(Matthew 12: 21)

The year is 2021; it is a grim world in which a quarter of a century has passed since Omega, the year the world discovered that women were no longer becoming pregnant. Subsequently, the world’s elderly have died, the middle-aged have become elderly, and the young have matured into adults – but not a single child has been born.  Scientists have struggled fruitlessly to understand the phenomenon and to develop new ways to extend and improve life. Such is the premise of The Children of Men by P. D. James.

In the novel, it is made clear that hope depends on future generations. James writes, “It was reasonable to struggle, to suffer, perhaps even to die, for a more just, a more compassionate society, but not in a world with no future where, all too soon, the very words ‘justice,’ ‘compassion,’ ‘society,’ ‘struggle,’ ‘evil,’ would be unheard echoes on an empty air.”

The story centers on the plight of Kee, a young woman who against all odds falls pregnant. Various parties would want to control Kee and her baby for their political ends and so she entrusts herself and her child to Theo, a history professor, who endeavours to take them to a place of refuge. Soon after the birth of Kee’s child the trio are caught up in a battle between insurgents and soldiers. The baby gives out a cry and the fighting stops as the belligerents gaze in wonder at the newborn child. Kee’s baby has brought hope for a future, a meaning to life and peace.

The Christmas symbolism is clear. Jesus Christ was born into a world that was expectant and hopeful that God would do something great. His promise of a Messiah who would deliver Israel from oppression and bring salvation to the world gripped the imaginations of those who believed God’s promises. Christ’s birth was therefore welcomed by the faithful as evidence that God had not given up on humankind, that despite it’s sin the world could hope for the best of futures where the very words ‘justice,’ ‘compassion,’ ‘forgiveness’, ‘mercy’, ‘grace’, ‘holiness’, ‘glory’ would be recited as Christ’s Kingdom was built. Simeon who gazed on the Christ Child expressed the delight and wonder of a waiting world. ^‘For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”(Luke 2: 30-31)

We too should gaze with delight and wonder on the Christ Child but if Christmas is to mean anything at all it must be regarded as much more than the birth of a baby boy. It commemorates the incarnation of God, His becoming a human being, one of us. In his Son, Jesus Christ, God left the glory of heaven for the squalor of a borrowed stable and an earthly existence that would acquaint him with sorrow and grief. ^‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only [Son], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14).

As a child in the care of Joseph and his mother Mary, Jesus found refuge in Egypt. However at the end of his life Jesus forsook all refuge and willingly surrendered his life to death on the cross and thereby lovingly paid the penalty for the world’s sin. His resurrection broke the power of sin and death and won the eternal refuge of heaven for everyone. Christmas has brought among us the one who claims to fulfill the messianic prophecy, ‘In his name the nations will put their hope’ (Matthew 12: 21). Our world is no longer the grim place it once was. Christ has brought us hope for a future, a meaning to life and peace.

O come let us adore him.

Happy Christmas!

(Jude 3)

On the morning of my wedding an uncle who had been married a good number of years gave me some advice. ‘She’s always right. Even when she’s wrong, she’s right’. He wanted me to realize that to enjoy a quiet life as a husband I should always surrender the argument to my wife. Sound advice? On occasions when little is at stake it may be best not to risk division by pressing home an argument. But even within marriage there will be times when the issue under discussion is so serious that searching for the best outcome through gracious argument has to be the responsible course. Some times contending for the truth is necessary. Truth matters.

Jesus Christ certainly thought so. He presented himself as the truth: ‘“I am the way and the truth and the life.’ (John 14: 6) and He was a contender for the truth about himself as the Son of God, the world’s Saviour and Judge. Christ’s enemies understood this better than most. They once tried to entrap him and although they were unsuccessful their flattering approach contained more than a grain of truth: ‘You teach the way of God according to the truth. You are not swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are’ (Matthew 22: 16). Jesus spoke the truth about himself even to those who were skeptical and hostile, and he was undeterred by the prospect of disagreement: ‘Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division’ (Luke 12: 51).

Christ’s claim to be the bringer of division and not ‘peace on earth’ may seem to challenge his right to be the prophet Isaiah’s ‘Prince of Peace’ whereas the opposite is true. Had he withheld the truth about himself for fear of alienating skeptics no one would have heard his Good News, believed in him and gained peace with God: ‘Therefore since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 5:1).

