We really can't communicate without words. And yet knowing who is speaking very much helps us hear and understand. What is the relationship between you who hear words and the speaker who says them?

What do you mean that there is no such thing?! We can say what we like! Yet words exist always in contexts and relationships, so whom should they serve?

What is Jesus doing in the water meant for sinners? Why is the voice from heaven pleased? Sinner? Son of God? What is going on? Oh ... it is about ME! ... Aha!

There is huge power in words. Unbelievable. Creative. Destructive. Self-serving. Self-giving. To whom do we listen and why?

We need more than a Christmas break to help us through life.

We want things to make sense and be understandable. It is good that we do to live safely and well. But when things don't fit into our world, does that mean they are not true? Christmas can only be understood by what happens 33 years later.

Time might be sped up or slowed down in films, literature, and our imagination but we live it one second, one minute, one hour at a time. And no matter whether that moment is happy or sad, smiles or tears, God is with us all the time.

We tend to think good news is good news for all. However on reflection, this might not be the case. How intriguing that the good news of Jesus can be so difficult to both hear and share. How marvellous that people have faith in Jesus at all!

Sometimes we see it coming and at other times we don’t. Death is something we’d prefer ‘over the horizon’ and out of sight. But it is always lurking. It can shrivel life and make people very afraid. However Jesus can help us deal with death when it comes close.

Whatever the future is – and it comprises the predictable and the unpredictable – the followers of Jesus know what they need to do – serve and love their neighbours.