�鶹��

Available for over a year

Any collection of sporting quotations would have to include Kenneth Wolstenholme’s comment from the 1966 World Cup. As England’s Geoff Hurst completed his hat-trick against West Germany, just before the whistle went, Wolstenholme said: “They think it’s all over. It is now!” And now this latest World Cup is over, with Argentina lifting the trophy last night, after another hat-trick, this time from France, and a penalty shoot-out. And yet, in many ways, the World Cup isn’t over. Qatar is under the spotlight as never before. Some players will find themselves being bid for by rival clubs because they played so well. The England team, after licking its wounds following quarter-final defeat, will have to regroup. Fans might have an even bigger appetite for the game, or maybe some will feel they’ve had enough footie for a while. By this time next week, Christmas Day will be over. Despite all the build-up – the present buying, card-sending, the cooking, the efforts to see relatives despite train strikes, the family gatherings and family bust-ups – it will no doubt seem gone in a flash. Perhaps some will be glad it’s over for another year: in the past I’ve seen Christmas trees discarded as early as Boxing Day. But for the Christian churches, Christmas will be far from over on December 26. The weeks of preparation are Advent, while Christmas is a season, often called Christmastide, that stretches through the last days of December, through January and right up to February 2. Other feasts are marked along the way: the visit of the kings to the stable in Bethlehem on January 6, the flight of Jesus and his parents to escape from Herod’s men hunting them down, and other moments told about Jesus’ childhood. There are other ways in which Christmas lingers. It offers a message to the world – a message of glad tidings, to use the old phrase, a belief that goodwill to others is possible and vital, that you find what is most important in the most unexpected places, such as a stable in Bethlehem. And that those who have nothing – the shepherds – matter as much as the rich kings. There is reassurance too. Many who were overwhelmed by what happened in Bethlehem, had visions where they were urged amid their anxiety: do not be afraid. In Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, he said that Mary, in her reaction to the birth of her child, was “pondering these things in her heart”. Perhaps amid the rush and frenzy of the run-up to Christmas and indeed of life, finding time to ponder what it is all about, is the most important message of all.