Glory Shone Around

This is the final of three episodes as part of our early Advent series for busy ministers/church leaders.

Ministers generally begin to think about the true meaning of Christmas at least as early as decorations start festooning shops. They need to plan Christmas activities and prepare talks. Getting started is easier than normal service planning sermon prep – the dates are fixed and the texts are obvious. Bringing plans to completion can be harder. The planning phase comes at a busy time in church life, when programmes are in full swing and few others are thinking about Christmas, and an emotionally tough time for all of us, when days are shortening and temperatures are falling. The passages and carols can seem overly familiar and it is not easy to scrape away the cultural accretions of materialism and niceness to get to the reality of the incarnation.

So, as ministers prepare and plan to lead others in their appreciation of Christmas, we in Living Leadership want to help them enjoy its wonder and apply its significance to leadership.