Christmas is a comin’ and Mary sings:

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.”

Not exactly a Christmas carol, the Magnificat, is a biblical song, a canticle, and it is the Evangelist Luke who puts these words on Mary’s lips.

Luke’s Gospel plays out like a pageant. Story, song. Story, song. Story, song. A familiar and lovely thought, and a sad one too. This pandemic year, when churches across the country are not likely to have one – at least not in the traditional way. (But we are going to…

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All of us go through times of stress, sadness and irritability . For those who have been affected by depression , though, the downward spiral of anxiety , exhaustion and despair will be all too familiar.As we described in Dawn’s story above, what can begin as an ordinary bout of low mood can quickly tailspin into a full – blown depressive episode.

One of the most common strategies we use to make ourselves feel better is to try to think our way out of our problem or mood . When it doesn’t work , this can become an endlessly looping tape and we start asking ourselves questions such as , ‘Why can’t I just get on with it? What is wrong with me ? Why am I such a failure?

This looping rumination is the mind’s understanable attempt to solve our emotional problems and feel better, but it…

Persons experiencing homelessness encounter significant barriers to self-care and personal hygiene, including limited access to clean showers, laundry and hand washing facilities. The obstacles to personal hygiene associated with homelessness may increase risk of infectious disease, yet hygiene-related behaviours among people experiencing homelessness receives limited attention. 

Due to COVID the situation for people sleeping on our streets has become more difficult as homeless provision services affected by the pandemic have ceased operating or had to scale back significantly their operations; some unable to operate at all. For Brighton & Hove there is no only one provider of showering and washing facilities for those sleeping rough.

Usually at this time of year, the Archbishop would be planning a Christmas Day lunch with the Salvation Army for the homeless, but due to COVID restrictions, regrettably neither the regular Wednesday drop-in nor Christmas Day Lunch are realisable.

The Archbishop is supporting a new…

Please remember these are the words of a humble servant doing the bidding of our Father. I would ask if you are being blessed by these articles pass them on to as many others as possible so they may be blessed and share their blessings as well.

Robert 

Please remember these are the words of a humble servant doing the bidding of our Father. I would ask if you are being blessed by these articles pass them on to as many others as possible so they may be blessed and share their blessings as well.

Robert

I was asked to identify how I maintain my youthful composure; I stated I walk in the spirit and received varied questions and thoughts of what I meant about my answer.

This article will reveal how FAITH’s use affects us and how walking in faith became a skill to keep me looking as though I am in my mid-sixties even though I have just turned 75 and am healthy, agile and mentally alert.

In this article, I desire to show how stress can and does become the greatest thief in your life. I encourage living and walking in faith, which will prevent Stress from slowly stealing your physical appearance, via effective use of faith as a skill rather than just a word we speak.

Faith is what I use as an effective skill to remain free, agile, thoughtful, aspiring, developing, and most of all, thankful to…

Here is another — Day 4 — of my index card paintings for the month. I’m calling this one “Awareness” because that’s what I learned from doing this little 3 x 5 oil painting.

Like the previous paintings I’ve shared from this project, this scene was inspired by a George Inness work. His, of course, has much more detail. I’m simplifying the compositions, trying to put in the most essential elements, studying the colors of the paintings, and looking for the light.

If you want to make a quick comparison for a better understanding of how I’m approaching this project, here is Peace and Plenty by Inness.

My colors are much, much different from those of the original painting. This is intentional. Tonalist artists like Inness used a lot of glazing techniques in their landscapes. These glazes give their works a glowing, almost mystical quality. They add richess and depth…