Ordination: Where Things Are Now

I walked into Monday’s meeting with my DDO and ADDO prepared. I was calm and willing to shine a light, not fight, on the meeting with the Bishop, especially after meeting with Tim Goode.

Shine a Light; Not Fight

Today, I meet with my DDO (A Diocesan Director of Ordinands) and ADDO (Assistant Diocesan Director of Ordinands).

In my previous ordination process post I ended with a question. What do I do next, fight or accept? I wasn't sure. I am now.

6 Reasons why we don't celebrate Halloween

This may well be the most controversial post I’ve ever written but I‘m not writing this to be controversial.

We do not celebrate Halloween.

I’ve never celebrated Halloween. I grew up without celebrating it and for what I consider valid reasons, which I will explain at the bottom, still don’t. Apart from my sixth form and university years where it was more a “social drinking and getting laid event” it’s never been anything that I wanted to participate in.

Here are 6 reasons why we didn’t and still don’t:

No #40daybloggingchallenge this week

Am a bit gutted about this as it was going so well and benefiting so many.

I'm not giving up for Lent

As many of you know I do go to Church every week as well as the odd Church activity in the week. But don't worry this isn't going to be one of those nutty Christian posts. (Although I do put the occasional one up)

I actually wanted to write a slightly different post and outlook on Lent.

So quick round up of Lent:

Christingle

This is the third Sunday in Advent, so thought, as I mentioned before, to share a church related post as we lead up to Christmas.

For those who don't know what a christingle is, I've listed it's parts below.

 A Christingle consists of:

An orange, which represents the earth;
A red ribbon around it representing
 the blood of Christ
Dried fruits skewered on cocktail sticks pushed into the orange, representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons; A lit candle pushed into the centre of the orange, representing Jesus Christ as the light of the world.

This is one of my favourite things leading up to Christmas and was one of the first years that the boys were both old enough to truly join in.

The story of the Christingle is that there were three children, who were very poor, but wanted to give a gift to Jesus, like the other families at church were doing. The only nice thing they had was an orange, so they decided to give him that. The top was going slightly green, so the eldest cut it out and put a candle in the hole. They thought it looked dull, so the youngest girl took her best red ribbon from her hair and attached it round the middle with toothpicks. The middle child had the idea to put a few pieces of dried fruit on the ends of the sticks. They took it to the church for the Christmas mass, and whereas the other children sneered at their meagre gift, the priest took their gift and showed it as an example of true understanding of the meaning of Christmas. Subsequently this is now the symbol for the Children's charity: The Children's Society. Such a great cause check them out here.

http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/

Otherwise enjoy our photos from this morning.

Christmas is coming

As I mentioned last week; I will be doing posts on every Sunday of Advent and centre them around the true meaning of Christmas.

I looked at last week at the Advent candles in church and this week we lighted the second candle.

The second one is meant to represent hope. I think this is something we all forget at Christmas though.

We often get caught up in the commercialisation of Christmas rather than why we celebrate it, and lighting the second candle for hope is a reminder even for modern times.

In the old testament there are many prophecies to say that Jesus would be born, but why were they needed?

Back then, even historical records show that, there were lots of violence, hatred and crime. The prophecy that someone would come to bring us hope within our darkness was a hope for a better tomorrow.

But that is still true today. When we consider the world we live in, crime, hatred and war, especially in the middle east, hope is something that is in high demand.
Even for me; I've had a lot of mental health issues recently as well as sickness in the family and sometimes in those moments I lose hope.

Today's lighting of the second advent candle reminded me that hope is a relevant thing to still have in this day and age.

If you are having a rough time just remember we are in Advent, and as we learnt last week, that time we know that Christmas is coming. We celebrate it because at the time Jesus being born was the hope we needed.

So I will ask that this week in the midst of the Christmas run up that you consider the people who are having dark moments and are in need of a little hope and if we can't help and encourage people  in the season of hope and good will for all then we're focusing to much else where.

We're in Advent, Christmas is coming and so is the remainder of our hope in our darkest hours.

Advent

As some of you know I attend Church every Sunday.

Church is very important for me, and the boys, for lots of reasons as well as finding, in-depth, about Christianity.

I have decided then that for the next few weeks, especially on a Sunday, I will dedicate a post specifically for Church, Christianity and it's relation to Christmas. As for me I believe we wouldn't be celebrating Christmas without a fundamental understanding, even if it has been lost a little over time due to commercialism, of the truth behind Christmas.

So my first post is about Advent.

For those who don't know Advent actually starts today; Not tomorrow, although we are so use to it starting on the 1st of December because of the lots of commercial calendars that are available.

Advent starts on the Sunday which signifies four weeks until Christmas. (Four weeks? Scary that it is creeping up so quickly)

Every Sunday in Churches around the world a candle will be lit for the next four weeks, with the final, fifth, candle being lit on or close to Christmas day. (Usually to represent the light of the world being born)

What I only learnt today though is Advent actually translates from the original Latin in to "Coming". The coming of Jesus and subsequently the coming of the day of his birth as well as the holidays.

So it's official today is the day when the Coca-Cola advert is actually right and "The holidays are coming"

The boys and I do different things over Advent. We all have one Chocolate Calendar each, this year I have also purchased a toy Calendar (I didn't know they existed until this week!) In each type of Calendar we open a door counting down each day and get a treat inside (with the toy one we chose Playmobil where we get a character or a piece of scenery to create an over scene over Christmas.)

We will also have an Advent candle that we light everyday and burn down the wax for the following day. This for us is our Christian tradition to help us remember that Christmas is centralised around Jesus.



So what are you doing to count down to Christmas and 'celebrate' Advent? Do you have any traditions?

Our Community Remembrance Day Service: Remembering WWI

Originally written in November 2014 as 'Remembrance Day' — Updated for clarity and reflection in 2026.

Yesterday marked one hundred years since the start of the First World War. The boys and I went to our usual church on Sunday to take part in the remembrance service. Three moments stood out, so I wanted to write about them here.

Usies: Choosing Connection Over Screens

Originally written in 2014 as 'Usies' — Updated for clarity and reflection in 2026

I spent the afternoon with the boys playing with Lego. We built, destroyed, rebuilt, and repeated the cycle for hours. I loved every second of it. This is a normal afternoon for us. I try not to fill their time with technology when we can play together instead.

Breaking Point: Why We All Eventually Crack

Originally written in September 2014 as 'Breaking Point' — Updated for clarity and reflection in 2026

Yesterday evening I went out to water the plants in the greenhouse after being away for the weekend. While watering, I noticed a few tomatoes ready to pick. When I did, every one of them had split. I asked Dad why, and he said it was probably a miscalculated amount of water.

Was it really that simple?

Christmas and Children

Originally written December 2011 — updated in 2026 for clarity and reflection.

Christmas is such a lovely time of year.  

It is probably one of the busiest seasons for churches. Many people attend services at this time, which is wonderful because they are setting something aside for God.

I often wonder if this has something to do with our childhood memories.  

Most of us remember the Christmas rush at school: the play, the Nativity, and the carols sung loudly in assemblies. Those moments helped us feel the Christmas spirit. My sister‑in‑law recently posted on Facebook, “Christmas songs playing in the car and it’s snowing — now feeling all Christmassy.” It reminded me how deeply those traditions stay with us.