'Let's fight through all the mess of Covid to find God this Christmas'

There is an air of uncertainty and concern as well as unease at the impact of Omicron and Plan B. If we are honest, I think we are all struggling to work out what is best and right.

What has got us through the last 20 months is our focusing on supporting one another and respecting the different views and feelings. The strong sense of community spirit and the generosity of response by so many volunteers has been something we can be proud of in our city.

As we all grow increasingly weary and confused by the twists and turns it gets more difficult to give this and I hope we can all look out for each other and find ways to support each other over the coming days.

The churches of our city are preparing to celebrate and discover the presence of God in the reality of our lives and world.

The Christmas story is, behind all the gloss we have added over the centuries, a messy and tough story of the birth of a child in challenging circumstances.

But those who focus on that baby discover something wonderful and peaceful in the midst of the chaos and mess.

Perhaps we can each this Christmas seek to discover where God is in this current mess and how we can share that peace and wonder with those around us.

Perhaps we need to focus on what we can do – and do it well – rather than become distracted and frustrated at what we cannot do, or by those who seem to be making the situation worse.

Let us seek to do all we can in our care of each other, in our welcome of the stranger etc so that we may continue to be a city and communities of which we can be proud in the midst of the uncertainty of the world.