
Heatherside Advent 2024
..that means Christmas is coming!
Heatherside Celebrates Advent 2024
What about Joseph?
Each of us has our own ideas about how we would feel in the place of any of the characters we read about - whatever their status and whether they are actual historical figures or crafted from a writer's imagination. Shelley Spiers has managed to sum up in this poem for engageworship the mixed emotions Joseph might have acknowledged and his recognition that he cannot walk away from the role God had assigned him.
Betrothed;
a love declared,
a future promised
to Mary,
my beloved.
​
But then
a shock;
a scandal.
A baby, not mine,
for Mary
my beloved.
​
A dilemma:
what could I do
but walk away
quietly
and spare the shame
and disgrace
of Mary
my beloved.
But then,
in the night
appeared an angel
with a message.
“Do not fear!
Marry Mary
your beloved.”
​
A baby
sent from God.
A saviour,
Jesus.
God’s chosen servant
is Mary
my beloved.
​
If God
is in it,
I cannot walk away.
It won’t be easy,
but it’s exactly
where I want to be.
Joseph must also have felt a bit scared!
We have been reminded all too graphically in the press recently about the
difference a good parent makes to a child's life. Being responsible for a child who is physically your own is responsibility enough but this child, he was told, was the Son of God... no pressure!
​The baby in this photo was just a few weeks old: holding him gently, but securely, his father was pensive, as Joseph must have been, wondering what might lie ahead for this new life.

A prayer for children at Christmas
Gracious God:
for children who wait excitedly for each new morning,
we pray joy;
for children separated from those they love,
we pray comfort;
for children in hospital,
we pray healing;
for children in places of violence,
we pray safety;
for children who are hungry,
we pray sustenance.
For all children, Lord Jesus, child of hope and light of the world;
we pray new blessings,
this Christmas and always.
​
Amen.
​​
adapted from Roots on the web
If you are wondering what you could do for children this Christmas: here are a few links to help you.