© Long Buckby URC 2019
News 1
Long Buckby United Reformed Church
Email the Webmaster
Travelling Light into the New Year
Think of your home, with all its mod-cons: hot and cold running water, double-glazed windows, heating, a
comfortable bed, not to mention all of the electrical gadgetry you enjoy, food in the kitchen, your fine
clothes and your good neighbours; indeed a comfortable place to spend time.
Now…Imagine a city on a hillside made of cardboard boxes and sheets of plastic. Imagine having to walk
on the hot sand, with flimsy sandals on your feet, to a stand-pipe, in order to fill your bucket with
water: having no toilet, no electricity and barely sufficient amounts of food for one meal most days.
Would you give up the comfortable home in order to move into the place of poverty? That’s what we
celebrate at Christmas- God choosing to leave the eternal realms and come to earth to live in the
middle of poverty, ignorance and suspicion. God opts to come and pitch a tent within our camp, like each
of us, starting as a helpless baby.
Emmanuel- God is with us. Halleluliah!
When I was a child, Autograph Albums were very popular. I and all of my friends had autograph albums.
We didn’t just want to collect autographs from the rich and famous; we took our albums to school at
the end of term and asked our friends and teachers who we liked, to sign them. We took our albums to
Sunday School events, in fact we took them wherever we went… Most of my young friends were yet to
evolve a signature and would just write their name but most people then added a riddle, a proverb, a
cheeky poem or a verse from scripture.
Now, years later, I find these Autograph Albums (I have at least three, they were clearly a present of
choice, too). Two have tattered bindings and are loosing pages, one has lots of spare pages.
Who are these people whose names I once knew so well? Could any of them be well-known? Each of
them to some degree touched my life and maybe my name is in their album too.
© Long Buckby URC 2019
News 1
Long Buckby United Reformed Church
Email the Webmaster
Travelling Light into the New Year
Think of your home, with all its mod-cons: hot and cold running water, double-glazed
windows, heating, a comfortable bed, not to mention all of the electrical gadgetry you
enjoy, food in the kitchen, your fine clothes and your good neighbours; indeed a
comfortable place to spend time.
Now…Imagine a city on a hillside made of cardboard boxes and sheets of plastic.
Imagine having to walk on the hot sand, with flimsy sandals on your feet, to a stand-
pipe, in order to fill your bucket with water: having no toilet, no electricity and barely
sufficient amounts of food for one meal most days.
Would you give up the comfortable home in order to move into the place of poverty?
That’s what we celebrate at Christmas- God choosing to leave the eternal realms and
come to earth to live in the middle of poverty, ignorance and suspicion. God opts to
come and pitch a tent within our camp, like each of us, starting as a helpless baby.
Emmanuel- God is with us. Halleluliah!
When I was a child, Autograph Albums were very popular. I and all of my friends had
autograph albums. We didn’t just want to collect autographs from the rich and famous;
we took our albums to school at the end of term and asked our friends and teachers
who we liked, to sign them. We took our albums to Sunday School events, in fact we
took them wherever we went… Most of my young friends were yet to evolve a signature
and would just write their name but most people then added a riddle, a proverb, a
cheeky poem or a verse from scripture.
Now, years later, I find these Autograph Albums (I have at least three, they were
clearly a present of choice, too). Two have tattered bindings and are loosing pages, one
has lots of spare pages.
Who are these people whose names I once knew so well? Could any of them be well-
known? Each of them to some degree touched my life and maybe my name is in their
album too.
