31 December 2025: The end of the first quarter of this century. My mind, despite its best endeavours, drifts toward New Year resolutions. This was first to come to mind: I’m wondering, seriously, if I might give up opinions for new year. They are the source of so much bother. But how to achieve that, realistically? Conscious effort seems the only option in the short term, perhaps leading to a change in disposition. Or a first step may be to stick with opinions but not to express them. That may be more achievable in the short term. (I am reminded of the advice that before saying anything one might ask ‘does this need to be said? Does it need to be said now? Does it need to be said by me?).

Over decades, as priest, preacher and human journeyman, I did my best to un-inoculate others about Christmas. I wanted us to discard all the cultural and sentimental colouration that obscure its meaning. I largely failed. I wasn't skilled enough. As I see it, the Incarnation was, remains, an apocalyptic event. It contradicts and disrupts the "powers and principalities" of the world.

William Stringfellow described the Incarnation as the "ultimate act of God’s invasion into history". The birth of Jesus was not a peaceful addition to human history but a decisive confrontation where God "invades" a world dominated by the power of death. 'Death' here being not just our final demise but the multitudinous ways in which our humanity is daily deconstructed by our aggression, lovelessness, exploitation, institutions (including the family), politics, economies and systems.