Royal Carols 2024: The Dean of Westminster's reflection

The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, gives a reflection during Royal Carols: Together at Christmas, a special service at Westminster Abbey earlier this month. You can watch the full service on ITVX: www.itv.com/

'What does Christmas look like? The pictures in our heads are Christmas trees and crowded rooms, food, smiling faces. Is that what Christmas looks like? Ask the question again, ask it here and now. What does Christmas look like? The answer is that Christmas looks a lot like love. It's exactly what the poet Christina Rosetti told us. 'Love came down at Christmas'. Christmas is the love of God lying in a manager. In a letter given out in the Abbey tonight, and to guests at 15 community carol services around the UK, Her Royal Highness describes love as the greatest gift we can receive. Love sustains us when times are hard. Love is light in the darkness. Christmas looks like love.'