CHRISTMAS is a very special time of the year because it allows us to bring the year to a close, look back on the year that is past and prepare for the year that is ahead.

This Christmas is like no other and it is good to look at its heart because it is here that we will find what we need in order to recover from the past, relax in the present and prepare for the future.

When we bring the holly into the house with its red berries, the prickles remind us of the Crown of Thorns that was put on the brow of Jesus at the Crucifixion. The scarlet berries remind us of his blood that was shed for us.

John Betjeman writes about the heart of Christmas: “No love that in a family dwells. No carolling in frosty air. Nor all the steeple shaking bells can with this truth compare. That God was Man in Palestine and lives today in bread and wine.”

I wrote, in a sermon, in 2009, that ‘the Copenhegan Summit has failed to address the urgent problems facing this beautiful world.’

How much more true is that today.

Christmas means that God cares for this world. In a way, he emptied himself and became involved in the everyday life of the people.

Jesus was not born in a humble stable for nothing. He was not greeted by the outcast Shepherds for nothing.

Christmas reminds us that God, through Jesus Christ, loves us, cares for the creation and longs to be involved in the ordinary day to day life of people - their joys, their sorrows, their fears and their hopes.

The great Welsh hymn writer, William Williams, Pantycelyn writes:

Dyma Geidwad i’r colledig

Meddyg i’r gwyweddig rai

Dyma un sy’n caru maddau

I droseddwyr mawr eu bai

Diolch iddo

Byth am gofio llwch y llawr.

A rough translation is:

Saviour of the lost is Jesus

Healer of the wounded heart

He is the one who loves to pardon

and His grace to all impart.

Ever praise Him

for He thought of us in love.

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Hymns:

Of the Father’s love begotten

Ere the worlds began to be,

he is Alpha and Omega,

he the source, the ending he,

of the things that are, that have been,

and that future years shall see,

evermore and evermore

O that birth for ever blessèd,

when the Virgin, full of grace,

by the Holy Ghost conceiving,

bare the Saviour of our race,

and the babe, the world’s Redeemer,

first revealed his sacred face,

evermore and evermore. (Prudentius. 348-c 413. Trans. J.M.Neale (1818-66)

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Y bore hwn, drwy buraf hedd,

Gwir sain gorfoledd sydd

Ymhlith bugeiliaid isel-fri,

Cyn torri gwawr y dydd

I Fethlehem Jwda, dyma’r dydd,

Daeth Newydd da o’r nef,

Duw ymddangosodd yn y cnawd,

Ein Brawd yn wir yw ef. (John Thomas, 1742-1818)

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Prayers:

Loving Word of God,

You have shown the fulness of your glory

in taking human flesh.

Fill us, in our bodily life,

with your grace and truth;

That our pleasure may be boundless

and our integrity complete,

in your name. Amen. (Janet Morley)

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O Air cariadus Duw,

Dangosaist i ni lawnder dy ogoniant

Wrth wisgo ein cnawd dynol ni.

Llanw ein bywyd cnawdol ni

Â’th ras a’th wirionedd

Fel y bydd ein profiad o lawenydd y cnawd

Yn gyflawn a glân

Yn dy enw di. Amen. (addasiad gan Enid Morgan)

Rev John Powell

Retired vicar of Cardigan