A Christmas Message from the Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron:

A school child gave me some advice the other day: “You have to go to bed early on Christmas Eve,” he said, “otherwise Santa won’t come.”

I nodded my agreement, but many of my friends DID stay up through the night of December 12, in order to hear the news. Who would form our government and who might have a majority?

My sister-in-law even bought in special tuck to see her through the night.

It all reminded me of the shepherds two thousand years ago. They waited up all night: they too were looking for a new government and hoping for one which would be independent from the Roman Empire.

The answer they got was delivered not by Huw Edwards and his team, but by a cast of angels broadcasting from heaven.

“Glory to God in the highest, and peace to all people on earth.”

The powerful saviour they were hoping for turned out to be a baby constrained by swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

We know the story so well that we lose the sense of how strange it must all have seemed.

The salvation that was offered that night came not in the form of Brexit or a second referendum, but by the promise of God’s love, given totally and unconditionally in this little baby.

That is who Jesus is for a Christian, God giving himself totally into our care, inviting us to love him and to love the world for his sake.

And the birth of Jesus invites us to look beyond the concerns of this world, the tax levels and the economic performance, to the wider transformative power of love.

Neges Nadolig 2019

Fe gefais gyngor gan blentyn ysgol y diwrnod o’r blaen: “Mae’n rhaid iti fynd i’r gwely’n gynnar noson cyn ‘Dolig”, meddai, “neu bydd Siôn Corn ddim yn dod”. Ddeudais i mod i’n cytuno, ond fe arhosodd sawl un o’m ffrindiau yn effro trwy’r nos ar Ragfyr 12fed, er mwyn clywed y newyddion. Pwy fyddai’n ffurfio’r llywodraeth a phwy fyddai’n cael mwyafrif? Wnaeth fy chwaer-yng-nghyfraith hyd yn oed brynu rhyw fwydydd bach ychwanegol i’w chynnal trwy’r oriau mân.

Gwnaeth hynny imi feddwl am y bugeiliaid ddwy fil o flynyddoedd yn ôl. Aros ar eu traed drwy’r nos wnaethon nhw hefyd: roedden nhw’n chwilio a disgwyl am lywodraeth newydd ac yn gobeithio am un a fyddai’n annibynnol o’r Ymerodraeth Rufeinig.

Ac nid ateb gan Huw Edwards a’i dîm gawson nhw, ond gan gôr o angylion yn darlledu o’r nefoedd. “Gogoniant i Dduw yn y nefoedd uchaf, heddwch ar y ddaear islaw, a bendith Duw ar bobl.” Daeth yr achubwr nerthol, yr oedd cymaint o ddisgwyl amdano, ar ffurf babi diamddiffyn wedi’i rwymo mewn dillad magu ac yn gorwedd mewn cafn bwydo anifeiliaid.

Gan mor gyfarwydd ydy’r hanes inni, hawdd ydy anghofio pa mor ryfeddol o od y byddai’r holl beth wedi ymddangos ar y pryd.

Y noson honno, daeth y cynnig am achubiaeth, nid ar ffurf Brexit neu ail refferendwm, ond trwy addewid cariad Duw, yn gyfangwbl a diamod, yn y babi bach hwn. Dyna pwy ydy Iesu i’r Cristion, Duw’n rhoi ei hun yn llwyr i’n gofal ni, gan ein gwahodd i’w garu yntau a charu’r byd er ei fwyn. Ac mae geni Iesu yn ein gwahodd i edrych y tu hwnt i bryderon y byd, y lefelau treth a’r perfformiad economaidd, at y grym trawsnewidiol sydd mewn cariad.