While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Luke 2:6-7

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:38

In the first sentence I read we are reminded of the Christmas card image of Christmas. Mary and Joseph are in Bethlehem. There is no room in the inn so they camp in the shack out the back. Mary gives birth and the baby is asleep on the hay in the manger. The Christmas card images and many of the carols we sing seem warm and cosy and lovely. We readily forget that Mary and Joseph have made a long journey at the orders of a foreign emperor. The emperor wants a census of all in his empire so they must go to the town of their forebears.

A long journey can often be fairly miserable. I can only imagine how Mary might have felt. She was probably not comfortable on a donkey, nor walking. She was probably in tears half the time being so far away from her mum and others who would normally help deliver the baby.

They find the local pub has no where to stay. The best they can offer is the stable out the back. They probably promise to send someone out to help clean it up. Before long Mary has gone into labour. Mary is probably frightened and Joseph is probably feeling overwhelmed.

So if that picture of an exhausted couple camped in a smelly stable without family to help deliver the baby is true why do we prefer the Christmas card image? It is soft and gentle. It is beautiful. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, no crying he makes.

I guess we have enough of the chaos and fear in our lives we don’t want to dwell on the exhausted couple and their fears. We have enough of the smelly and the untidy, or the overwhelming and the confusing. We prefer the warm glow of the Christmas card image. Now there are plenty among us for whom life is pretty good. The family are all well, Our house is comfortable, work‘s good. We don’t have anything to complain about. The good news of Christmas, the real beauty that gives rise to the Christmas card is that God comes to us where ever we are.

If your life seems overwhelming and awful there is good news: God has come into the very midst of your life. Now when I say God has come into the midst of your life I want you to remember moments of great joy in your life, moments when you knew you were loved, moments of hope. It is the God of joy, love and hope who has come into the world. God comes to where you are. Even for those among us for whom life has nothing to complain about God comes bringing blessing.

So this is the Good News of Christ. The God of joy, hope and love has come into our lives.

Now lets read again the second sentence.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
John’s Gospel is so different from the other three. John has no mention of Mary or Joseph or the baby Jesus. He focuses on the “word”. Jesus is the word that was present in God at the beginning. He has in mind the words of creation. Jesus for John is the word that creates and the wisdom inherent in those words of creation.

Now our world is saturated with words. There are millions of books, new papers printed each day, words are broadcast from radio, sent as text, spoken through our phones, put to music and uploaded to utube. But all of these words kind of evaporate into thin air. So how do we take hold of words? We have to listen! More than that we have to actively listen for the words to impact on our lives.

When I talk to young couples about marriage I usually spend some time talking about active listening. If you really want to hear what some one is saying you need to pay attention. You often need to clarify what they are saying and ask questions for deeper understanding. You have to pick up on their body language and their tone of voice.

St John calls Jesus the word made flesh who lives among us. We will need to actively listen if the word made flesh is to impact our lives. Just being aware of the story of Christmas, or being aware of Jesus’ death will not change our lives. Even though the God of Joy, of Love and of hope has come into our midst he comes with an invitation.
When God decides to come in person into this world, in the manger of
Bethlehem…we cannot just sit there like a theatre audience and enjoy
all the lovely pictures. We ourselves will be caught up in this action, this
reversal of all things; we will become actors on this stage….
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

St John tells us Jesus is the word, he invites us to respond. When we respond actively to the Word, the word enters us. We become new creations, new people in Jesus. As Bonhoeffer says we become actors on the stage.

In some ways this active response is easy. We pay attention to the Word by reading the stories of Jesus in the Gospels. We listen actively to the word of God when we see how Christians live the word. But even here it starts to be difficult. Sadly you will quickly notice that there are a good number of Christians who don’t seem to get it. Some have been Christians for years even decades but love, joy and hope are not always obvious in them. But then you meet other Christians; there lives overflow with love. They are caring and gracious. Their joy bubbles up like a fresh spring. When you have noticed this group of Christians you will be learning about God just from watching how they live. Bit by bit their joy, their love, their hope will permeate into your life as well. Now you may find that in a group of Christians some show love more than others, some are more joyful and some radiate hope. Very few Christians will have all of these qualities. As you start out responding to the Word of God made flesh you won’t immediately be full of Joy, love and hope either. But the more you enter onto the stage the more the Word permeates your whole life.

Another way to actively respond to the word of God is in prayer. Often we have a notion of prayer that it is just asking God for all the things we want. Just like writing a letter to Santa. When we have prayed for someone we love and they die we decide that prayer is a waste of time. I want to suggest that if we are prepared to learn more about prayer we discover it is more than giving God a shopping list. It grows to become more like a conversation between good friends.

So I invite you to respond to the word of God made flesh by rereading the gospels, by paying attention to the gracious loving Christians and finally by being ready to learn to pray.

Finally let me draw your attention to Mary’s response.
Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. Luke 1:38

To my mind there is a lovely simplicity and humility to Mary. She says “Here am I”. She doesn’t pretend to be somebody special. Mary seems to know that God loves her as she is. Mary comes as she is and with a willingness to serve. Here am I, the servant of the Lord.

The God of love, hope and joy has come into our midst. We are invited to respond to the Word of God. Let us do so as we are and with humility.

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to us where we are, thank you for the invitation to join you in this life of love, joy and hope. Like Mary we a accept willingly.