Who believes the Christmas story? Really?

Do you believe all of it, or skip over the bits you are not so sure about?

What is the truth about the birth of Jesus? Was he, is he, the Son of God?

Conspiracy theorists tend to take it as read that nobody is telling the straightforward, whole truth.

They are looking for an agenda, an angle. Why do they want us to believe that?

There are three broad categories:

They may be selling us a line for nefarious purposes;

They may want to draw us away from the real truth; or

They want to control our minds or our attitudes, to keep us in line.

So let’s work this backwards.

If someone believes the story of the nativity, might it be used for wicked purposes? I can’t see how, can you? We have a virgin giving birth to a baby she agreed to carry. We have some shepherds who have all been struck by awe. They’ve done no harm. They’ve gone to see the truth for themselves. And we have some wise men who came from abroad with expensive gifts all by themselves, nobody coerced them into it.

If someone believes the story of the nativity, how might that be a lie to draw us away from the real truth? What then might the real truth be? That Jesus was born somewhere else? To another mother? That he wasn’t born at all? That he was born, but he wasn’t the Son of God so it wasn’t significant? Why make it up as a story then? It wouldn’t make sense to do that. Whether he was born in a stable or a mansion or had visitors would surely make no difference at all to whether we believe him to be born the Son of God.

If someone believes the story of the nativity, how might that fit with the last of three categories, that they want to control our minds and attitudes and lives, to keep us in line?

This category contains many intersecting threads which we might become entangled in, especially when we introduce the corner holders of Religion, Politics, Power, and Gain, and see that there have always been people pulling those strings who may not have been doing so for the good of all, for love of God and for humankind. It was this world which the baby was born in, each of the strings a strand of the straw in the stable. The corrupt human beings of the time oppressed and harassed and ultimately tried to destroy him and his message, but it is still alive. The goodness and love which flows from the baby in the stable has always been a far greater story than those of wicked individuals which may draw our attention away from the truth of the nativity.

A tiny baby is born in a stable. Powerless domestic animals look on. Alongside them are those human beings who, whatever their background, are humble enough to bare their soul and come and see. To draw close. This is real. 

It is the straightforward, whole truth.

Here is Jesus, the Son of God; at the very centre of our lives, of the Church, of the Universe.

Born today!

May the joy and peace of this Holy Day bless you richly.

Amen.

Julie Rubidge, Lay Minister