CHRISTMAS is a time when we get in touch. It may be that you finally hear from Aunty Maud, or you get a card from a “Graham”, whose identity remains mysterious and there’s nothing more than a signature on the card. It’s a time to send greetings to one another.

Christians believe that God is trying to get in touch with us this Christmas.

If you go to Church, you’ll know that Jesus is deluged with titles: “Good Shepherd, Saviour, Son of Man”. One of these titles, however, is particularly associated with Christmas, where in John’s Gospel we read that Jesus is “the Word of God”: he is, in fact, God sending a message to us.

And what is the message that God is trying to get through to us? God’s word to us, spoken in Jesus, is that God desires us to find abundant life. He wants that so much for us that he was prepared to enter this world, to be born as a human being, and seek us out for himself.

I don’t know what messages you’re hoping to hear this Christmas, whether you’re hoping for a loved one to write or call in, whether you need reassurance, comfort or hope. But my faith tells me that God has sent a message of love and hope for you in Jesus, and it is my prayer that it is a message whose truth will give you new blessing at this time.

Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron