God is the God of the Universe. And the Universe is a pretty big place. There seem to be some 100 billion stars in our galaxy, which we see as the Milky Way. And our galaxy is just one of what might be more than 100 billion galaxies. But for all practical purposes, we might as well be alone in this immense Universe, because unless we can come up with something like the warp drive from Star Trek, there is simply no way we can travel to other planets that may be inhabited…
So, here we are, on the third rock out from our rather ordinary star, living organisms with extraordinary potential: marked out quite distinctly from all the other living organisms on this beautiful planet. There are lots of things that only human beings can do on Earth. We appear to be unique in very many ways: we alone have the power to control fire, to make machines, to write things down, to make ethical decisions. It seems entirely consistent to me that these abilities are all special gifts from God; they are a part of us being made in His image.
I believe God chose us, at a real date in history, to be fashioned in His image; he breathed into us His Spirit and gave us the gifts of speech and creativity and mental capacity that mark us out as fully human. Then He watched in sorrow as we chose to disobey Him; we were made to live in loving service of God, free agents choosing to do His will; but instead we have such a strong streak of selfishness that we seem to constantly forget who gave us this thing called free will.
And so, at a certain time and a certain place chosen by God for very strategic reasons I believe God said, “This is it. This is the time when I need to step in to human history and sort out this problem of sin.” The nation of Israel in the time of the Roman Empire were choices of strategic importance for what God had in mind; but He still needed the willing service of two individuals, Mary and Joseph; God never overrules our free will, and had to hand-pick a couple who would go along with His plan.
I wonder if a number of women had to be interviewed by the angels before they found Mary? I can imagine the archangels Michael and Gabriel on the interview tour; perhaps it was a bit like ‘American Idol’, or ‘The Apprentice’?
[Polly] And I always take care to wash behind their ears, I do, I mean, cleanliness is next to Godliness, isn’t it, that’s what I always say. Ooh, you should see my front doorstep, eat your dinner off it, you could…
[Michael] That was HIDEOUS!
[Gabriel] Thank you, Polly, thank you, it’s been lovely to meet you, but we must move on.
[Michael] This is hopeless! Undisciplined, scatter-brained, obsessive-compulsive: what is up with these women?
[Gabriel] OK, don’t get your feathers in a twist, Michael. They are all loved by God, it’s just that some seem to take a bit more effort to love than the others. Now, there’s the next one.
[Michael] Mmm, a bit young, don’t you think?
[Gabriel] Look, it was hard enough getting Zechariah to understand that he would be the father of John the Baptist; so now the next one has to be a relative of his wife Elizabeth, or we are really in trouble.
[Michael] OK, OK, Gabriel; but hey: how about you interview her on your own?
[Gabriel] Well, Michael, you can be a bit, um, war-like… I’ll have a chat with her on my own, and see how she responds…
...Greetings, Mary, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.
So, Mary got the job, and Joseph fell in with the plan, though he needed his own chat with Gabriel to keep him onside. And they went to Bethlehem, and Mary had the baby, and we have celebrated Christmas in memory of that birth for over 2000 years.
And Jesus grew up, and acted precisely as you might expect Him to act, if He were God’s son: reprimanding the church leaders who were more interested in ritual than justice, showing compassion regardless of race, gender or social status, healing those who asked Him for help. Jesus was an extraordinary teacher, displaying wisdom that is compellingly attractive to millions of people today who would not call themselves Christians.
But accepting Jesus as an inspired teacher and role model is not enough. God had a plan for reconciling His people, humankind, to Himself, once and for all; which meant He had to deal with the power of sin that had tainted the human race. By giving us free will, God had established the possibility that we would choose to disobey; but we seem wilfully oblivious to the eternal consequence of disobedience. The wages of sin is death; but by offering up His own perfect life in payment for sin, God offers us the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation.
So Christmas leads to Easter. Neither was meant to be about Santa or the Easter Bunny or meaningless gift-giving. Both Christmas and Easter are actually about love: the love God has for us, His children; the love He expects to see us sharing with one another; the loving service He created us for, setting to rights the harm that keeps happening as a result of our natural selfishness. To be fully human was summed up very simply by the prophet Micah: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” May this Christmas be an opportunity to share love with your family and friends, and to reflect on being human, and loving God.
