Isaiah 9:1-7. Today is born our Saviour, Christ the Lord – Psalm 95(96):1-3, 11-13. Titus 2:11-14. Luke 2:1-14.

Look, your Saviour comes

Whether the day will be a quiet one, or full of busyness, attend to the simplicity of this story. Only in recognising the simplicity may we glimpse something of the majesty and mystery. We are consoled by the birth of this child, a child whose dominion is ‘a peace that has no end’. God communicates God’s-self in this child. Beautiful and vulnerable, as any newborn.Born into mess and complication. Born into a community with broken relationships. Born, too, into a web of loving relationships. In the Gospel for the Midnight Mass, the birth of this child is situated in the historical moment of Caesar, of his governor, of the political players of the day. This child is situated in a family history, in David’s House. Finally, he is situated with those who will raise him, Mary, and Joseph. Jesus is their child, wrapped in swaddling cloth, and loved.