A Christmas message from Vicar of Halifax Hilary Barber

Around the world we continue to see the loss of life in pointless military aggression and women and children being oppressed by mainly male regimes in different parts of the world.

More people than ever before are trying to migrate away from fear and persecution, and from the effects of the climate emergency.

Here in our own land the cost of living continues to affect the most vulnerable, with energy prices, food, petrol, mortgages, continuing to affect daily living, and peoples mental health badly damaged, and the institutions we once looked for support, left with nothing but bare bones after years of austerity.

Some three thousand years ago there were floods, famines, insurrection, and people constantly on the move, seeking a better life and prosperity.

It was this broken world that God chose to come amongst us in the form of a vulnerable human being, to experience what it was like to be human, with its moments of joy and sorrow, of wonder and of pain.

When God came to earth he came to bring good news to all who had ears to listen, and to offer a new way of living, which was Jesus centred.

This provided a moral framework for those who became his followers, lifting their lives out of the current misery they lived in, with the promise of a new life, sustained by the community of faith and spiritual food for the journey.

This is the invitation from God to each one of us on Christmas morning.

Happy Christmas to you all!