I WAS on my bike behind a car at traffic lights in Wilton last week.

I noticed a very amusing flier on the car’s rear window which almost made me fall off my bike with uncontrolled laughter. It said, “Heaven won’t have me, Hell is afraid I will take over”. I am sure I fit into the bit about hell. I like to think and believe that heaven is more forgiving!

As well as providing a good laugh, the flier reflects the deep cynicism with all things religious and institutionalised that is deeply rooted in today’s society. Life is about what you can get out of it, seems to be the message that we are daily besieged with.

So the Christmas adverts on television currently are about drinking eating and indulging yourself until the cows come home – eat, drink and be merry! Never mind that after the Christmas holiday we will have to face the same issues that we hid under the carpet in the run up to Christmas.

The problem we all have to face is how to escape the Christmas rush, the urge to overspend on presents and celebrations. How can we, if we want to, be protected from Christmas hysteria? Perhaps we have to approach this coming festival in the season of Advent another way. Instead of assuming that Christmas is about what we can get out of the joyful celebrations, we can approach this highly popular mid-winter festival from a different angle.

The question then becomes “What can I put into Christmas that makes life better for my family and the wider world of which I am a part?”

That immediately opens up many opportunities.

I can celebrate joyfully with family and friends. I can act believing that peace and goodwill to all people lasts beyond the Christmas holiday, which, by the way, does not end on Boxing Day.

Singing carols will always be a very important part of Christmas. Salisbury Cathedral’s ever popular Advent service From Darkness to Light is a timely reminder that doom and gloom don’t have the final say but hope and the realising of your dreams do. (And I don’t mean winning the lottery!) Christmas is not about being in denial of issues that shape our lives. It is about discovering that love and goodwill to all is catching and certainly worth experiencing and giving for the rest of the year.