“The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” John 1:14

In the proclamation that the birth of Jesus is for us a new beginning, we are at one as Christians. We may celebrate it on different days, and as Western Churches we welcome now among us in this city both Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches who celebrate this same Good News a little later on. But it is the one Gospel we proclaim of God’s startling and unique entry into the world in Jesus, and I pray that we may do this more and more together.

Yes, we welcome opportunities to make this proclamation in worship – but we also must seek ways of expressing that love of God for the whole of life so clearly shown in the Word made flesh. Can this be shown in the way we will celebrate Christmas in just a few days’ time?

Can we make a new beginning possible for other people in any way? New beginnings are seldom a question of merely throwing money at problems or at people, though a real new beginning may involve some real giving too. There are so many human situations where a new beginning is simply being longed for. Think of those in families who have fallen out – and somebody must make the first move. Can it be you? Think of those who have lost direction, can they be given another chance by you, by me? Think of those who have offended against society, perhaps coming out of prison at Christmas – are we going to give them another chance? Are all the re-offenders in our society a symptom of a society that hardly knows what a new beginning is about?

These may be only examples – but what they are about is that in Jesus, God took the first step, he entered the world in the most vulnerable way – He made a new beginning for us. Making a new beginning possible for anybody is to make oneself very vulnerable.