I’ve got into this thing called ‘blob trees’ recently. Designed by Pip Wilson and Ian Long these are simple pictures using blob figures to capture how we are feeling in a particular situation. I’ve started using them as the ‘check in’ at the start of meetings to help people identify and express the mood they are in, as mood can greatly change the atmosphere of a gathering.

As we approach Advent, I’ve been finding the blob Christmas picture helpful, particularly when I’m haunted by my ever-growing list of folks to see, thing to prepare and events to organise. The one blob I get drawn to has two figures kneeling at a manger, while behind them a third figure is alarmed and distracted and trying to get their attention focussed elsewhere. This was a reality one afternoon this week when I was sharing a home communion, every time we paused for prayer and quiet my phone would ring!
I’m so pleased about our Christmas theme this year, ‘Simply Christmas’ – which I hope will do exactly what it says on the tin.
We are heading towards a beautifully simple carol service on the December 22nd with a church community choir leading our singing. Our Christmas day service with be all-age appropriate and hopefully the diary will be a little kinder to folks this year. Our invitations and publicity are straightforward and clear; and our decorations will have their usual understated beauty.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed the shows and the parties of previous years, but I sense that this year most people just need to stop doing and do a little more being.
At the start of Advent, I’m once again flummoxed by how confusingly simple the Christmas story is, there’s a God of love who came to live amongst us – no longer distant he became one of us, being born in the most humble, poor, unglamorous, simple circumstances. Simple yet full of so many questions; which as we explore draw us closer to the wonderfully simple and mysterious love of God.
Simply Christmas is our theme this year
Come along
Bring your friends
Come and simply be
