Religious and humanist leaders across Dorset deliver their Christmas messages. 

The Right Reverend Tim Dakin, Bishop of Winchester

At the centre of the Christmas story is a baby: Jesus, utterly dependent, lying in a borrowed manger.

My own children are now young adults, but the arrival of a new life in a family is something most of us have experienced as parents or as wider family, and it’s not quickly forgotten. It is a moment of having and hoping: a new life, held in our hands, and the hope of all that is to come. What sort of a life will this little one live? What sort of a world will they inhabit as they grow older?

Jesus is the gift God wants us to have. It’s the miracle of God giving himself to us; in a sense, inviting us to hold him in our hands and to discover the joy that living with him brings. And in the having, we are led to hoping: what are God’s plans for this world? What does it mean that Jesus has redeemed us and is reconciling the whole world to himself? What could a God-orientated world be like?

But the hope of the baby in the arms of Mary quickly turns to a story of fear and violence. Matthew tells us that Mary, Joseph and their young baby ran for their lives to Egypt shortly after Jesus’s birth. Like many refugees today, the Holy Family were left far from their own community, dependent on others and unable to return to their own home.

It was with this story in mind that I launched the Diocese of Winchester’s dual appeal to support refugees from Syria and victims of flooding in Myanmar earlier this year.

How could we, as the people of God in this Diocese, be hope and good news in those situations of fear and darkness? I’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of people across Hampshire and East Dorset, who have so far given nearly £9,000 to the appeal.

This money is going to support the work of Refugee Action, one of the UK’s leading refugee resettlement charities, which is helping to support refugees who have arrived in the UK by offering them safe places to stay, warm clothing and hot meals.

These donations are also supporting the work of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund (ARDF) in its work to support victims of flooding in Myanmar. Although it has received less media attention than the Syrian crisis, many people in Myanmar have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been affected by devastating floods and landslides which have engulfed homes and cut off vast parts of the country.

Many people have lost all their possessions and been forced into camps as their homes remain under water.

As you prepare to celebrate Christmas this year, please consider giving one extra gift, something to bring hope in a dark place. You can donate online at justgiving.com/teams/winchesterdioceseappeal.

Thank you for your generosity. I wish you all a truly happy Christmas and New Year.

Canon John Turpin, Mayor of Bournemouth's Chaplain

When Jesus was born the angel brought the shepherds a message of "good news to all people: today a Saviour who is Christ (God's anointed) and Lord has been born."  

Like every baby, Jesus grew up, and the good news is made plain in his life, works and teaching:  healing, hope, forgiveness and love to all - especially those who are on the margins of society.  This remains a priority of the Christian message today.  

The angels also sang of "peace on earth..."  but peace cannot be imposed by violence: it can come only when our hearts are warmed.  

In this violent world where we long for peace may each one of us be moved so to love, so to forgive, that peace can spread, little by little from each one of us - and that will make a huge difference.

May we know true peace in the coming year. God bless you all.

The Reverend Christopher Colledge of St Ambrose Church

One often hears the complaint that Christmas seems to get earlier each year. I believe there is justifiable reason for this in that the world we now live seems to operate at a faster pace than ever and is a fragile place to be, especially mindful of the recent atrocities in Paris.

People look to Christmas as a time to anticipate hope, peace, love and kindness to one another.

Whether it be a Christmas party of cheer, singing carols in the beauty and tranquillity of a candlelit church, the exchanging of presents, or just time to relax and enjoy the company of family and friends, let it be one of ‘Quality Time’ and a truly joyful and blessed Christmas for all.

David Warden, chairman of Dorset Humanists

Humanists do not celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas but we do recognise the human importance of mid-winter festivities.

In the depths of winter, it’s good to cheer ourselves up with traditional decorations and good food and to reconnect with families and friends. It’s also a good time to practise kindness and charity.

Dorset Humanists has raised thousands of pounds in previous years for homelessness charities and for Refuge – the charity for women and children fleeing domestic abuse.

This year we are raising money again for New Forest NightStop and also for Mosaic, a Dorset-based charity which helps to support bereaved children.

Extracts from a sermon by the Rev Ian Terry, Bournemouth’s town centre rector:

Today, as we celebrate birth – Jesus’ birth, and the births of Tyler and Troy – Christians in the middle-east are, more than usually, at risk of death.

Therefore, although we shall welcome these new Christians with joy, at the same time, we dare not be glib about what it is, throughout the world, to be a follower of Jesus. 

More than 250,000 people have died in Syria's nearly five-year civil war. The streets are most dangerous after 3pm – that is, unless it’s a Friday, when few Syrian Christians dare to step outside their homes at all.  Hundreds of Christian residents have watched their lives – and their freedoms – slip away before their eyes. 

It is part of our faith for us to yearn for justice and hope in our society.   It is part of our faith for us to be people of hope, and to offer hope to others.  Without that we are a people lost.  T

he Christian, therefore, has a duty (it’s as strong as that!) to be optimistic.  If the contrary prevails, we face a future not only of uncertainty, but the certainty of a life of emptiness…

Thomas McGrath writes:

“How could I have come so far?

And always on such dark trails?

I must have travelled by the light

Shining from the faces of those I have loved.” 

May it be so for us.