Christmas

What do you feel about Christmas? We have attached so much to a couple of narratives in Luke and Matthew - shepherds, wise men, stables. Can you believe that the virginal conception of Jesus is anything but a myth written by the church to explain Jesus' sinlessness? Does it matter?

We know little about Jesus' birth which is substantiated from more than one source. We have no episodes in his early life apart from:

Birth in bethlehem
Visited by magi (perhaps age 2)
Teaching in the Temple (age 12)
Announced by John the Baptist and went off peaching (age 30)

Suppse Jesus, aged 30 -33, spoke so clearly (with authority) and acted so wisely, that people couldn't believe he was simply human. Suppose Jesus was everything it means to be human to such an extent that people assumed he must be divine. Suppose he did do some miracles of healing and exorcism? There is more evidence of the miracles than the birth.

I am phrasing this all in the shape of supposition out of respect for theological ancestors who would have been martyred for such blunt outrage.

Have decided to preach this Christmas based on Paul and John, who had no need to say anything about Jesus' birth but still ascribed divinity to him (John 1:1-14; Philippians 2:5-11).

It is a shame that the busy-ness of Christmas gets in the way of thinking. I like the food and the pressies though. Boxing Day is my favourite day of the year, not just because it is the Feast of Stephen but because of the space. I wanted to hack out a bit of space for reflection this week and the result is this. More, maybe later.