Tallest Christmas cake - Built in India!

An Indian bakery has attempted to break a world record by making a cake 32ft (9.75m) tall to celebrate Christmas.
The cake was made by a bakery in the city of Kochi (Cochin) in the southern Indian state of Kerala, and was supported by iron pipes and wooden planks in an effort to make it stable.
Organiser Jayachandran Pillai told reporters that the cake took 15 days to make and weighed over 550kg.
"We planned to make this Christmas season something different [and] therefore, we planned to make an amazing cake.
"We searched on the internet and we got information about a cake of 30ft height. So we planned to make a cake 32ft high to make the record.
"We made this cake and right now it is a grand success and we got [a] very good response from the public," Mr Pillai said.
The cake is on display until Christmas Eve, and will then be cut and distributed to orphans across the city. There was no confirmation of whether the bakers officially broke a world record.

Breaking News!!! - Church of the Nazarene Nativity Huge Success!!

Well done to everyone for such a wonderful Nativity this Christmas

Poet Steve Turner reassembles the Nativity Cast for Easter!

Take the wise men to the Emperor’s palace.
Wash their hands in water.
Get them to say something about truth.
Does anyone know any good Jewish jokes?
The one about a carpenter
who thought he was a King?
The one about the Saviour
who couldn’t save himself?
The shepherds should stand with the chorus.
They have a big production number -
‘Barabbas, We Love You Baby’.
Mary? She can move to the front.
We have a special section reserved
for family and close friends.
Tell her that we had to cut the manger up.
We needed the wood for something else.
The star I’m afraid I can’t use.
There are no stars in this show.
The sky turns black with sorrow.
The earth shakes with terror.
Hold on to the frankincense.
We’ll need that for the garden scene.
Angels? He could do with some angels.
Avenging angels.
Merciful angels.
He could really do with some angels.
Baby Jesus.
Step this way please.
My! How you’ve grown!

Homeless food centres serving caviar this Christmas!

ROME (Reuters) - Down-and-outs and hard up pensioners in Milan will enjoy a rare Christmas treat this year: choice beluga caviar confiscated from traffickers.
Italian police seized over 40 kg (88 lb) of the delicacy, worth some 400,000 euros ($558,300), from two men who last month smuggled it into the country from Poland for sale in the shops of Milan and the rest of the wealthy Lombardy region.
The head of the local forest police who carried out the raid kept the bounty in barrack fridges for several weeks, but realized it would soon go bad.
"Tests showed us the food was still perfectly OK to eat but it couldn't be stored much longer, so we decided to give it to the poor," Juri Mantegazza told Milan daily Corriere della Sera.
A small amount of the sturgeons' eggs have been kept for further analysis while the rest has been sent to voluntary associations, charity kitchens and old people's homes.
"Everything that comes our way is very welcome, even though most of our guests don't even know what those little black balls are," said Virginio Colmega, a priest who helps run the House of Charity in Milan.

Thomas Watson - In Heaven!

Some have asked whether we shall know one another in heaven? Surely, our knowledge will not be diminished, but increased. The judgement of Luther and Anselm, and many other divines is, that we shall know one another; yea, the saints of all ages, whose faces we never saw; and, when we shall see the saints in glory without their infirmities of pride end passion, it will be a glorious sight.
Thomas Watson

Santa is well looked after in UK! £5M well looked after!

GENEROUS Brits will treat Father Christmas and his reindeers to a bumper £5,081,739 festive feast this year.
As three in four folk brush aside the credit crunch in favour of sticking to good old family festive traditions, it appears Santa won't need to tighten his belt.
2,800,000 mince pies, 236,800 pork pies, and 672,000 slices of Christmas cake will be washed down with 1,044,000 pints of ale, 4,320,000 glasses of sherry, 1,466,400 cups of tea and 1,440,000 nips of whiskey. Meanwhile, Rudolf and his six reindeers will tuck into 7,920,000 carrots.
Nigel White, general manager at Pork Farms said: “It’s great to see the public offering good old British hospitality and a true taste of the nation to Santa this year; we’re busy making sure the shelves are fully stocked ahead of his arrival.
Pork pies are the perfect yuletide grub, and even better shared, so we hope he takes some back for Mrs Santa.”
Santa John, from the UK’s official Santa school in London, said: “Mince pies have gone down in my estimation since that Cromwell fellow banned them in the 17th century; I love a pork pie, oh, and my Rudolph loves the jelly!”

