A Christmas Message from Very Revd Chris Dalliston, Dean of Peterborough: "Let’s make it a truly Happy Christmas for everybody!"

Most of the news we hear, read or “doom scroll” is pretty troubling. But two thousand years ago, on a hillside near Bethlehem, the message of the angel to the shepherds was simple: “I bring you good news of great joy”

It was news of the birth a baby – always exciting, but this baby was extra-special; one whose life would change the way people saw the world – and the way they saw the God who people believed had sent him. God was no longer an outsider – in this child Jesus, he would connect with the world in a new way. This great story, which we’ll be retelling in the Cathedral in these coming days, still has power to change attitudes and help us see the world differently. What if we worked for peace, forgave those who hurt us, reach out to those in need, offered a meal to the hungry. Mightn’t the world be a better and safer and more joyful place? And mightn’t we feel safer, better, happier in ourselves? It’s surely worth a try! Let’s make it a truly Happy Christmas for everybody!”