I recently heard a Christmas Eve sermon titled “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” recited entirely in rhymed couplets and delivered without a manuscript. Running for nearly eleven minutes, it was quite a remarkable feat.

1. Easter is the festival of the irrepressible God whom not even death can contain. 2. Most of us would prefer a cozy God to a God who shatters our complacency. Yet Easter is about a God who bursts tombs of the familiar, the ordinary and the mediocre.

If we allowed ourselves to meet God everywhere, each day would become a Christmas. Christmas is not so much a season of the year as a season of the human heart.

Christmas is a time to move into the world of images and dreams, a time to allow the 'make believe' happen. Let us be still and reflective.

Theme: Dreamtime Reality -- Season of Hope Thoughts for Reflection To travel hopefully is the mark of a pilgrim. To believe one has arrived is the mark of the insecure.

I could feel the warm afternoon wind blowing a few moments before; right through the window where I was standing, stacking some bowls. A moment later it blew again, only this time it was cool and refreshing, and even smelled sweet like hyssop, or juniper, or jasmine.

But what our guide told us next has stayed in my memory for the almost twenty years since my visit. With a shrug of his shoulders he explained, “Well, we need a site. An important event—we need to have a site. Do we know exactly where it happened? No. But we must have a site so that we can remember.”

“Why look for the living among the dead?” [Luke 24:5] "We live in a post-resurrection age, which in many ways is not unlike

My soul sings in gratitude.
 I'm dancing in the mystery of God.
 The light of the Holy One is within me
 and I am blessed, so truly blessed.

First celebrated in 1898, the Universal Day of Prayer for Students is observed on the third Sunday of February; in 2010 it is celebrated on February 21st. The UDPS is one of the oldest ecumenical days of prayer.  In line with WSCF's theme for 2010 the UDPS theme is 'Climate Justice'.  Former WSCF Chairperson Rev. Ejike Okoro of Nigeria has prepared the 2010 UDPS liturgy and accompanying Bible study on behalf of the Africa region.

This is the Passion story. The story of Jesus' betrayal and his death.