Letter from Wendy
“Once in royal David’s city…”
The Christmas story is so well known that there could be a danger of it remaining just that; simply a ‘story’. We hear the opening line: ‘once upon a time, a long time ago…’ etc. the story becomes sanitised, secularised, trivialised and commercialised. If heard and interpreted in this way, the greatest mystery of all time, the Incarnation, is totally lost and the birth story remains ‘beyond us’, rather than ‘embraced by and of relevance to us!’
There are only two narratives in the New Testament that describe the events surrounding the birth of Christ. One is contained in the Gospel of Matthew and the other in the Gospel of Luke. It has been customary in Christian tradition to merge these two accounts and to speak of them as one, referring to them as ‘the Christmas story’. I think we have hindered people’s understanding of the greatest mystery of all, the Incarnation, by uniting these passages concerning Christ’s birth. The gospel writers were not concerned with trying to write a biographical record of what took place but wanted to create a document that would encourage acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God. We should therefore attempt to focus upon what is meant rather than trying to reconstruct tableaux suggesting actual physical events.
Whereas Matthew wanted to show that Christ was the fulfilment of Judaism, Luke wants to demonstrate the universal significance of the Christian message, which he sees as being addressed to the whole of humanity. In other words, “Once, for all…”
Then of course, we have probably the best known and loved texts from the Gospel of John. Here we do not have a birth narrative as such. John’s purpose was not to engage in arguments about whether Jesus came from Nazareth or from Bethlehem; His main concern was to show that Jesus came from God, and indeed this is the fundamental theme of the entire Gospel. It is as if he was saying that the question of the historical events surrounding Jesus’ birth is largely irrelevant when set against the much more profound question of his true nature as Son of God. His aim is to probe into the mystery of the relationship between Jesus and God, and to lay bare his personal conviction that it is only through acceptance of Jesus’ true nature that ‘eternal’ life becomes available.
Much of the literature in the Holy Bible is metaphor. And I’m reminded that acceptance or rejection of the Christmas story is as difficult today as it was in the year our Lord was born.
“No Room in the Inn?” It might indeed mean there is no capacity for anyone else in our homes – some houses will this year be filled to bursting with relatives and friends staying over. What it might also question however, is, have we any space in our busy, hectic lives to open the door of our heart to the love of God, and to allow Christ and the family of Christ to enter into the fabric of our daily lives?
May we celebrate Christmas together with fresh insight and new spiritual awakening.
By your word, O Light of this whole universe,
We live, move and have our being.
As you have illuminated the hearts of people at many times in the past, we pray, eternal God, for your awakening within us.
From delusion to truth, and unto your righteous way lead us, source of all, our Father and Mother, from darkness to light and into your gracious will;
Lead us, O Christ, our friend and our brother; from death to eternal life and into your infinite joy; lead us, divine spirit, enlivening power within, for we seek your awakening touch.
Amen
Wendy Gourlay