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From Dave Tomlinson,Ìýwriter and vicar at large:

ÌýOne of the great privileges of my job is the way it plunges me into what

Dickens called the best of times and the worst of times – seasons of light

and seasons of darkness – both of which in their own way may garner

hope.

Last week I was honoured to lead a short vigil at St Ethelburga’s Centre

for Reconciliation & Peace in the City of London in memory of Jack and

Saskia – the two beautiful people brutally killed in the London Bridge

attack. I define hope as ‘defiant imagination in the face of despair’ –

something both of these people seemed to possess by the truckload and

which will, I am sure, be their legacy to the world.

I also visited a lovely family to arrange the funeral of Cyrille who died

from cancer, aged 33, and gazed at the lovely little shrine to him in the

living room, and felt honoured to be helping these people bid farewell to

him.

Ìý

But I also shared a joyful dinner with Tash and Shree to plan their

interfaith marriage next year which will begin with a Hindu ceremony

followed by me conducting a Christian service – an event that I reckon

magnificently symbolises a hopeful vision for our world where diverse

communities lovingly celebrate our common humanity.

Ìý

Then to crown it all, on Saturday I was delighted to conduct the blessing

of Imani, a gorgeous little girl with two mummies. The name Imani is

derived from the Hebrew word Emmanuel – meaning ‘God with us’, the

message Christian’s celebrate at Christmas with the birth of Jesus.

However, I believe every birth is a Christmas present of hope. And

holding Imani in my arms I ‘defiantly imagined’ that our world will yet

transcend the differences that often painfully divide us to discover a

brilliant new unity within our vast and growing diversity.

Ìý

All this in just a few days of Advent. Yet so appropriate, I think. Because

unlike the commercialised Christmas razzmatazz which often feels like

a season of denial, Advent invites us to pause amid the bustle and

excitement: to look the challenges in our world (in our lives) full in the

face, and then open ourselves to the possibility of a better, more

compassionate, more just and equal world…. and to how that might be

born within us this Christmas.