Five for Friday: dark skies, Edinburgh developments, responding to horror, breaking free from "My Story", Christmas poetry

It's been really, really dark in Edinburgh this week: here's what the sky looked like at 3.30pm the other day.

There are problems and opportunities beneath the sky: David Pollock reports on how Edinburgh wants to look old but also build new things, and the Rootmap team (including a friend of mine) have produced a beautiful guide to where you can buy local and sustainable food.

There have been plenty of things that happened this year which made many of us think, "How do I respond to that?" Andy Crouch shares why we should start with prayer rather than novelty or even action.

The power of a person's story or narrative has grown so rapidly in western culture that it seems to veto all other forms of authority. I agree with Samuel James that this isn't a great idea, nor is it new. His article is helpful for understanding the worldview most of us are living in/with.

This coming Sunday it's the King's Church Carol Service (you're all invited). I'll be speaking and we'll be handing out free copies of Glen Scrivener's excellent Four Kinds of Christmas booklet. Here's a poem by him to introduce it...