So here we are, at the end of Advent. “You have reached your destination,” as my GPS would optimistically put it, moments before we actually get there.

There have been detours. There have been slow times, and smooth rides. And here we are.

But Christmas doesn’t celebrate the end of the journey to Bethlehem, the end of the pregnancy announced by the angel; the end to waiting.

Instead, thanks be to God, it is a beginning. The beginning of a new Life. The beginning of a new way of life for Mary and Joseph. The beginning of a new way of life for countless others who do not yet realise it.

Here we are. At the very beginning. Ready to …