Just for info I have added a new category to keep the various advent and Christmas thoughts in one place, and thought James’ God Giggled was worth a repeat.

It was the first Christmas and:

God giggled
God farted
God burped
God gurgled
God needed a cuddle
God was a baby¦

Christmas reminds us:

That we don’t have to find God, he finds us in our humanity
We don’t have to go up – he came down
We find God in the physical, in our bodies, in material, in humanity.
God became one of us.

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year, to everyone.

Brick divx

The Mission Midnight Chronicles move

Prayers for Christmas eve – not all my own work and can’t remember where I got the refrain from …”help us make room for Jesus – be born in us tonight.” a bit long as well – verses can be cut out at will…

Tonight we celebrate the birth of Christ
We celebrate the birth of a baby
We celebrate a small God
We celebrate a God who became one of us
We celebrate a God who makes his home in us

Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

For those of us who have everything
Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

For those of us who are competent
Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

For those of us who are independent
Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

For those of who are strong
Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

For those of us who have all the answers
Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

For those of us who need to be in control
Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

And at this time of the year we pray for the powerless, the small people who go unnoticed, the poor , the weak, the beggars, abused children, the outcasts, the ugly, the smelly. These are the people who Jesus identified himself with. So lets pray for the world and allow ourselves to hear the Christ within ourselves and see the Christ in others.

Holy Child
Whose parents found no room in the Inn;
We pray for all who are homeless

Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

Holy Child
Born in a stable;
We pray for all living in poverty

Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

Holy Child
Rejected stranger;
We pray for all who feel lost and alone
All who cry for loved ones

Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

Holy Child
Whom Herod sought to kill
We pray for all who live in danger
All who are persecuted

Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight Live Free or Die divx

Holy Child
A refugee in Egypt
We pray for all who are far from their homes

Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

Holy Child
Help us we pray, to see the divine image
In people everywhere.

Help us to make room for Jesus
Be born in us tonight

Why wait for the gift that has already come?
Why wait to meet the guest already here?
Why wait for the child already born?

In the wait we see the beauty of the gift
In the wait we encounter the true presence of the guest
In the memory of the wait we know the child who holds us

• Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid movie full

2001 Maniacs dvd

I am off to Scotland next week and have 9 training sessions booked in from Glasgow to Aberdeen via Perth and Dundee

Below are some of sessions slides I will be using

ICC
From Off the beaten track to Church on the edge The Outsiders buy Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure on dvd
Hot Chocolate
church-on-the-edge-handout
Blue Horizon
informal education and semi-detached work
informal education and CPR

Just a note to say Frontier Youth Trust have started a blog, it will be piloted for a while and then reviewed, so please visit and drop us a comment either just to say hi or if you think it will be worthwhile to comment. The posts will come from various team members, Dave Wiles, Nigel Pimlott, Ruth Corless (who is heading it up) Myself, Jo Fitzsimmons, and Pete Hope (although he likes to think he is a bit of a luddite) so the content will be mixed but all around mission with young people at risk. We hope it will be a way of extending our ethos of working with young people at risk towards justice, equality and community; we are a Christian network dedicated to advancing the Kingdom of God and growing ourselves.
I have just started a series exploring Values led mission and would value any feed back.

Great post from Ian over at youthblog

Witchboard rip

Gangs of New York film

Water movie Punch-Drunk Love hd

————–page break——————–Highwaymen the movie 100 Tears movies

Some recent encounters with young people from different churches came to mind as soon as I saw ASBO jesus’ latest offering.

Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things film Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS ipod

Two years ago we began work on a book that we believe will offer ground-breaking insight to the youth work and ministry of tomorrow.

Youth Work After Christendom is due to be launched in the summer and we would be delighted if you could join us for the Official Launch Event on
July 8. We wanted to host something that had real meaning and purpose and so we have put together a programme that we believe will be
stimulating, inspiring and informative. The day will include seminars, refreshments, lunch and a free book – all for just £17.50! Full details
are on the attached flier.

The book has been described as:

“challenging and inspirational, bringing attention grabbing insights
concerning youth work in the 21^st century.”

“a wake up call for the church and youth ministry”

“a must for anyone involved in Christian youth work”

“a compelling and crucial account of the state of Christian youth work –
read it!”

If you can’t make the launch event but would still like a copy of the book, then we are taking pre-publication orders at the significantly
discounted price of only £9 including p&p. You can order by: Sending your cheque (payable to ‘FYT’) name and address to the FYT
office, Unit 208b The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham. B18 6NF or Visiting the FYT web site resources section – here

• Blood Work download

• The Fly divx

National conference

The Department for Children, Schools and Families is organising a free national conference A Perfect Day ipod Who Am I? ipod on 20 May in London to look at the delivery of services for at risk and challenging young people. Effective implementation of the targeted youth support reforms will be critical to delivering improvements for at risk young people such as reductions in teenage pregnancies and the number of young people who are not in employment, education or training. The day will help schools and other local partners by showcasing good practice examples from around the country and hearing about developments in government policy. Speakers include Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children and Young People; Dr Maggie Atkinson, Association of Directors of Children’s Services President and Director of Children’s Services, Gateshead Council.

Social evils consultation

According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s (JRF) consultation on modern-day social evils, here

• The Mummy Returns download

respondents said that they felt British society has become more individualistic, greedy and selfish, at a cost to its sense of community. The research collated responses from over 3,500 participants. Young people were seen by some as perpetrators of social evils while others saw them as the victims of stereotypes and limited opportunities.