Advent Calendar – 14 December
Nativity Stories: Mary When I hold him in my arms, so small, so fragile, so beautiful, it all seems incredible. I knew it was happening all right. My mother had told me it would be a pain like I’d never known but…
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Advent Calendar – 13 December
Nativity Stories: Innkeeper People think it’s easy running an inn like mine. “You just sit there and coin it, Rachel,” they say. “Benjamin left you a nice little nest-egg.” And it’s true, when Benjamin died, God…
Advent Calendar – 12 December
Nativity Stories: Donkey It made a change from wood. That’s my usual load for Joseph, limbs or planks strapped across my back or offcuts plonked into baskets one on either side. I bring logs and branches from the…
Advent Calendar – 11 December
Nativity Stories: Augustus They never thank you, the people. They eat nutmeg from Ethiopia, cardamom from India, wines from the finest vineyards above the Danube; they have temples of sacrifice to give meaning to…
Advent Calendar – 10 December
Nativity Stories: Zechariah All men worry when a baby is due. There are too many women in the ground who did not survive their ordeal, too many infants who never lived to praise their Lord, or not beyond a day or…
Advent Calendar – 8 December
Nativity Stories: Elizabeth She looked fit to drop, the little creature, as she stood there catching her breath. She’d walked miles, anyone could tell, her feet were caked in dust, her dress dark with sweat. I was…
Advent Calendar – 7 December
Nativity Stories: Joseph I’ve never been what you’d call reckless. I know people have thought me old before my time, too cautious, a bit of a traditionalist. So be it – I saw the flashier guys around me get ahead,…
Advent Calendar – 6 December
Nativity Stories: Gabriel At first all I saw was how young she was, standing in the room with a brush in her hand, but not sweeping. Her mind was elsewhere, a daydream, laying out her future with another. I saw her…
Advent Calendar – 5 December
Nativity Stories: Mary The day it happened, I was a mess. I was thinking about Joseph, my betrothed, when the other one came. I’d seen him – Joseph – in his workshop when Michal took us there. She was always…
Chancellor, Lord Campbell of Pittenweem
Greetings, You may have seen the beautiful tribute the Principal paid earlier today to our Chancellor, Lord Campbell of Pittenweem, whose death has been announced. Although I was not part of the University at that…