Thank God for seasons of celebration and partying. For good food and drink; for friends and family; for gifts and cards – in short, for all the things that make this coming month the “most wonderful time of the year”.

Even this year – in a time of economic pain and difficulty – there’s nothing to stop us celebrating. Oh, the style and the scale may be a little different – but joy and gladness have never depended on economic strength.

Jesus was born into poverty. His first home was a shed. His first bed, a feeding trough. And yet his presence brought out the singing angels, the exultant shepherds and the worshipping eastern visitors. His presence is the best present of all, and the cause of the greatest celebrations ever.

The joyful celebrations in so much of our community mask the isolation and loneliness of others. For people, like the lady in this month’s Outlook poem, this month is tough – but it need not be so! If only the celebrating families could look for the lonely, the isolated and the “trapped” in our community, and share even a little of the love that is in us, we could transform lives – both theirs and ours. The celebrations would then truly become a Happy Christmas.

David Ainge