THE Bishop of St Asaph, Rt Revd Gregory Cameron, has delivered his Christmas message.

Bishop Gregory recalls: "A school child gave me some advice the other day - You have to go to bed early on Christmas Eve, otherwise Santa won’t come.

"I nodded my agreement, but many of my friends did stay up through the night of December 12, in order to hear the news. Who would form our government and who might have a majority? My sister-in-law even bought in special tuck to see her through the night.

"It all reminded me of the shepherds two thousand years ago. They waited up all night: they too were looking for a new government and hoping for one which would be independent from the Roman Empire.

"The answer they got was delivered not by Huw Edwards and his team, but by a cast of angels broadcasting from heaven. Glory to God in the highest, and peace to all people on earth.

"The powerful saviour they were hoping for turned out to be a baby constrained by swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

"We know the story so well that we lose the sense of how strange it must all have seemed.

"The salvation that was offered that night came not in the form of Brexit or a second referendum, but by the promise of God’s love, given totally and unconditionally in this little baby.

"That is who Jesus is for a Christian, God giving himself totally into our care, inviting us to love him and to love the world for his sake. And the birth of Jesus invites us to look beyond the concerns of this world, the tax levels and the economic performance, to the wider transformative power of love."