Dear Friends,

Sometimes I start singing a song and then can't remember the lyrics; luckily the great benefit of a computer is that you can look them up with Google. Recently when I was looking for the John Lennon song "So this is Christmas" I found instead another called "This Is Christmas" and I rather liked the words;

Don’t be discouraged,

Don't be dismayed, 
There's hope for all in this world,

Cause this is Christmas Day.

Not words of great poetry, I grant you, but they do remind us of the hope that Christmas offers. A friend of mine reminded me that Christmas was a hopeful time for her because it was about God writ small. Much of the time thinking about God can be rather big and perhaps even frightening for us as humans. At Christmas, however, he  shows himself as something small and vulnerable, a human baby; like a tiny version of ourselves. When we see a baby our normal reaction is to want to protect and look after it, to love it and to make sure nothing harms it. Perhaps at Christmas our reaction to that baby reminds us of the best that is in us.

Just as God loves and wants to care for us, he invites that same response in us; he wants us to love him. He invites us to an attitude of love; not just to him but to one another. He invites us to stop breaking and damaging things (from making wars to having family rows) and to take some responsibility for the weak, the powerless and those who cannot care for themselves. In a sense he invites us to be like God; to be better than we would normally be or to “grow into his likeness”.

The "hope" is not in that Christmas routine of racing around; growling at one another because we haven’t bought all the shopping; moaning because can't afford everything; wincing at the noise and complaining at the pressure. The "hope" is in seeing the "word made flesh" in the small vulnerable person of Jesus, who might just spark love in our hearts again.

I hope your Christmas will be full, not just of hope but also contentment and peace.

With love and prayers,

Chris.