Christ understood the importance of contending for the truth and he expects his followers to be equally committed even if it results in disagreement within families: ‘From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three’ (Luke 12: 53). Jesus does not set out to deliberately create division between people; on the contrary division is always regrettable and sad. Nevertheless, if those who are ignorant of God’s love are to come to know him the truth about Christ must be explained to them, and if those who claim to be Christian and yet hold fast to heresy are to be challenged and enlightened the truth about Christ must be contended for. There is always a risk of disagreement and division but the Bible clearly sets out the Christian’s responsibility: ‘Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints’ (Jude 3).

Jude’s exhortation is less than popular with those who insist it does not matter what you believe as long as you live well and love all. Such people should consider the mind of Christ.  He who calls himself ‘the truth’ does not share such a lack of doctrinal concern. It is plain that Christ loves the truth, speaks the truth, he is the truth. How then can his followers be so indifferent to it? There is always room for debate on peripheral matters but the central Christian truths cannot be compromised. We must, as Rupert Meldenius famously wrote, ‘…preserve unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials and charity in all things.’ Problems arise among Christians when we make concessions on clearly revealed scriptural truths which should never be surrendered yet insist on secondary matters which are neither revealed nor required by God. E.g. Christians may agree to disagree on the bodily resurrection of Christ and at the same time divide over whether or not clergy should robe to lead worship.

What are the essential truths that Christians must never fail to contend for? They are the Truth about Christ, and the Truth about Holiness. The irreducible minimum of Christian belief is that Jesus of Nazareth is the unique God-man who died for our sins and was raised from death to be the Saviour of the world. Christians believe and act on these truths by submitting to Christ as Lord and trusting him as Saviour. Just as Christianity exalts Christ so it promotes holiness. The truth about Christ and the truth about holiness are essential truths that cannot be sacrificed and should always be contended for even at the expense of disagreement and division. We have to accept that ‘they may not always be right and when they’re wrong, they’re wrong’.  Truth matters.

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing

some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Hebrews 13: 2

South Africa failed to win the football World Cup tournament, which it recently hosted. Spain accomplished that feat. However the host nation did win the hearts of those countries whose supporters visited in their hundreds and thousands to savour its hospitality. Apart from the vuvuzelas, the irritatingly monotone blow horns beloved of the home supporters which made it impossible for the more vocally inclined visiting fans to sing their polished repertoire of chants and songs, few people had anything but praise for their hosts. Praise which echoes that expressed by many others, including me.

On my visit to South Africa in 1992 I was the recipient of generous hospitality from many people. I particularly remember an occasion when I attended worship in the Anglican Church in Rini Township. The era of apartheid had only just ended and the fruits of that segregationist legislation were still apparent. Rini was a black township and the church’s congregation was black and very poor. The service was extraordinary in its vitality, passion and warmth and the singing was heavenly. Afterwards, the small number of visitors, all of whom were white and relatively wealthy, were invited to stay for lunch. We thought it impolite not to accept the invitation and expected to share in a simple communal meal. However, we were sat at a table by ourselves and served sumptuous fare by smiling waiters. This little church obviously believed that nothing was too good for their guests. It was a humbling if somewhat embarrassing experience. If ever I received a lesson in Christian hospitality it was then. Perhaps they believed they were entertaining angels.

The biblical demand for hospitality is clear in both Old and New Testaments. The people of God are strangers and sojourners whom God has welcomed into the “household of faith.” In turn, God’s people are to “make room” for the stranger, not only in the community of faith but also in their own personal households. This is the biblical meaning of hospitality —making room for the stranger, especially those in most acute need.

For the people of ancient Israel, understanding themselves as strangers and sojourners with responsibility to care for vulnerable strangers was part of what it meant to be the people of God. As a nomad in the ancient Near East, Abraham knew the sacred rule of hospitality. It was more stringently kept than many written laws. There were many dangers, and travellers were at risk. The rule of hospitality was that a guest would be treated with respect and honour. Water would be provided for foot washing and a large feast prepared. The traveller enjoyed protection from all enemies for three days, as the host provided sanctuary. (The Lord)… loves the foreigners residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:18-19)

Jesus, who was dependent on the hospitality of others during much of his earthly journey, also served as the gracious host in his words and in his actions. Those who turned to him found welcome and rest and the promise of welcome into the Kingdom.

The practise of hospitality was also common in the Early Church; indeed it was fundamental to its fellowship, ministry and mission. The believers’ relationships were strengthened and social boundaries shattered as they shared meals together in one another’s homes. The poor were fed and the spread of the Gospel was resourced as Christians hosted itinerant evangelists. The value of hospitality was not lost on the Apostles: ‘Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling’ (1Peter 4:9).

