'Maybe this Christmas period could be a truly happy Christmas' - festive message from the Bishop of Berwick

The Bible tells us that Mary laid her baby in a manger because there was no room at the inn – so many Christmas Carols remind us of the story of Jesus being born in a stable that we seldom stop to think more deeply about it.

We usually view a stable as a poor choice for the birth of a baby, the last resort of a not very hospitable inn keeper. But I wonder if that might be our 21st Century view of a stable as not very hygienic and certainly not very hospitable!

But what if the innkeeper was being incredibly hospitable, and the stable or animal shed was more like a one room house where everyone, animals and people alike, lived and slept in the ordinary home of a simpler and poorer time. What if rather than a last resort, the innkeeper was offering Jesus a place to stay with the rest of his family?

We hear too many stories of a world that isn’t welcoming to people, doesn’t tolerate difference, isn’t hospitable to those in need. Yet what if our Christmas story was one of a new baby, the Saviour of the world, welcomed into the warmth of a family, animals and all?

What if Christmas is truly a story of God’s welcome and hospitable love for all – where we each find a welcome and in turn offer that welcome to others? Then maybe this Christmas period could be a truly happy Christmas.