Talking Yorkie

Category: One Church

  • Celebrating Uniqueness

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    Sharon Holland
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    This week is Neurodiversity Celebration Week, which in essence, is a celebration of uniqueness. I started working with neurodivergent people in 1986. Of course, that was several decades before the term Neurodiversity existed. In fact, at that time there wasn’t even the notion of an autistic spectrum. To be diagnosed as autistic, you had to…

  • Pancakes and Chocolate

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    Sharon Holland
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    In our school Christian Union, we have been exploring the question, ‘What is the link between Pancakes and Chocolate?’ All of the students who I spoke with knew about Pancake Day, which was on 17th February while they were on their half term break. Many of the students had also enjoyed eating pancakes on that…

  • The Narrow Path

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    Sharon Holland
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    Being a Christian isn’t the easy option. It’s not the opt out. It’s not choosing the easy life. Often it’s exactly the opposite. Jesus actually tells us that we are going to have trouble. Fortunately he then immediately tells us, ‘But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33). Troubles are definitely going to…

  • A Time for Everything

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    Sharon Holland
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    I was given this cross-stitch as a gift some 20+ years ago. Whilst I appreciated the fact that someone had taken the time to create this and put it in a lovely frame, I didn’t like it. So I said, Thank you very much, then put it in a box in the spare room, which…

  • Not Everything New for a New Year

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    Sharon Holland
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    These are my thoughts that I shared this morning at church before we shared communion this morning. There’s a popular Bible verse often quoted at the start of the year. You might have already read it on YouVersion, on some other Bible app or in your daily devotion. It’s Isaiah 43:18 ‘Forget the former things;…

  • Paratoi – Prepare: Advent

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    Sharon Holland
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    I am writing this on Sunday 30th November, the first day of Advent 2025. For billions of people across the planet, whether having faith or no faith, Advent is a season of preparation. Where will we be for Christmas? What will we eat? What will we buy for the Christmas presents? When are we going…

  • Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

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    Sharon Holland
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    As a Christian, I have always been cautious about having anything to do with Halloween, other than handing out a few sweets to cute, dressed-up children knocking on our door at teatime on the 31st of October. In recent years, we have been away on holiday at the end of October, so I haven’t even…

  • Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

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    Sharon Holland
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    Grief is a path that every one of us has to walk along at some point in our lives, for most of us more than once, and for some, many times. Or maybe grief is just another section of our life path, along which we start walking the first time a loved one dies. Perhaps…

  • Sowing Seeds

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    Sharon Holland
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    This blog is adapted from the notes of my thoughts that I wrote following planting carrot seeds at our allotment around this time last year. My husband and I recently acquired an allotment. Today I sowed carrot seeds. I learned a few things today about sowing seeds and tending an allotment:• Since we are completely…

  • Good Friday – The Curtain

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    Sharon Holland
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    Last Easter on Good Friday, I shared a short devotion in church. Here’s a summary of what I shared.  Today, we are thinking about the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus.  Mark 15:37-38 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. And the curtain [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn in two…