The old Christmas favourites always put a song in Hucknall priest's heart

Yes, Christmas songs are everywhere.

Some people groan as soon as they hear them.

But I rather like them, especially the ones that bring back happy memories.

‘Last Christmas’ by Wham is one of my favourite seasonal songs.

It has a happy melody, driven by a series of chords played on a keyboard, with the spine-tingling sound of sleigh bells in the background and sang with George Michael’s flawless voice.

But it also has a sense of sadness which is tinged with hope.

He is looking back to a miserable Christmas when the person he was in love with spurned his affections and threw them back into his face.

But George won’t give up and looks forward to knowing love again in the future as he sing ‘last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away, this year, to save me from tears, I’ll give it to someone special’.

Christmas certainly has its ups and downs.

Many of us will approach the season with a sense of sadness.

But, like Wham’s classic song, it can be tinged with hope.

Whilst this pandemic may change the way we celebrate Christmas this year the message at the core of it remains the same: Jesus, came into this world to give God’s heart to us.

As a Christian I take comfort and hope from these words in Matthew’s gospel about

the birth of Jesus: ‘The Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, a virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel’ which means ‘God is

with us’.

Whether I am in lockdown or free to travel, whether I am bursting with

happiness or weighed down with sorrow one thing never changes for me – God’s

Son came into this world, entered into it’s suffering and offers true hope to all of us.

That was true last Christmas and those which are to come.

I wish you a happy and hopeful Christmas and a peaceful new year.

Rev Simon Robinson is priest at Watnall Road Baptist Church in Hucknall.

For details of services at the church, visit the website at https://www.wrbc.co.uk/.