Jesus’s birth that we celebrate again and again tells a story of deep hope and wisdom for everyone
CHRISTMAS seemed to arrive even earlier than usual this year.
A work colleague posted a photo of Newcastle shopping centre’s “How many sleeps to Christmas” clock — in November.
The countdown was well and truly under way and we had barely retired the pumpkins and fireworks from the previous seasonal events.
There is a house near where we live that has had a Christmas tree up all year.
Yet it is also true that Christmas Day seems crowded out by lots of other “key days”.
I even saw hot cross buns on sale in a supermarket the other week.
Or a lobster
And while I find myself struggling to remember where I put the tree lights, perhaps more than ever we are all “longing for light” — to quote from one of my favourite Christian songs.
One of the best aspects of this time of year for me is a good Nativity play, as they always bring back wonderful memories.
I must have been five years old when I played the part of a junior angel in a local church performance.
I longed to be a senior angel because they got to wear large cardboard wings that had become a bit dented over time due to not quite fitting neatly through doorways.
The senior angels also got to speak and had a bright light shining around them.
Their job was to announce good news to the shepherds and tell them to go and see the baby that had been born.
Meanwhile, we junior angels were the supporting act, but we only had a white sheet to wear and some tinsel plonked on our head.
After a few years, though, I did get my wings, and I remember very clearly just how excited I was to play a greater part in the story.
Looking back on this now, I realise that in the Christmas story there are many participants, and each and every one of them is important.
Drumbeat of life
These days, mind you, it might be a superhero character or a lobster who plays an important role in the tale.
But regardless of which part a child plays, what the story is really all about is what we should remember.
A birth is the simple answer — though one with a difference, I might add.
God’s time invites a different rhythm where the drumbeat of life is slow and steady, only to quicken at the birth of a child who literally changed, and continues to change, the course of history.
Jesus’s birth, that we celebrate again and again, tells a story of deep hope and wisdom for everyone.
More than that, it serves as a reminder that the baby in a manger brought God right into the midst of our lives and we are changed and challenged because of it.
But Jesus’s birth did not and does not remove pain and challenge.
God’s becoming one of us does mean that God goes before us and works in and through us when we experience the very best and the very worst of times.
That is the good news of Christmas and it is both urgent and for all time.