A smile on your face – one of my favourite jokes is “What’s the difference between a well-dressed man and a tired dog? “One wears a suit and tie... the other just pants!” Perhaps it’s me but it never fails to put a smile on my face. I hope it puts one on yours as well. It is that hope, putting a smile on a face, which made me finally decide to become a vicar.

“Surely you should have become a comedian instead,” I hear you say. “Get on the stage – the next one out of here!”

However, a comedian is only as good as his or her material and mine would very quickly run out... mainly to get away from me. (You see what I mean!) As a vicar, no, as a Christian, I believe that the author of the lines I hope to deliver to people is the author of life itself, the bringer of joy, hope and love.

The message is simple: God loves you so much that he made himself one of us, climbed onto the stage of life, died a death, but came back for a curtain call, showing us that nothing can squash his desire to deliver a huge amount of joy into our lives... nothing.

As for me, that is better than any joke... and it could be something to put a smile on your face too.

By the Reverend Peter Willox, St John's Church, Ben Rhydding