Romanian Santa Record!

Almost 4,000 people in the Romanian capital have set a new record for the most people dressed as Santa Claus and giving out gifts at the same time.
A total of 3,939 red and white clad people gathered in front of the parliament building in Bucharest.
Watched by a representative of Guinness World Records, they paraded through the city handing out gifts.
Romania hopes to break other records after Christmas, including the world's largest sausage and the longest cake.
"It's Christmas spirit, we're all better and more generous this time of year," the Bucharest Herald quoted Mayor Sorin Oprescu as saying.
Speaking as the volunteers donned their outfits, Guinness representative Lucia Sinigagliesi said the minimum requirement for the record to be judged was a "very challenging" 3,000.
"We never know what really is going to happen with mass participation records but it looks very good."
"There are a lot of people already, so we are hoping for the best," she said.
When the record was confirmed, Ms Sinigagliesi presented a certificate to the mayor, to delight of the massed Santas.
The event easily broke a previous record of 3,618 simultaneously gift-giving Santas, set in Taiwan, in 2003.

Belfast's Black Santa

Belfast's ever popular Black Santa has begun his annual Christmas sit-out for charity.
Dean Houston McKelvey will, as has become tradition, brave the elements outside St Anne's Cathedral each day until Christmas Eve.
This continues a tradition started by Dean Sammy Crooks in 1976.
Dean McKelvey first sat out seven years ago, following in the footsteps of his predecessor Dean Jack Shearer, who died in January 2001.
Dean Shearer was initially dubbed Black Santa by the media because of his distinctive clothing and the name caught on among the public.
The appeal raises money for various charities in Northern Ireland as well as Christian Aid.

Proverbs 16:32 - Patient Man

Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
Proverbs 16:32

Hypnosis - Cure on addiction and get another - Scampi Fries!

When Darren Corbett's cigarette cravings were suddenly cured by hypnosis he smelled something fishy – Scampi Fries to be exact. Now the 43-year-old cannot get through a day without devouring 20 packets of the pub snack. He spends £11 a day on them – nearly double the cost of his old habit – and his breath smells worse.
'When my mates go outside for a smoke, I sit inside and munch,' said the tiler from Keighley, West Yorkshire.
Mr Corbett picked up his new vice after a hypnotist at his local pub cured him of his 30-a-day habit. David Knight helped Mr Corbett quit as a thank-you for being such a good subject during his stage performances. Mr Corbett did a convincing impression of a washing machine and became unhealthily attracted to a bar stool.

Christians in Iraq - and we thought we were having a difficult Christmas!

Christians in Iraq remain under siege, said the head of the North American branch of Open Doors on Monday.
Open Doors, which serves the international persecuted church, is one of a handful of Christian agencies working with vulnerable communities in Iraq in spite of widespread instability.
While there were around 550,000 Christians in the country prior to the fall of Saddam Hussein, Open Doors said it was difficult to determine how many were still there today as a succession of attacks targeted specifically at Christians has prompted many of them to leave.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that at least two million Iraqis have fled the country since the US-led invasion in 2003, while a further two million remain displaced within Iraq, mainly in the northern provinces.
The northern city of Mosul has been particularly hard hit this year. The latest wave of attacks in October left at least 25 Christians dead and saw thousands more flee the city. Earlier in the year, a number of churches were bombed by Islamic extremists in what Iraqi church leaders and rights groups believe is part of a deliberate campaign to wipe out the Christian population in Iraq.
“The situation continues to grow grimmer for the targeted minority Christian community in Iraq, especially in Mosul,” said Carl Moeller, head of Open Doors USA.
Open Doors is providing the remaining Christians with Bibles and other resources to help them live out their faith.
"The marginalised people of Iraq desperately need our support,” said Moeller. “Pray that 2009 will be the year when the violence will decrease and Christians will not be killed and kidnapped simply for their belief in Jesus Christ."
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom said in a statement last week that although there had been some reduction in violence in Iraq since its last report on the country in May 2007, it remained “seriously concerned about severe violations of religious freedom there”.
“The situation is dire for Iraq's smallest religious minorities, including Chaldo-Assyrian Christians, other Christians, Sabean Mandaeans, and Yazidis, who face a threat to their very existence in the country,” the USCIRF said.

