Minister’s Christmas tale will be hare-raising

The Very Rev. Susan Brown with her online Advent story.

Written by Very Rev Dr Susan Brown, who is now a pioneer minister in Duns Presbytery, and illustrated by photographer and artist Ros Evans, 'A Hare-Raising Tale' will be released as a series of seven videos published on YouTube during Advent and into the New Year.

Dr Brown says the story will encourage all ages to engage with the Christmas story and meaning of Jesus' birth in today's world.

"The Christmas story is exciting," she says. "It's mystifying, it's dramatic and shocking and wonderful! In our culture, though, there's such a build up to it and there are so many other non-Gospel elements that get added to the mix, that it's possible to lose sight of what Jesus' coming is all about - and to lose, too, that excitement, mystery, drama, shock and wonder that surrounds the birth of Jesus.

"We were inspired by Jesus' own gift for storytelling and we wanted to offer people of all ages a way of holding on to how truly incredible a story it is, and so we asked Morag Hare and the unknown, unnamed spider to help us."

Watch the first two episodes of the story now and come back to the playlist for the next episodes on Mondays 5, 12 and 19 December, then Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with a special Epiphany edition on Monday 2 January.

The story was created as part of the ABVCOS initiative which aims to help people in the Church across Berwickshire and the Borders to find ways of connecting faith and worship 24/7.

It is an important role as the area becomes part of the much larger Presbytery of Lothian and the Borders, Dr Brown says.

"ABVCOS stands for 'Across Berwickshire' – and Berwick," she adds. "The V is an upside-down A; a mathematical sign that means ‘for all', and ‘COS' stands for Church of Scotland. Our tagline is ‘where it all adds up’. Because we want people's lives to add up… to make sense… to be full, and eternal. Here and everywhere."