Was thinking about the term 'a circle of friends' today and these little thoughts came to me as I was reading about friendship etc:

First, a circle is an unbroken chain. When people form a circle, it's an unbroken chain of humanity, with the warmth of each person flowing into another. There's a wonderful sense of community created by this connectedness.

Second, creating a circle with people allows each individual to face every other member of the group at the same time. It allows each person to see and be seen. No one is anonymous.

Third, in a circle no one is first in line. Everyone's status is the same, everyone is equally important. No one is excluded.

Fourth, you cannot be alone in a circle. There's togetherness. There's community.

Fifth, a circle has no beginning and no end. Therefore, everyone is cared for. Everyone is valued. No one is outside the circle.

Very true words Doug....

"The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

-- Chinese proverb

“Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.”
―Kin Hubbard

On the 60th birthday of Bruce Springsteen:
"Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz..
Between flesh and what's fantasy and the poets down here
Don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be"...

"Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at."
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

That one made me think...

Fantastic!

Thought that this was quite a cool video, certainly inspirational.

That was fantastic Doug! Thanks for posting that.

"Don't let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity.
It's your place in the world; it's your life.
Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live."
~ Mae Jemison

" Never let a weak moment take away from you all the strong ones you had."
~ Renee Scalfani

Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.”
~ Oren Arnold

In the little world in which children have their existence whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt, as injustice. It may be only small injustice that the child can be exposed to; but the child is small, and its world is small, and its rocking-horse stands as many hands high.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Michelle, that is so so so true!

Here's the notes of the message that I am about to give this evening at the Watch Night Service at 11.30pm


Who Is This Baby Jesus?
I have sometimes wondered about what people thought we would be when we were babies. Do you think for a moment that the parents of Barrack Obama knew that when he grew up that he would be the President of the United States of America? Or do you think that the parents of Neil Armstrong knew the moment that baby Neil took his first steps that one day he would be walking on the moon. What about the latest X Factor winner? Do you think for a moment that Joe’s parents on hearing him wail for the first time in the hospital the moment he was born knew that their child would be a singer? Do you think that the parents of Bruce Springsteen knew that 60 years down the road from his birth that he would be playing music before tens of thousands every night (even when he started singing and playing guitar they were telling him to cut his hair and get a real job!). None of those people knew what their children would become.
What has this got to do with Christmas? Everything! There was one baby, born in a manger in Bethlehem who people knew even before he was born what kind of child he would grow up to become. How did they know this? God the Father chose to reveal it to them by sending angels to visit them with a very special message.
The angel Gabriel visited Mary and this is what he told her: “Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his Kingdom will never end.”
Joseph had a visit from an angel and he heard these words: “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
An angel of the Lord visited some shepherds one night whilst they were keeping watch over their flocks. This is what the angel told them: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord.”
Amazing don’t you think? The Bible declares from cover to cover who this baby is and what he will become. It’s not just something that happened in the New Testament. God had been speaking about his son for a long, long time. In the Old Testament he is the promised one. In the New Testament he is the son who is here!
A few years back (1996 actually) one of the songs that was nominated for a Dove award for the inspirational song of the year was “He Is” sung by Aaron & Jeffrey Bernard and basically it took a trip through all 66 books of the Bible and summed up in a single line what each book was saying about who Jesus is. This is the song. I’m not going to sing it, as I’d probably be locked up for disturbing the peace! Rather let me read the lyric to you:
He Is…
In Genesis, He's the breath of life
In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He's our High Priest
Numbers, The fire by night
Deuteronomy, He's Moses' voice
In Joshua, He is salvation's choice
Judges, law giver
In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer
First and second Samuel, our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He's sovereign
Ezra, true and faithful scribe
Nehemiah, He's the rebuilder of broken walls and lives
In Esther, He's Mordecai's courage
In Job, the timeless redeemer
In Psalms, He is our morning song
In Proverbs, wisdom's cry
Ecclesiastes, the time and season
In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover's dream
He is, He is, HE IS!
In Isaiah, He's Prince of Peace
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
In Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, He's the call from sin
In Daniel, the stranger in the fire
In Hosea, He is forever faithful
In Joel, He's the Spirits power
In Amos, the arms that carry us
In Obadiah, He's the Lord our Savior
In Jonah, He's the great missionary
In Micah, the promise of peace
In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He's pleading for revival
In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
In Zechariah, our fountain
In Malachi, He is the son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings
He is, He is, HE IS!
In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, He is God, Man, Messiah
In the book of Acts, He is fire from heaven
In Romans, He's the grace of God
In Corinthians, the power of love
In Galatians, He is freedom from the curse of sin
Ephesians, our glorious treasure
Philippians, the servants heart
In Colossians, He's the Godhead Trinity
Thessalonians, our coming King
In Timothy, Titus, Philemon He's our mediator and our faithful Pastor
In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant
In James, the one who heals the sick.
In First and Second Peter, he is our Shepherd
In John and in Jude, He is the lover coming for His bride
In the Revelation, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords
He is, He is, HE IS!
The prince of peace
The Son of man
The Lamb of God
The great I AM
He's the alpha and omega
Our God and our Savior
He is Jesus Christ the Lord
and when time is no more
He is, HE IS!
This is who Jesus is. We remember him at this time, though many refuse to associate his name. They’d rather call this time of year Xmas or the holiday season. On Facebook there is even a group calling for Christ to be put back into Christmas. Friends, let me say he has never left, he’s always been part of this special time of the year. Jesus is not like a puppy that you get as a present and then once the new year comes he’s dumped on the steps of a shelter. Just as a puppy is not just for Christmas, so Jesus is not just for Christmas. If we believe what the Bible has to say about who he is then we soon discover that Jesus Christ is the most important person we can have in our lives.
The Wise men of the east knew that he was something special when they followed a star all the way from their homeland. The star was a sign from God that would lead them to the Saviour. Matthew tells us, “ the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was” (Matt 2:9) Matthew also tells us, “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed” but when they “saw the child with his mother Mary, they bowed down and worshiped him.”
The incredible thing about the Bible is that it also says that we are to “shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the Word of Life” (Philippians 2:15-16). God in His great plan and purposes chooses to use us to point other people to Jesus Christ, His Son and our Saviour.
As we come Jesus we will see that He is someone that we can follow, someone that we can worship, someone who we can place our very life in his hands. As we seek to follow him each new day that God grants us life, we will see that this babe of the Bethlehem stable is none other than the saviour of the world. We will see that there is no one else we would rather entrust our lives to than him. We will see that this babe grew up and one day he went to a cross and died on our behalf so that we might have life and life in abundance.
This is the Jesus I know and I trust that he is the Jesus you know this evening.

That was wonderful Doug, totally inspiring. I've just read it to the girls at work (who obviously think I'm beyond help already), in lue of being able to attend a Christmas Day service. I don't know if I've got your delivery?

Thanks Doug. Being brought up in a strict Roman Catholic home, Christmas used to be a really wonderful time when I was a child. I loved midnight mass and carol services and the excitement of Christmas Day. For various reasons Catholicism isn't for me these days, but it doesn't go away! I don't like Christmas as it is today - the hype, expense, greed, pretence - nobody seems to either know or care what it is really about. I find it all very false and depressing - though obviously I make it as much fun as I can for my children.

So, like Rue, your words are as near as I'll get to a Christmas Service...thanks xx