Lord Jesus on this Holy night may we hear your Word speak in our hearts, enlighten us with the light of your love and fill us with your peace and joy. In the name…

It all begins with an angel, and ends with a baby.

An angel who comes with an astounding message that is both a blessing from God and at the same time, deeply troubling to Mary –

We can recognize something of this from our own experience perhaps –  a letter, or email, or text message – which arrives weighted with significance, and you know that once you open it, nothing will ever be the same again. A job offer maybe, or invitation to do something that you know will be challenging, will ask everything of you and more, which you know it would be easier if you said no to, and yet it’s as if your saying yes is somehow written in the stars…….

Despite all that it will mean, the change of life, of circumstances, the impact on you and all those around you – you know you will say yes – and so set in train a sequence of events that are beyond your control..

Its exhilarating, thrilling, terrifying – you are offering up yourself, your life and you can’t see clearly what the consequences will be.

The angel’s words to Mary turn everything about her life, her hopes and dreams and plans, and those of her family and of course of Joseph, upside down and inside out.

The first thing though that the angel says to Mary is ‘Do not be afraid’.

And then gives her news that will cause her such confusion – she is to conceive and bear a child – a child who will be God’s own Son, the longed for Saviour of the world!

How can this be! What on earth is Mary to do, and why in heaven would God act this way?

It is impossible to explain in words that would make sense of this. In our world today there are so many words – words that very often are not straightforward, words that can be twisted, or turned into soundbites,  used to incriminate or wielded as weapons, words are easily misunderstood or used to deliberately confuse or persuade.

But God’s word comes through angels, who tell us ‘Do not be afraid’.

And in that remarkable resounding reading from John’s Gospel – we hear that God’s Word is alive!

Precisely because for thousands of years, humankind had misunderstood God’s words, or twisted them to use for their own ends – God speaks to us in a different way – one we can’t ignore or miss – by coming right into the heart of us – as one of us – to speak our own words and to live as we do.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

God wants to speak to us in a way that we can understand – but also, and this is incredible, and wonderful – wants to understand what it means to be human – in order to know us better.

Literally, God wants to get inside our skin and get to the heart of us.

This is amazing and mind blowing – but there is still more!

God could have done this anyway they chose – everyone thought that God would come as a grown man- a King, resplendent in royal robes and reigning over a kingdom as an earthly king.

They were looking in the wrong place and we still make that mistake today.

Instead God chooses to know the whole of human experience including our extreme vulnerability – and God, the mighty Creator, the Almighty Powerful One – comes to us as a baby, a refugee, a poor child, born in a barn and laid in a manger, homeless, and helpless.

Did God feel just the same way about this as Mary felt when she gave her ‘yes’? As we feel when we give our yes – when we know how risky, how reckless how out of control it will be?

In our own lives, when we take such risks and throw caution to the winds – its most often for love.

And it is for love, and through love and because of love that we have Christmas.  

It all began with an angel who comes with an extraordinary message, bringing God’s word into life and God is born as one of us – the babe Jesus whose birth we celebrate with joy tonight – and whose arrival on earth saw a bright star burst into brilliance in the heavens above.

Of course, the story doesn’t end with the baby – that’s simply the beginning of a whole other love story.

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine.
Love came down at Christmas
Stars and angels gave the sign…

Service: Reverend Michelle Dalliston. 24th December 2023. (St John The Baptist Church Peterborough UK)