Along a boardwalk on the Atlantic Ocean on a cold, sleety day, everything in shades of grey. The rain would briefly change to snow and then back while the wind penetrated your coat making you feel colder than the temperature. There were only a couple of people about and they looked even more miserable than I felt. Hope of a bright sunny day seemed far away much like the world into which Jesus was thrust. While life then had moments of joy and human beings have always adapted in difficult circumstances - it was not a hopeful time. Life was rather short, often harsh & brutal, certainly more unpredictable and uncertain than today even with our own disruptions. Survival was difficult. But on an otherwise ordinary day the extraordinary occurs and God becomes one of us, yet distinct, unmarred by sin. And the world will always be different. There is hope. And while our circumstances are vastly different than 2000 years ago the essential needs we have are precisely the same and met in the same person of Jesus. Merry Christmas, indeed.