert’s, Cambuslang