Charles Seymour, the sixth Duke of Somerset lived at the turn of the eighteenth century.

He was a snob and so he would not talk to his servants, only communicating with them by sign language.

He also had a number of houses built along the route from his country estate to London, so that whenever he travelled he would not have to mingle with what he thought were the lower classes.

How different is God's approach to life.

That's the power of the life of Jesus — seen ministering to the sick and the physically challenged — seen reaching out the disadvantaged of his day, like women and children.

People can be snobs, but not God. God's love will not allow God to be at a distance.

At Christmas we celebrate God's coming into our world.

One of the skits in an episode of "Sesame Street" gets close to the heart of the Christmas event. It's the old fairy tale where the beautiful princess kisses an ugly frog and the frog becomes a handsome prince.

In Sesame Street however, the princess kisses the frog — and she turns into a frog herself!

That is closer to what we celebrate at Christmas.

God did not swoop down and survey the human situation from a safe distance. The Good News is that God becomes one of us.

Who would believe that, nearly 2,000 years after an obscure Galilean peasant gained some local notoriety as a wandering preacher, and was executed by the Romans, there would not be a single country in the world where he was not worshipped. Fantastic, isn't it?

We can go nowhere in the world and not discover a group of people who profess faith in Jesus.

In countries rich and poor, large and small, with repressive or democratic governments, the church which Christ has gathered into one body, and of which he is the head, is there.

People talk of globalisation. Undoubtedly there is the global effect of this Galilean peasant whose birth we celebrate.

In the midst of all the busyness of Christmas, may we take the time to reflect on its core message and be renewed by its central character.

God bless you and your family and friends.

On behalf of Christ Church Warwick, I take this opportunity to wish the people of Bermuda a Happy Christmas.