FESTIVE cheer needs to be translated into positive action to make the world a better place in 2002, the Bishop of Blackburn said.

In his Christmas Day sermon at Blackburn Cathedral, the Rt Rev Alan Chesters urged people to build bridges to overcome the evil of separation.

And he claimed events in 2001, including the disaster in New York, renewed fighting in Israel and events in Afghanistan, made the Christmas story more relevant than ever.

He said: "Jesus' birth takes us to the refugee camps on the Pakistan border, and to those homeless in our own land, to that poverty and frustration which lay behind the civil disturbances in Burnley last summer.

"Mary and Joseph seem little short of refugees. Poverty was the background to Jesus' birth.

"The later suffering of innocent children under two years of age reminds us of those innocent victims, many of them very young, being killed day after day in the latest struggle between Israeli and Palestine in the very place where our saviour was born. It reminds us, too, of those struck down by terrorists in New York in September, an event which has brought fear and uncertainty to millions of people. "It is in the shadow of the clouds brought by those horrendous events that we once more celebrate the glory of God 'beheld' in Bethlehem's manger."

He said Church of England leaders were leading the way by creating closer links with Methodist leaders.

He told the congregation attending the annual Christmas Day Eucharist: "The opportunities for sharing love are endless.

"How will we people of goodwill and Christmas cheer translate that into action in the coming year?

"In 2002 such opportunities arise in the Church of England as we discuss closer relationships with the Methodists, and with those of other faiths as together we build closer bridges to tackle the evil of separation.

"They arise with government and local government and other agencies who look to the churches to help them build communities, not least through our schools, and of course on this family festival with those we see and meet every day."