How should we respond to all this? We can lament and wring our hands in despair - or we can trust in God's love for us. We can be good neighbours and welcome the stranger. We can turn to those with whom we disagree and recognise them as friends. The season of Christmas is one of hope in which we celebrate the rescue plan God has put into operation in the birth of Jesus. This is not a forlorn, 'pie in the sky' hope: God so loved the world and the people he created that he sent Jesus to rescue us from all fear and certainty. In the birth of Jesus we have received the 'Light of the World': the Bible tells us that this Light shines even in the darkest of times and the darkness cannot overcome it.