THE Right Reverend Dr Guli Franics-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford has written a message for the Christmas season.

“I wonder when it is that the Christmas season becomes real for you? For many people, music plays a key part in that process, perhaps when we first hear or sing a favourite Christmas Carol, or when we hear Christmas songs playing while we’re out doing our shopping, or listening to the radio. One such song which particularly resonates for me during Advent and in the preparations towards Christmas is ‘Driving home for Christmas’

• the old favourite by Chris Rea. Perhaps part of its lasting appeal, and why it still tugs on my heart strings all these years later is that it draws so strongly on our positive associations of ‘home’
• the longings that each one of us has, for warmth and security, whether that’s
  based in actual bricks and mortar, in a specific location or on something less physical, maybe
  relationships with family and friends or memories of people and places.
  
• In the Christian faith, the notion of home is frequently used to communicate the idea of being with God, and to knowing that presence as a place of comfort, security and peace, regardless of what may be going on in our lives or the world around us. At Christmas we remember the astonishing fact that, in the birth of Jesus Christ, God came to dwell with us, to make his home among us. The events of the first Christmas are rooted in a particular time and place but God’s presence abides still and the invitation to draw near remains for each one of us.
  
• And so in the midst of our Christmas preparations, however you are experiencing them and however you’re feeling, I pray that you will know the truth of this reality for yourself – that this invitation is extended to you. That God invites you home this Christmas, to discover afresh how the birth of Jesus brings light and life into our present reality, and with it deep hope for all that lies ahead.
• I wish you a happy and blessed Christmas