Hospitality should not therefore be seen as a nice extra. It is not optional, nor is it a rare spiritual gift; instead, it is a normative biblical practice, a spiritual obligation and a dynamic expression of vibrant Christianity.  Jesus expects us to practise hospitality, for whenever we welcome and care for the stranger and the broken we welcome him as our guest: “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew. 25:40).

The practice of hospitality is good for the Christian soul. We lose something of the distinctive nature of Christian discipleship when we neglect it. Some of the most rewarding occasions for us as a church family have been when we have eaten together, having catered for ourselves either through bringing-and-sharing food or enjoying the talents of our catering team. This should encourage us to eat together communally more often as well as inviting each other, those whom we know well and not so well, and newcomers into our homes.

All Christians are called to be hospitable because hospitality is ministry and it is absolutely essential to the health and vitality of Christian community. We should practice it readily; after all we might find ourselves showing hospitality to angels without knowing it.

For by the sacrificial death of Christ we are set free,

our sins are forgiven.

Ephesians 1: 7

Wickersley Parish Church’s patron saint, a man called Alban, is believed to have been a Romano-British citizen of the Roman town of Verulamium around the end of the 3rd century, who gave shelter to an itinerant Christian priest, later called Amphibalus. Alban was impressed by his guest’s message and after a time he received Jesus Christ as his Saviour. Soon afterwards a period of persecution, instigated by the Emperor, brought soldiers in search of the priest whereupon Alban exchanged clothes with him so as to enable the priest’s escape. Believing Alban to be the priest the soldiers arrested him instead.

At his trial, with his true identity revealed, Alban was urged to prove his rejection of Christ by making offerings to the Roman gods. He refused and defiantly declared his faith in “the true and living God who created all things”. He was condemned to death, led out of the city, across the river and up a hillside, where he was beheaded.

The martyrdom of Christians did not begin and end with the Roman era. Christians have suffered for Christ in every generation since. Most Christian martyrs lost their lives in the 20^th Century and conditions are not improving for many Christians across the world.

On Wednesday morning, 18 April 2007 in Zirva, Eastern Turkey, three Christian men, Tilman Geske, a German missionary, Necati Aydin, a Turkish pastor, and Ugur Yuksel, met to study the Bible. On the other side of town ten young men all under 20 years old put into place final arrangements for their ultimate act of faith, living out their love for Allah and hatred of infidels who they believed undermined Islam. The Christians attending the Bible study had met these Muslim men previously and believed them to be ‘seekers’; they readily welcomed five of the group when they turned up at the Bible study. However, their guests had not come to learn about the Christian faith but to kill the infidels. Equipped with guns, bread knives, ropes and towels they tortured the Christians for almost three hours before murdering them in a most grotesque way.

It is right that we should be shocked by this account of martyrdom, but we should not be surprised because Christ warned that such things would happen. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first…. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the hour is coming when those who kill you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.” (John 15: 18, 16: 2-3)

Christians who live in the UK read such accounts with a mixture of horror and relief that we enjoy the freedom to practice and proclaim our faith. No one is likely to arrest us or try to kill us for believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and were we to experience opposition from individuals or officialdom we may well consider it unseemly to complain when our fellow Christians are suffering such terrible persecution. That said, it would be unwise of us to ignore the change in the climate of tolerance towards Christians in the UK.

Recent months have witnessed what can only be described as the escalation of human rights abuses against British Christians. The arrest of a Christian street preacher in Cumbria shows how serious the situation is becoming. Dale McAlpine, when questioned by a woman, read from the Bible a list of sins, which included homosexual behaviour. Melanie Phillips, writing in the Daily Mail, graphically describes the event:

‘Terrifying as this may seem, the attempt to stamp out Christianity in Britain appears to be gathering pace. Dale McAlpine was preaching to shoppers in Workington, Cumbria, that homosexuality is a sin when he found himself carted off by the police, locked up in a cell for seven hours and charged with using abusive or insulting words or behaviour. It appears that two police community support officers — at least one of whom was gay — claimed he had caused distress to themselves and members of the public. Under our anti-discrimination laws, such distress is not to be permitted. And so we have the oppressive and sinister situation where a gentle, unaggressive Christian is arrested and charged simply for preaching Christian principles. It would appear that Christianity, the normative faith of this country on which its morality, values and civilisation are based, is effectively being turned into a crime.’

Given the politically correct consensus between our new government’s coalition partners the next decade is likely to bring more arrests of law-abiding Christians. This dire forecast begs the question ‘How should Christians respond to this increasingly oppressive secularising culture?’ We could complain but our complaints are likely to fall on deaf ears.  Not many of the 70% of Britons who ticked ‘Christian’ on their census forms are likely to take to the streets over the dismantling of the last vestiges of Christian Britain.

Our second option is to compromise with the prevailing culture. It would guarantee us less hassle but we could no longer, with any integrity, claim to be truly Christian.  A third option is to challenge the prevailing culture through word and deed. The message of the Gospel is freedom from oppression and sin but also freedom of conscience, thought, speech, and practice (little wonder tyrants wish to silence it). By proclaiming Christ and living out our creed with neighbourly love we serve as salt and light to our nation and emulate the many Christian men and women who countered tyranny with love as they defiantly declared their faith in “the true and living God who created all things”. Their example points us to the example of the Lord they loved and served. Jesus Christ, who defied tyranny, died in gentleness of spirit, and gave his life for the world.

So then, God is to blame. Or is he? The Bible teaches that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and ‘he saw that it was good’ (Genesis 1:1). He then created humankind who instead of delighting in creation chose to rebel against its creator. As punishment for their sin Adam and Eve were ejected from God’s presence and condemned to live in a world which due to their sin was now less than hospitable, ‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life’ (Genesis 3: 19). God willed that his good creation should be placed ‘into decay’ until it shared in the ‘glorious freedom of the children of God’ at the end of time (Romans 8: 18-22). Human sin has had cosmic consequences, because of sin our planet is broken, disordered and dangerous.

So what if the Earth is corrupted by sin? Why didn’t a powerful and loving God intervene to stop this disaster as he might have stopped others? I have no answer to this question, and I defy anyone else to give a satisfactory answer. It is a mystery. However despite the horror of the disaster, its vast scale, and the numerous individual tragedies, including the s of infants, which have caused faith to be questioned, I am not inclined to abandon my faith in a faithful and loving God, who knows what it is like to suffer and who shares in our suffering.

On Boxing Day 2004, when the strains of Christmas carols could still be heard, ‘All is calm, all is bright’, a tsunami struck SE Asia. We sang songs of a lovely baby as the wave tore babies from their parents arms and brought to thousands. Nathan Nettleton, preaching in the aftermath said, ‘What of our Christmas gospel now. Can we stand in the mud of Banda Aceh or ett or Galle and speak of the one who is called Emmanuel, God with us? Or would it sound ? But that’s the challenge isn‘t it? Because if the Christmas gospel has nothing meaningful to say in Tamil Nadu, or the Maldives, or Meuloboh then it doesn‘t really have anything meaningful to say at all. Any theology that can’t be preached in the presence of parents grieving over their slaughtered children isn’t worth preaching anywhere else either.’

The Christmas gospel declares ‘the Word became flesh’. God became a human being and exposed himself to the vagaries of our sinful world. Herod sought to tear the Christ child from the arms of his mother and destroy him but he failed. Pilate however succeeded and the Christ of the manger became the crucified Christ. ‘The Crucified God’. The Word who had become flesh became hunted, despised, and buried flesh. Christ’s glorious resurrection does not make him a God who is immune from suffering. He is not looking on as an impassive observer far removed from the suffering world. He became one of us, he suffered in all the ways we suffer. The Bible teacher John Stott has written, ‘I could not believe in God were it not for the cross’. God does not just know about suffering – he has suffered himself, for the sins of the world, out of love for us, and he suffers still, as we suffer. He remains ‘a man of sorrows acquainted with grief’.

What then can we say to our world in the wake of yet another natural disaster? Our message need not change. In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, Vincent Nicholls, the then Catholic Bishop of Birmingham wrote, ‘Disasters do not wipe out faith anymore than they wipe out love. is the ultimate disaster which comes to us all eventually. But no matter how it comes, whether it is early in life, in hood or after a long decline – whether it comes in such a collapse or such a calamity as a tsunami – it has no power to rob us of our God-given grace, our destiny to be with God for eternity’. God may not have intervened to protect the victims of the Haitian earthquake, but he as already intervened to save humankind from a much greater disaster, an eternity apart from Him. God has won a glorious destiny for us because he took on flesh, suffered, died, and rose again! This is a gospel that can be preached in the presence of parents grieving over their slaughtered children, and it can therefore be preached anywhere.

___________________________

So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion

and his praise in Jerusalem

Psalm 102: 21

The making of New Year’s resolutions can have a positive effect on our lives. However, I suspect for most of us they are more a source of despair as we fail to keep them. I came across a series of resolutions made by someone who was ‘keen’ to be a frequent worshipper at their local church.

2006: I will go to church every Sunday.
2007: I will go to church as often as possible.
2008: I will attend the Christmas Carol service.

2009: I will try to watch Songs of Praise.

