Vicar at Chesterfield's Crooked Spire church sends Christmas message to town

The Revd Patrick Coleman, of Saint Mary & All Saints’ Church, also called on people to give thanks to those who are working over Christmas.

He said: “It hasn’t been the most peaceful of years and as the recriminations following the General Election continue there isn’t much sign of peace and contentment in many people’s lives.

“Christmas, however, is for winners and losers alike, for left and right alike (and for those in between!), for the healthy and the sick alike, for the comfortable and the homeless, exploited, trafficked all alike.

“God’s peace, we are told, passes all human understanding.

“That means that the peace and reconciliation of Christ is for all, and especially those who don’t appear or feel peaceful or reconciled.

“Let’s give thanks, then, for those who are working in this town to bring some cheer to the cheerless.

“Those providing Christmas dinners for others; those providing a warm bed for the night.

Those who work on to care for the sick in hospital and at home; those who keep the emergency services running - and where we can help or support, let’s make a real Christmas together, where human dignity is affirmed and people once more learn to lay the foundations of peace and justice, and a common, decent life together!”