Bishop of Manchester’s Christmas Message 2025
As we prepare to celebrate the joy of Christmas, Bishop David shares his Christmas message of hope and light in these challenging times.
As we prepare to celebrate the joy of Christmas, Bishop David shares his Christmas message of hope and light in these challenging times. His message reminds us that, just as Christ’s light shone into a dark world over 2,000 years ago, that same light continues to shine today.
Bishop David encourages us to reflect His light and also celebrate the light we see reflected in one another – in acts of kindness, in shared worship, and in the love and service that binds our communities together.
Read the Bishop of Manchester’s message below:
One of my favourite pieces of Christmas art was painted by the 17th century Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn. It shows two women, one of them Mary, gazing at the new-born Jesus, who is lying in His manger. The only source of light in the picture seems to come from the child Himself. It lights up the happy faces bent over Him. But everything else is totally dark. In a single image it encapsulates what St John addresses through words in the marvellous opening passage of His gospel. Here is unquenchable light, clothed in human form, shining out into a world of darkness.
St John wrote his gospel to Christians who lived in dark times, theirs was an age when hostile and brutal powers ruled the earth. When we look at our times, they often do not appear much brighter. Wars rage across the globe. Famine and terror drive many to seek refuge in foreign lands. Human made climate change destroys crops and devastates natural environments. The nations of our globe lie in thrall to a handful of powerful men, just as ruthless as any Roman Caesar. Yet in the midst of that darkness, Christ is, as ever, present, His birth standing as a divine assurance that the darkness will never totally win.
I turn to Rembrandt’s image when things feel especially dark. There I see not only the light emanating from Jesus, but also its reflection in the faces of the women. They, and others who see His light and reflect it, will go on to change the world for ever, and for better. In his name they will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend the sick, educate the children, bring peace to warring states. In short, they will do miracles. And so can we.
My prayer therefore, is that, as we celebrate Christ’s birth, we may both reflect His light and also celebrate the light we see reflected in one another – in acts of kindness, in shared worship, and in the love and service that binds our communities together.
May God bless you richly this Christmastide.
Listen to (and download!) Bishop David’s message: