December’s the month of ends, and beginnings: the old year’s about to be left behind, a new one awaits. Christmas itself is of course a celebration of the arrival of a new life – a particularly special one for many, but then all new life’s nothing short of miraculous. Pause for thought. But where did it come from? What happened before? And where if anywhere does it go to? The story told by Bede which responds to these questions is well-known. We hear that an unknown seventh century nobleman related it to king Edwin of Northumbria, when he was considering whether to convert to Christianity. Illustrating the brevity and transience of life with a before and after existence, it seems to have convinced Edwin of the validity of the new religion. For me however, the description of the bird’s flight through the brightly lit and noisy hall from darkness, silence and solitude into the same at the far end, the effect is equally powerful, though different. But this is no...