Christmas Song - The Animals

Wish I could be home for Christmas! Great video.

Clip Art

Ever wonder what you could do with 10,000 FREE clip arts!

Saturday 13th December 2008 - What a Day!

Wake up in the morning to the smell of freshly baked cakes. Round everyone up and off to church for the monthly table top sale. After donating some cakes for the event, we spend an hour going around chatting, drinking coffee and buying more things than we came in with????!!!
But there's no time to dwell. Race home and have some lunch, but wait, it's already time to throw on some thick socks and meet back at the church for the ice skating trip. Get there on time to discuss how bad we ll are at this then proceed to stumble around the rink for a couple of hours before Chris races around telling everyone it's time to leave for the next event!
Get home at 5:15 to change put icing on some more cakes (and a trip to the store for some double cream).
Off to church again, this time for the Christmas Party. I'm starving so find myself stood by the food grazing nonchalantly. Santa Ray came right on time for the kids all surrounded by a few great games. Oh look mat the time! 8:30 and we are all exhausted.
Slept like a log! (do logs sleep? maybe it used to be dog?)
Well done to all the organisers who put the time in to making everything go so well and it was announced this morning that the Table Top Sale made a record profit!

Anchovy makes police smell something fishy in pizza robbery!

A Florida pizza delivery man who was challenged by armed robbers in the city of Miramar got in first with his own weapon - a large pepperoni pizza.
Eric Lopez Devictoria, 40, flung the piping hot pizza at the gunman, then turned on his heels and ran.
He made a safe getaway, according to the Florida Sun-Sentinel, despite one shot being fired as he fled.
Police later arrested three teenage suspects, who have been charged with armed robbery.

Proverbs 21:3 - Do what is right!

To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
Proverbs 21:3

Portsmouth Churches pull out all the stops! (Ours too!)

Anglican churches in south-east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are bracing themselves for a high turnout as they celebrate the birth of Jesus this month with events ranging from carol-singing in the streets to displays of Christmas trees and cribs.
Portsmouth Anglican Cathedral will hold three identical carol services for the second year running. More than 2,000 people will join the cathedral choir at 3pm on December 20, and at 7.30pm on December 22 and 23. It will also hold two identical crib services at 3pm and 4.30pm on Christmas Eve.
Apart from carol services, many churches are laying on special activities. Nativity cribs will be on display at All Saints Church in Botley from December 12 to 14. The ‘Crib Fest 08’ includes cribs contributed by those living in Botley, Curdridge and Durley, some of which are being made specially for the occasion. The church is open daily, and the festival will end with a carol-sing around the cribs. Worshippers are being invited to dress up as a character from the Nativity story.
Worshippers at Holy Rood Church, Stubbington will host a ‘Live Nativity’ at the church for the second year running on December 13. Parents can bring children to meet the shepherds, angels and kings, to stroke some of the animals in the Nativity scene, and to take part in Christmas craft from 10am-1pm.
Several churches will dramatise the Nativity story. St Mary’s Church in Warsash will be transformed into the inn at Bethlehem on December 19 and 20. The Nativity by David Farr is a full-length play with music. The idea is that the audience mingles with the cast in the inn before events unfold.
Young people from Somers Town will take part in Follow The Star, a musical at St Peter’s Church in Southsea on December 20 and at 1pm and 5pm on December 21. It is being performed in the church itself, and it helps to celebrate the church’s 125th anniversary.
And there will be many contributions to charities. An annual Churches Homeless Action scheme involves worshippers giving gift vouchers so presents can be bought for homeless people, disadvantaged families and asylum seekers. The vouchers will be handed over at a carol service in St Mary’s Church, Fratton, at 12 noon on December 19.
And before the Christmas season properly starts, one Gosport church will remind us what Advent is all about with an alternative worship service. St Thomas the Apostle, Elson, will host the Blesséd Community’s ‘Pregnant with Expectation’ at on December 14. It will focus on the fact that we are called to watch and wait for the incarnation during December.
Priest-in-charge the Rev Simon Rundell said: “The season of Advent involves waiting and watching, and we aim to help people to connect with that feeling of hope and expectation through a deeply moving encounter with the sacraments, and keeping Christmas out of Advent.”
Another Portsmouth church will help people remember what Epiphany is all about once Christmas has finished. St Nicholas Church in North End, will host its alternative worship service ‘Ethos’ on January 11 where visitors will be invited to move around the church space, using multi-media installations, clay, reflections and activities to help them think about spiritual issues.
Team vicar the Rev Bev Robertson said: “The New Year is a time for looking forward, but we often don’t give ourselves time to really search ourselves, face what holds us back and let go of obstacles within us. We welcome people of faith and no faith to journey to the star and discover their Epiphany at St Nicholas.”