Christmas 2010
So, here we are, on the third rock out from our rather ordinary star, living organisms with extraordinary potential: marked out quite distinctly from all the other living organisms on this beautiful planet. There are lots of things that only human beings can do on Earth. We appear to be unique in very many ways: we alone have the power to control fire, to make machines, to write things down, to make ethical decisions. It seems entirely consistent to me that these abilities are all special gifts from God; they are a part of us being made in His image.
I believe God chose us, at a real date in history, to be fashioned in His image; he breathed into us His Spirit and gave us the gifts of speech and creativity and mental capacity that mark us out as fully human. Then He watched in sorrow as we chose to disobey Him; we were made to live in loving service of God, free agents choosing to do His will; but instead we have such a strong streak of selfishness that we seem to constantly forget who gave us this thing called free will.
And so, at a certain time and a certain place chosen by God for very strategic reasons I believe God said, “This is it. This is the time when I need to step in to human history and sort out this problem of sin.” The nation of Israel in the time of the Roman Empire were choices of strategic importance for what God had in mind; but He still needed the willing service of two individuals, Mary and Joseph; God never overrules our free will, and had to hand-pick a couple who would go along with His plan.
I wonder if a number of women had to be interviewed by the angels before they found Mary? I can imagine the archangels Michael and Gabriel on the interview tour; perhaps it was a bit like ‘American Idol’, or ‘The Apprentice’?
[Polly] And I always take care to wash behind their ears, I do, I mean, cleanliness is next to Godliness, isn’t it, that’s what I always say. Ooh, you should see my front doorstep, eat your dinner off it, you could…
[Michael] That was HIDEOUS!
[Gabriel] Thank you, Polly, thank you, it’s been lovely to meet you, but we must move on.
[Michael] This is hopeless! Undisciplined, scatter-brained, obsessive-compulsive: what is up with these women?
[Gabriel] OK, don’t get your feathers in a twist, Michael. They are all loved by God, it’s just that some seem to take a bit more effort to love than the others. Now, there’s the next one.
[Michael] Mmm, a bit young, don’t you think?
[Gabriel] Look, it was hard enough getting Zechariah to understand that he would be the father of John the Baptist; so now the next one has to be a relative of his wife Elizabeth, or we are really in trouble.
[Michael] OK, OK, Gabriel; but hey: how about you interview her on your own?
[Gabriel] Well, Michael, you can be a bit, um, war-like… I’ll have a chat with her on my own, and see how she responds…
...Greetings, Mary, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.
So, Mary got the job, and Joseph fell in with the plan, though he needed his own chat with Gabriel to keep him onside. And they went to Bethlehem, and Mary had the baby, and we have celebrated Christmas in memory of that birth for over 2000 years.
And Jesus grew up, and acted precisely as you might expect Him to act, if He were God’s son: reprimanding the church leaders who were more interested in ritual than justice, showing compassion regardless of race, gender or social status, healing those who asked Him for help. Jesus was an extraordinary teacher, displaying wisdom that is compellingly attractive to millions of people today who would not call themselves Christians.
But accepting Jesus as an inspired teacher and role model is not enough. God had a plan for reconciling His people, humankind, to Himself, once and for all; which meant He had to deal with the power of sin that had tainted the human race. By giving us free will, God had established the possibility that we would choose to disobey; but we seem wilfully oblivious to the eternal consequence of disobedience. The wages of sin is death; but by offering up His own perfect life in payment for sin, God offers us the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation.
So Christmas leads to Easter. Neither was meant to be about Santa or the Easter Bunny or meaningless gift-giving. Both Christmas and Easter are actually about love: the love God has for us, His children; the love He expects to see us sharing with one another; the loving service He created us for, setting to rights the harm that keeps happening as a result of our natural selfishness. To be fully human was summed up very simply by the prophet Micah: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” May this Christmas be an opportunity to share love with your family and friends, and to reflect on being human, and loving God.
Christmas 2010