Tonight
we hear - once more - the Christmas story. A lovely story. The Greatest Story
ever told.
Stories
are an important part of our lives – they educate, they entertain, they
communicate ideas, they preserve history. People tend to like a good story.
It’s why we tell them, why we listen to them, why we write them down and read
them. We act out stories, we put them to music, we dance or paint or
sculpt them. However we express it, we are storytellers.
Now,
some people are better storytellers than others, some stories are more
captivating than others. These are the stories that we tend to think of as GOOD
stories, and they all include a number of parts.
First
off, a GOOD story conveys a theme or moral or lesson. Then the action brings
about the plot. The structure tells how we’re hearing the story – for example, as
a character, or an observer. Then our cast of characters, those memorable folks
to whom we can relate. Let's not forget the setting, the ‘where’ and ‘when’ of the
story. And finally, we want to throw in some style, some emotion to the story.
And
when one story has all these components, we tend to like it. We enjoy reading
or hearing it; we want to share it, we want to return to it again and again, we
want it to be part of our own story. French author François Mauriac stated:
“Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are" is true enough, but
I'd know you better if you told me what you reread.”
And
tonight we’re celebrating a story that we have all read and reread, heard and
re-heard. It's a story that meets all those components, including helping to
define who we are. If people know who we are by what we read, people know us
better because we reread tonight’s Gospel story.
So
let’s journey into this beautiful Christmas story from Luke.
It
has a theme: God’s promises are always realised. Whether it’s the promise of
finding a child or the promise of a Saviour, God keeps his promises for us all.
It
has a plot, and really quite a good one: increasing government taxation through
a census, a new romance with a bit of a scandal (unmarried teen mom!), a
dangerous journey ending with a dramatic birth, an angelic visitation and prophecy
to secondary characters who then undertake their own journey – PHEW! This is
all in 20 verses. 17 sentences. In today’s literature, that’s a plot for a whole
novel. This storyline catches our attention and draws us in. There's a lot
happening, we're easily engaged, and we want more of it. This is a biblical
page-turner, if you will.
Structurally,
we've got an external observer including some great dialogue as the plot races
through converging scenes. The details of era and setting give us a feel for what's
going on, and we relate to the characters through direct quotes – we can almost
imagine what their voices sound like. Was the angel male or female? Did you
think about that when I was reading the Gospel? Are you thinking about it now?
Our
main characters, Mary and Joseph, are ordinary folks called to extraordinary
things. Mary shifts from being the pregnant betrothed to the new mother, yet remains
silent throughout. Joseph is the faithful husband-to-be, with historic lineage
but not well-off himself (if he was rich, the inn-keeper would have offered his
own rooms for the entourage; a stable certainly would not have been sufficient).
The
secondary characters are so common that we don’t learn anything about them - no
names, not even how many there are - we just know that there are shepherds. Visited
by an angel, who delivers a message, and is joined by a whole choir of other
angels. The shepherds’ common ministry is to receive and repeat this message.
This ministry is so important that they immediately ignore their earthly
responsibilities in the fields to go with haste to the town.
So
within the broader scope, the characters and circumstances of this story are
relatable, for all of us. We too have to follow government legislations and
taxation, even if it’s not always convenient. We too have traveled, have stayed
at less-than-ideal places, have made do with what we could find. We’ve met new
people unexpectedly, we’ve been approached by strangers who have been put in
our path temporarily for a particular purpose. We too have a ministry to
demonstrate God’s glory to the world, a part in a greater story where we may
not even be named. Government employees are civil servants, innkeepers are hospitality
specialists, shepherds are farmers. Husbands, mothers, singers. Yup, we can
relate to these people.
The
setting for our story is equally indistinct. Bethlehem is a main city, it could
be anywhere. We don’t know anything about the inn that turns them away; we know
nothing about which stable they are in as the child is born. Our shepherds are
out ‘in the fields’, whichever fields those might be. It could be anywhere: a
cheap motel in the city; a barn in the countryside. If it could happen there, it
could happen here.
As
for timing, it was during Quirinius’ rule over Judea, which lasted 7 years –
again, the details are ambiguous to allow our own creativity to fill in the
blanks in a way that will make it personal and meaningful to every one of us.
Continuing
on, this story has definite style. The emotional grab hooks us right in from
the start. We hear the story once and are drawn into it; we hear it again and
are drawn to another part of the same story. We’re connected to this good news
because it is a living reality for us. This is not a collection of words on a
page, this is not just a story in a book, this is a part of who we are.
That
we reread it time and again means that we WANT to be drawn into the story. We
WANT to engage with that message, to hear the “good news of great joy” the
angels promise. We WANT to live our lives knowing that this message was given
“for all the people,” including US. We WANT to reread this story because it
speaks to us, as it has for more than 2000 years, of a direct connection that
is personal, unique, astounding. We WANT to hear how God continues to give each
and every one of us, in this day and age, the great gift of his Son.
“[T]o YOU is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is
the Messiah, the Lord.”
And
so this great story is the greatest story ever told, because it never ends. As
many times as this story is told, it is lived. It is lived when we put
ourselves into it, and carry it with us into the world. It is lived when we
reread the story and remind ourselves that we too are being invited to seek out
the Christ-child in our midst. It is lived when we reread the story and
celebrate our own ministry, our own involvement in God’s great ongoing creation.
It is lived when we reread the story and joyfully declare to the world (at
Christmas and for all times) "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on
earth peace among those whom he favours!"
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