Same old, same old ... kills off any celebration. We need to constantly evolve as circumstances change. Christmas should radicalise us! Not in some daft self-righteous sense, but because it reminds us of our roots. Jesus Christ was born under a bureaucratic lockdown when everyone had to register in the place where they were born.
This will be my last Christmas with you, and I have celebrated many under wildly different circumstances: tragic funerals either side, festive weddings, baptisms at the Springhead with Salvation Army leading carols, personal traffic of one sort or another. And every time the story of the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe giving our little planet his message of love has been mind-blowing and heart-warming.
We may well have to be physically distanced from each other, but it's vital we remain socially close. God didn't maintain superior physical distance, but became intimate in the Christ child. May we accept such wonder into our hearts and minds.
A very happy, peaceful, and fun Christmas for all of us.
