Christmas Message from the Bishop of Oxford

A radio station told us earlier this year that a child laughs on average four hundred times a day and an adult only fifteen. I do hope many adults will laugh a bit more at Christmas, and in particular laugh at the wonderful enigma of a God who comes as a human being.

But don’t we need him! The world is hard pressed. Wars in the Middle East, terrible violence in Africa, relative and abject poverty in many countries, and climate change stalking us all.

If ever we needed good news it’s now. The extraordinary ordinariness of the birth of Jesus is a light shining from the past and illuminating the future. It persuades millions of people that their lives are significant and they don’t enter the future alone.

That’s worth at least a smile this Christmas. And the determination of each one of us to make a difference to a struggling world this untouched new year.

+John Pritchard