Dear friends,

We are entering the darkest months of the year. The days are short – so short that many people go to work in the dark and come home in the dark and feel like they never see the sun at all. What day time there is will often feel cold and rather bleak. The leaves have fallen, nothing is growing and so often all there is to see are cold grey clouds and birds fluffed up in the trees. The summer is long gone and the next spring seems so far away.
No wonder that in these darkest months of the year, societies have often created reasons for celebrations and optimism. The Romans, for example, had a winter solstice celebration called Saturnalia which lasted for a week and included a school holiday and the making and giving of small presents.

Many people think that the existence of this festival (and others like it) was the reason that the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ (the precise date of which is unknown) was fixed by the early church to this time of year. It is certainly rather appropriate; at the darkest time of the year we celebrate the coming into the world of the Light that cannot be extinguished or dimmed.

Christmas celebrates the Incarnation – God coming to dwell with us on earth, sharing our joys and our woes. In that incarnation, the Light of Christ comes to shine in the midst of our darkness. As the Light shines, it dispels the fears that we carry and brings new hope. The Light shows us that we don't have to put up with the darkness of failure, disillusion and despair. It shows us that it is possible to live afresh in a different, more joyful and more loving way.

This year has seen a lot of gloom and despondency in the world around us. Christmas offers us a chance to realise that there are also great reasons to be hopeful and optimistic.

Best wishes

David Chillman