Our Nativity is Sunday 21st December at 10:30am

Table Top Sale Saturday 13th December 2008

TABLE TOP SALE Saturday 13th December 2008
Church of the Nazarene, Broadwalk, Knowle Park, Bristol BS4 1BZ. Opposite Redcatch Park!
Time: 9 to 12 am
Location: Church Hall
Atmosphere: Very Friendly (sometimes silly)
Drinks: Excellent

Time to do a bit of last minute Christmas shopping!!! Credit crunch friendly! Donations of goods, time or baked items always welcome. Come by for a free cup of tea or coffee and a natter. This is also a good opportunity to come and ask someone about the church and upcoming events you might be interested in (especially the nativity and carol services!)

From Table Top Sales

The Advent Conspiracy!

The US-based movement Advent Conspiracy is inviting churches around the world to observe the Christmas season with a little less glitter, a little less debt and a lot more love.
Hundreds of churches in the US and now some in the UK and Africa are joining the movement to de-commercialise Christmas and restore it back to its true purpose of celebrating the birth of Christ.
"What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?" the creators of Advent Conspiracy pose. Everyone wants Christmas to be meaningful but instead it becomes shop, shop, shop, credit cards, traffic jams, to do lists, useless gifts, then off to church," says a promotional video. In the end, people are just left with debt, gifts to return and an empty feeling of missed purpose.
For many, including pastors, Christmas has become a painful holiday especially when trying to lead their congregations in worship amid the distractions and stress of the consumer culture.
"[We] lamented that we hated Christmas," said Pastor Rick McKinley of Imago Dei Community Church in Portland, Oregon, during his latest sermon on Sunday. We hated the fact that we were talking about one of the pinnacles of theology – that here is God becoming flesh and entering our world to bring salvation and peace and restore His whole creation, While we preach and declare and get all excited about that, the truth is the message just becomes white noise because within our cultural context there's so much hecticness that's involved around the holidays," he added.
On top of the consumer culture, Christians have not effectively conveyed the message of Christmas to the public.
"We started looking at what the Church's response has been," McKinley said as he recalled what he and a few other pastors discussed three years ago. "It has been to critique the culture for not talking about Jesus or saying Merry Christmas. So there's this idea that when I'm running through the mall ... [people] should tell me Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays. That's a very lame place for the church to draw a line in the sand," the Portland church pastor said.

LZ7 - This Littel Light of Mine

A new take on an old favorite!

Animated Christmas

The Diocese of London is using animated cartoons and comic books to explain the significance of Christmas to school children throughout Advent.

The Diocese of London's Christmas project has been rolled out across London' s classrooms with the aim of helping parishes and schools to teach the story of Christmas in a modern and exciting way.

The diocese has produced a series of animated cartoons aimed at introducing primary school children to some of the key themes of the Christmas story. This is coupled with a teaching pack, which includes assembly and lesson plans focused on helping young people understand why Christmas is celebrated each year.

The teaching resources are complimented by a series of electronic comic books that are designed to accompany each lesson and provide a faithful retelling of the Christmas story in way that is fun and appealing to young people.

The diocese has distributed these teaching resources to London's 479 parishes and 130 Church of England schools who have around 40,000 pupils across the capital. The teaching resources are designed to be completely flexible and can be used in both church and non-church schools alike. This has resulted in a number of London clergy being invited by their local non-church schools to help pupils of all faiths to learn about Christmas.

