Christmas Eve

I dreamed it was Christmas Eve,

and while waiting for a green light I noticed the manger scene on the church lawn.

It's all so overwhelming, this Christmas business, I thought.

The shopping and singing and partying and gift-wrapping and Santa Claus and Jesus.

I feel wonderful then guilty then joyful then confused.

God help me, I thought.

And the light changed, and the baby in the manger smiled.

Joe Hickman

photo: This is a Church of England poster that is being shown on a thousand bus stops across the UK. It shows Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus, with halos, in a bus shelter. The shepherds and wise men are replaced by bus passengers with some gazing at the nativity while others are checking the timetable and flagging down a bus. The artist, Andrew Gadd had this to say, "The bus stop when simplified is like a stable. It is after all a shelter - a place people go to but never want to be.

So where better to stage a nativity?"

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