It is understandable that as we fail to keep resolutions our future resolutions are likely to be less demanding. That is unless our situation becomes desperate and will only get better if we are resolute, motivated, and uncompromising.

It is the opinion of a good many Christians in America that their situation is desperate. The moral decline of their nation has accelerated markedly under their new president. The sanctity of life, the married family, and religious freedom are being gravely undermined by a totalitarian agenda dressed up as choice, diversity and equality. In the face of this moral challenge Christians of all denominations have united to make the Manhattan Declaration. They say:

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:

1.the sanctity of human life
2.the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3.the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defence, and to commit ourselves to honouring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (www.manhattandeclaration.org)

And the list of religious leaders who support this declaration is quite possibly the most formidable ecumenical gathering in US history, consisting, as it does, of eminences, graces, archbishops, bishops, reverends, professors, doctors, pastors, presidents, CEOs, deans, directors, founders, editors, not to mention a ‘TV Host’.

The US is not the only theatre for the culture war. Writing in the Telegraph, Gerald Warner highlights its international dimension:  ‘In a world where a Swedish pastor has been jailed for preaching that sodomy is sinful (similar prosecutions have taken place in Canada), the European Court of Human Rights has tried to ban crucifixes in Italian classrooms, Brazil has passed totalitarian legislation imposing heavy prison sentences for criticism of homosexual lifestyles, Amnesty International is championing abortion, David Cameron has voted for the enforced closure of Catholic adoption agencies, and Gordon Brown’s government has just been defeated in its fourth attempt to abolish the Waddington Clause guaranteeing free speech – this robust defiance (the Manhattan Declaration) is more than timely.’

Perhaps we could take a leaf out of the American Church’s book and make a similar stand for truth, righteousness and justice by endorsing the sentiments of the Manhattan Declaration. It concludes:

Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo­-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-­life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.

So, as true followers of Jesus Christ, let’s emulate the spirit of the Manhattan Declaration with a New Year’s resolution. Not one about meeting for worship frequently, although we should, nor a promise to watch Songs of Praise, which should always be optional, but to fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and under no circumstances to render to Caesar what is God’s.

Happy New Year!

‘The virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and

they will call him Emmanuel‘ – which means God with us‘.

Matthew 1: 23

Helen Roseveare is a doctor who has become a legend in her own lifetime. She served as a Christain medical missionary in the Congo 1953 – 1973, practising medicine and training others in medical work. She identified completely with the people among whom she lived and served, choosing not to abondon them through the hostile and dangerous period of political instability of the early 1960s. In 1964 she was taken prisoner by rebel forces and for five months endured beatings and rapings. Her situation was desperate.  Eventually Helen’s captors brought her before a people’s court confident that she would be found guilty of ‘crimes against the people’ and executed. To the astonishment of the rebels the people, when asked what should be Helen’s fate, courageously demanded that she be set free, insisting that Mama Luka was one of them.

On her release Helen returned to Britain but in 1966, as if to underline that she was indeed ‘one of them’, she went back to the Congo to assist in the rebuilding of the nation. She helped establish a new medical school and hospital (the other hospitals that she built were destroyed) and served there until she left in 1973.

It is impossible to imagine the terror Helen would have experienced at the hands of her captors. She must have questioned the wisdom of obeying God’s call and leaving the comfort and security of Britain for a primitive and dangerous life in the Congo. She may even have resigned herself to being killed, if not by a beating then certainly by execution.

‘And where was God throughout all this?’ we may well ask. Helen has given us the answer. He was right at her side, feeling every blow, every bruise, every broken bone. God wept Helen’s tears, and lived every minute of her loneliness, and lay at her side in the depths of despair. God knows what it is like to feel forsaken, for He became one of us.

If Christmas is to mean anything at all it must be regarded as much more than the birth of a baby boy. It commemorates the incarnation of God, His becoming a human being, one of us. In his Son, Jesus Christ, God left the glory of heaven for the squalor of a borrowed stable and an earthly existence that would acquaint him with sorrow and grief. ^‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only [Son], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14).

At the end of his life Jesus was taken prisoner, beaten and brought before a people’s court which his enemies had subverted and which condemned him to death by crucifixion. He chose not to escape his death and so lovingly paid the penalty for the world’s sin. His resurrection broke the chains of sin and death and won eternal life for everyone. He has set the captives free because, as St Paul declared ‘…through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death’ (Romans 8: 2).

Christmas has brought among us the one who says, ‘He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners’ (Luke 4: 18). Freedom is made possible because, with the birth of the Christ Child,  God became one of us!

Emmanuel. God is with us.

Happy Christmas!