CHRISTMAS, OUR DESTINY DAY

Well done St Mirren on your League Cup win.

- By Rev Tom Cant

You have given us the best Christmas present ever. You have made us all very proud of Paisley.Now, down to business. I really enjoy the days immediately before Christmas Day. The hours preceding Christmas can be so calm and serene. There is something earnest and expectant about Christmas Eve.

That atmosphere of hope and waiting is recaptured in the lovely hymn, ‘O come, O come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

Again, we are moved by the simple yet profound words, ‘Still the night, holy the night, sleeps the world hid from sight: Why does the world wait and for what does the human family seek? It waits for its destiny because Christmas and the birth of Jesus is the world’s ‘Day of Destiny’

When we seriously understand Christmas, we realise that it is more than simply one day in the year. The dimensions of Christmas are universal.

Christmas reaches the sublime height of hope, ambition and inspiration. Christmas penetrates the profound depth of human feeling and compassion.

Christmas measures the breadth and width of God's embracing tenderness and power.