Welcome to All Saints, the local Church of England parish for Denmead in Hampshire. We are a welcoming, growing and vibrant church community for all ages.
Here is our church diary for Christmas & beyond:
Monday, 10 December 2018
Sunday, 9 December 2018
Reading for today: Imitate the Shepherds
We must not cease to wonder at the great marvels of our God. It would be very difficult to draw a line between holy wonder and real worship; for when the soul is overwhelmed with the majesty of God's glory, though it may not express itself in song, or even utter its voice with bowed head in humble prayer, yet it silently adores.
Our incarnate God is to be worshipped as "the Wonderful." That God should consider his fallen creature, man, and instead of sweeping him away with the besom of destruction, should himself undertake to be man's Redeemer, and to pay his ransom price, is, indeed marvellous! But to each believer redemption is most marvellous as he views it in relation to himself. It is a miracle of grace indeed, that Jesus should forsake the thrones and royalties above, to suffer ignominiously below for you.
Let your soul lose itself in wonder, for wonder is in this way a very practical emotion. Holy wonder will lead you to grateful worship and heartfelt thanksgiving. It will cause within you godly watchfulness; you will be afraid to sin against such a love as this.
Feeling the presence of the mighty God in the gift of his dear Son, you will put off your shoes from off your feet, because the place whereon you stand is holy ground. You will be moved at the same time to glorious hope. If Jesus has done such marvellous things on your behalf, you will feel that heaven itself is not too great for your expectation. Who can be astonished at anything, when he has once been astonished at the manger and the cross? What is there wonderful left after one has seen the Saviour?
Dear reader, it may be that from the quietness and solitariness of your life, you are scarcely able to imitate the shepherds of Bethlehem, who told what they had seen and heard, but you can, at least, fill up the circle of the worshippers before the throne, by wondering at what God has done.
Today's reading is taken from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional.
Friday, 7 December 2018
Take the Bible Gateway Christmas Quiz
How well do you know all the facts about the birth of Jesus? Have fun taking this brief quiz to find out. Encourage your family, friends, and social media followers to try their hand at it, too.
Once you’ve finished, sign up for Bible Gateway free email Christmas devotionals and begin receiving them in your inbox.
Wednesday, 5 December 2018
7 Advent practices that will make your December better
When December rolls around I feel more than a twinge of panic. There’s so much to do. Somehow it all gets away from me and I spend the month playing catch-up. Decorations to unpack, presents to buy, cookies to bake, parties to attend. I’d like to say that I’m reveling in the wonder of the season, but mostly I’m trying to keep all my plates spinning.
The irony is that, traditionally, December was not a season of festivities but fasting; not running but reflecting; not parties but preparation. The season of Advent—those four weeks that precede Christmas day - were set aside by Christians to prepare our hearts and minds for the joyful season to come...
Bet still & read more here:
When To Say No To Riding. Six clues to judge when it’s best to not ride
The world is a big place, vast enough that no one can cover all of it in a lifetime. It is easy to be thirsty, to want to ride every inch of it when we are travelling. But sometimes it’s best to leave those miles unridden. Everyone has different thresholds for when it’s too hot, too cold, or too wet to ride. The same goes for state of mind, your health, and your level of conditioning. When do these variables form enough of a distraction to merit leaving the bike in the garage? When does exposure to riding conditions make the risk greater than the reward? Here’s where we might draw the line.
Nasty Weather
Extreme Heat
Chill Factor
State of Mind
High Risk
Low Reward
Tuesday, 4 December 2018
STOP THE PRESS: Blockchain - "the answer to everything" - turns out to be pants.
Though Blockchain has been touted as the answer to everything, a study of 43 solutions advanced in the international development sector has found exactly no evidence of success.
Three practitioners including erstwhile blockchain enthusiast John Burg, a Fellow at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), looked at instances of the distributed crypto ledger being used in a wide range of situations by NGOs, contractors and agencies. But they drew a complete blank.
"We found a proliferation of press releases, white papers, and persuasively written articles," Burg et al wrote on Thursday. "However, we found no documentation or evidence of the results blockchain was purported to have achieved in these claims. We also did not find lessons learned or practical insights, as are available for other technologies in development."
Blockchain vendors were keen to puff the merits of the technology, but when the three asked for proof of success in the field, it all went very quiet.
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