I'm dreaming of a white Easter

I don't think this is what people were expecting as they arrived at church this morning.

(Also seen today: heavy rain, beautiful sun, and hailstones)

♫ Jesus is Alive 🎝

 I came across this song. It's very catchy! (It's also aimed at preschoolers)

 

The fifth of February

I discovered I posted this 10 years ago, but I think that's long enough ago to allow a repeat.

Lyrics by John Finnemore. Music written and played by Susannah Pearse. Performed by Simon Kane, with Carrie Quinlan and Margaret Cabourn-Smith.

New Year Song

Last year I had difficulty thinking of a New Year song.

This year I've had one in  mind since it came out 11½ months ago!

 Where the Living is Deep from The Gray Havens

Happy New Year!

Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world💡. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

Happy Easter 🥚🥚🥚

Was in the corner shop today, and there were creme eggs and biscoff eggs on the counter.

Good Friday

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."

~ 1 Peter 2v24-25

Easter stickers

I'm not very good at updating this blog with my actual art 🤦

I've recently got easter stickers printed.

First, some brand NEW designs, aimed at younger children, or new contacts who know very little about Jesus. Still the focus on Jesus' death and - especially - resurrection. Nice and cheerful and Eastery. Lots of eggs! But avoiding the wall-to-wall pastels and fluffiness that is characteristic of lots of Easter stuff.

 I also reissued my classic Easter designs as paper stickers. Aimed at primary school children. More depth on why Jesus died and rose - probably best for church kids who know the basics. Leaning into the sometimes ghoulish tastes of small boys💀!

 

 

I have other Easter stickers still available while stocks last. Find them all here.

Happy World Braille Day!

 Here's a video about the importance of Braille:

And here's a shameless plug for my colouring book for blind and visually impaired people www.kirstymca.co.uk/blind

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

 I've been enjoying this song.

Last Words

Words and music by Andrew Peterson and Ben Shive

Happy New Year!

 I always like to post a song for the New Year - but this year I've got two.

They're both about how, as Christians, God uses the ups and downs of life to make us who he wants us to be.

First a sad one:

 And then a cheerier one!

All-day sun

Doesn't seem quite the right weather for Good Friday:

 

"Well might the sun in darkness hide

and shut his glories in

when God, the incarnate maker, died

for man, his creature's, sin"

~Isaac Watts

Happy New(ish) Year

 Here's a good song to start the year:

Something I need to keep reminding myself.

Caveat: I don't like the line about 'make of your troubles swiftly an end' - he might, but he might not. Though I probably tend to err on the side of assuming he won't.

Remember and Proclaim

To celebrate our church's Good Friday meal restarting after a 2 year gap.

A lot shorter (and cheerier) than the previous music video I posted!

 

 

Good Friday music

 This is good (It's an hour long)

Women's work

Google's doodle today is for International Women's Day.

It shows a series of women's arms doing various things: writing, science, being an artist, winning the Nobel prize*, voting, singing, typing, making a political speech, climbing a mountain, conducting an orchestra, getting a degree, making a film, being a judge, astronaut, pilot, animator, footballer, photographer, architect, etc...

I'm glad that women have so many opportunities today.

But I was disappointed that, in all the pictures, there was not a single domestic thing represented. No cooking. No cleaning. No childcare.

Are women not worth celebrating when they're doing stereotypically 'feminine' things? The things that no-one will particularly notice, or applaud them for?

"Honour her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."

Proverbs 31v31 (emphasis mine)

---

*At least, some medal like that

Mary's Song

I like this version, because it's sung by someone the right sort of age (Randall Goodgame's daughter Liv, who would be about 16ish at the time)

Rainbow crosses

People are putting rainbows in their windows to symbolise hope. So here are some crosses that our Sunday School kids made to remind us that our true hope comes from Jesus.

All done in an appropriately socially-distant manner: They made them at home, photographed them, and WhatsApped them to me. I printed them at church, cut them out and stuck them up.

I love how different they all turned out.