20 December 2011, 1:34
Other news

Our homepage, here it is… the first thing you see when you arrive at this site. It needs to be attention-grabbing, bright and shiny, quirky even. Certainly noticeable, and not at all shy.

It is, it must be said, rather a demanding remit at Christmas time – when everything is bright, shiny, lit-up and covered in glitter.

So rather than compete and fail, our homepage is going to reflect something of the first Christmas. That is, the one that, on the whole, people did not notice. The one that passed most of the world by. The one the sneaked in, as the carol says, how silently, how silently…

The poet UA Fanthorpe writes a wonderful reflection on it.

BC–AD

This was the moment when Before
Turned into After, and the future’s
Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.
This was the moment when nothing
Happened. Only dull peace
Sprawled boringly over the earth.
This was the moment when even energetic Romans
Could find nothing better to do
Than counting heads in remote provinces.
And this was the moment
When a few farm workers and three
Members of an obscure Persian sect
Walked haphazard by starlight straight
Into the kingdom of heaven.

This is what we are celebrating, and what we are remembering. So welcome to our site, and we hope you find something that interests you, catches your attention, perhaps moves you. We don’t want to overwhelm, we don’t want to hit you over the head, we don’t want to dazzle you or shout at you.

At the heart of what we believe about Christmas is that God is with us in a baby, gently, surprisingly, invitingly – and not covered in glitter.

This Christmas, we pray, God be with you, in the way that God chooses.

Photo by Mr. T in DC