Sam Donoghue, Children's Ministry Advisor, the Diocese of London said, "The Christmas season is a great time of year for celebrating with family and friends, but we also wanted to help young people in understanding the occasion's significance.

"We hope that the resources we have produced for schools tells the Christmas story in a different way that is not only exciting for pupils but also furthers their understanding of why we celebrate Christmas."

The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Dr Richard Chartres said, "The Diocese of London is committed to telling the story of Jesus Christ in a modern way that is accessible and appealing to our capital's young people.

"Christmas is at the heart of the Christian Faith and I hope that these excellent teaching resources will provoke thought and generate discussion amongst school pupils throughout Advent."


On the web:

All of the resources have been made fully accessible and are available to download from the diocese's dedicated Christmas website at www.londonchristmas.org.uk/children

"You've got something in your eye!"

If we see a speck in a brother's eye, we must first see if there is a log in our own eye; perhaps that speck in our brother's eye is only a reflection of the beam in our own.

David Watson

Enough is Enough - Binge Drinkers

The Archbishop of Wales has welcomed new Government measures to tackle binge drinking and alcohol-fuelled violence and disorder.
Dr Barry Morgan said Wednesday’s announcement to introduce tighter controls on the sale of cheap alcohol in bars and supermarkets would show the Government recognises the dangers of binge drinking.
The new measures include a ban on cheap alcohol promotions, including “all you can drink for £10” deals and free drinks for women, although happy hours will remain. The ban means supermarkets will no longer be able to offer reduced prices on bulk purchases of alcohol.
“Plans announced today show the Government recognises the dangers of binge drinking, both to individuals and to society and is tackling promotions which make it all too easy for the culture to continue and to be seen as socially acceptable,” said Dr Morgan.
“Legislation like this is important in improving the wellbeing of all of us – we have seen this in the success of drink-drive campaign and laws on smoking in public places.
“However, laws alone will not solve the problem – people and organisations, such as schools, hospitals, churches and local authorities, need to continue to work together to achieve real cultural change and ensure we are not a country addicted to binge-drinking.”
The Archbishop last month joined other bishops of the Church in Wales and the head of the Welsh police to launch the new Enough is Enough campaign against binge-drinking.
The campaign invites members of the public to make a pledge to cut down the amount they drink and stop before they have had too much.
Enough is Enough will see the widespread circulation of posters and leaflets highlighting the damaging effects of excessive alcohol consumption and the huge toll binge drinking takes on people, their families and friends, and society as a whole.
The campaign is being backed by Cardiff University Students' Union and the Licensees Forum, and supports the Welsh Assembly Government's Substance Misuse Strategy.

Measure of a Man

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. - Samuel Johnson

Islamic, Jewish and Christian Charities - Common Ground

Christian, Jewish and Islamic charities have come together to debate how best faith-based organisations can work in communities of other religions across the world.
The unprecedented collaboration between Christian Aid, World Jewish Relief and Islamic Relief is being hosted by the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths in Cambridge on Monday and Tuesday.
Daleep Mukarji, director of Christian Aid said: “Global poverty is not a Christian issue, but a human one, and ending it is not simply a Christian obligation, but a universal one.
"This conference is an opportunity to celebrate what different faiths have already done together to bring about an end to poverty and injustice and to look forward to what we might do together in the future.”
The Keeping Faith in Development conference comes less than two months after the murder of Gayle Williams, a development worker in Afghanistan, which highlighted the extremely sensitive and important issues raised by the presence of faith-based organisations in communities with other beliefs.
The humanitarian charities involved in the conference work with people of all religious beliefs and none, and none of them does any preaching or attempts at religious conversion.
Saleh Saeed, Chief Executive of Islamic Relief Worldwide, said: "Central to all faiths, not least the Abrahamic traditions, is the duty to stand by one's neighbours, regardless race, colour or creed. This conference will offer a welcome chance to strengthen the growing inter-faith partnership which is working to end the poverty of so many of our neighbours across the world."
Paul Anticoni, Chief Executive of World Jewish Relief, said: "At this critical juncture in countering vulnerability, faith agencies have a vital role to play – we should celebrate this."
Ivan Lewis MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Development, will address delegates. The conference will also include detailed presentations about how the agencies have done relief and development work with people of other faiths.

Wordle Fun