Christmas is a season of hope in the middle of winter.

They say the date was set in late December to give the Christians something to do whilst others were celebrating solstice. Maybe so, but it also brings light in the dark days, the proverbial crocus in the winter snows – a sign that waiting is not for nothing. Our expectation is well-placed, our hope a powerful act of faith.

We gather as people of hope and expectation. We gather as people of faith.

Let’s pray: God of promise and love, you showed what you can do when you raised a child to be a bearer of your kind of peace. A child of refugees driven out of their country by political danger, he never lost sight of your promise, your possibility. Grant us today that kind of persistence, and let us be such a community of hope, bearing your peace to a world starved for a new way, welcoming strangers – who may be your chosen ones in our own time. Receive our worship, O God; receive our love. Amen.