At Christmas we often go to great lengths to try to make everything perfect. Exactly the right present for auntie Flo, new lights on our houses just a bit better than the family down the street, special little extras at our Christmas dinner to make it better than last year’s, a perfectly shaped Christmas tree……

Advent means “a coming” and, of course, we celebrate the coming of Jesus into our world. But it was not only Jesus who came. Mary and Joseph travelled from Nazareth, the shepherds came in from the surrounding country, and the Wise Men journeyed from goodness knows where! Later, when Jesus preached and healed they came…