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From the Reverend Richard Coles:

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The week before Christmas, and it’s all carol services and Nativities, most traditional of things; but, even so, surprises await. At ours, a few years ago, the Three Kings, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, were joined by Darth Vader, who lay at the baby Jesus’ crib the gift of his light sabre.

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Christians have always been early adopters of new technology, if not usually for armed combat. The church has been a pioneer of communications technology for as long as it has been around: it replaced the scroll with the book, making the Bible easily portable, and out it went into the world and changed it. Printing put the Bible into the hands of the people in their own language, and changed it again. Radio communications brought another revolution, and in 1922 the Â鶹Éç broadcast the first Pause for Thought, a tradition it continues to this day. And even now, with congregations dwindling faster than the X Factor audience, and with more people reading horoscopes than Bibles, people around the world will tune into that most traditional of celebrations, Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College Cambridge, celebrating its centenary this year. It’s an annual event so settled the Â鶹Éç dropped microphones through holes in its magnificent 16th century fan vault to wire it permanently for sound. And out into millions of homes, from Adelaide to Anchorage, the message of the angel is heard again: that in the manger, this tiny baby is not only the power that set the stars spinning in space, but the love that kindles light in darkness, and gives hope when all seems lost, and makes everything that’s gone wrong right.

The angel is Gabriel, sacred to Jews and Muslims and Bahai's as well as Christians. He’s also the patron saint of broadcasters, and all of us Pause for Thought contributors, Chris, want to thank you for playing your part in sharing our stories: and we’ve brought you gifts of cutting edge technology - books - as an expression of thanks, with every blessing now and for evermore.

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