THE Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam has highlighted three things central to Christianity which point society towards what it is to be human and to life.

He listed the points whilst preaching at the Christmas morning Sung Eucharist in Salisbury Cathedral.

Having previously discussed the Christmas stories, the Bishop of Salisbury reminded those in attendance that Christmas came as a child.

He said: "There’s nothing more compelling than a baby, or a Syrian child washed up on a Mediterranean beach. When violence and chaotic disorder threaten to overwhelm us, it’s worth holding on to what lasts forever - life, truth, light and love."

The Bishop of Salisbury said at the heart of the Gospel is a call to forgiveness and grace which gives new life.

He said: "Actually it’s pretty much what we say is the Christmas spirit and it comes in many and various ways. It can be dressed up as a jolly Father Christmas or Saint Nicholas giving presents to everyone regardless of whether we deserve them; or it can be the sacrificial self-giving of taking a towel and washing the feet of the poor.

"But forgiveness is also in our own self- interest to ‘Do unto others as we would have them do unto us.’ The only people we hurt by not forgiving is ourselves. The way of forgiveness is a good way of living, in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ and the wisdom of all the world’s religions.

"And, thirdly, in a world that struggles with religious belief, our hope is in the Word made flesh, in ‘God in ordinary’. In the Christmas stories we find ourselves anew in this fragile, vulnerable, beautiful ordinary extraordinary creation in which we live in relation to God and one another.

“As a child, through forgiveness, we find ourselves anew in the love of God. I think I can pin my hopes on that so I also hope you have a very Happy Christmas.”

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