Dave asked us the intriguing question today ‘what would an alien think Christmas was all about, based on our Christmas cards and celebrations?’
The alien might assume Christmas was a celebration of winter, with many cards featuring snow scenes:
Another assumption might be some tree fertility festival:
Or you could perhaps make a case for bears:
Even cards which focus on the Nativity scene paint a sanitised view of Christmas, when in reality the stable was a smelly, noisy place and Jesus undoubtedly was a baby who cried!
John 1:1-3 reminds us that Jesus was fully God, but as Paul emphasises in Phil 2, He took on the nature of man and we are left with this mystery that Jesus was both fully man and fully God. He knew what it was to need food and drink, to need sleep, to feel emotions and to face temptation, just as we do. He was not simply pretending to be human; he really was human.
Our challenge is to hear God’s word to us and to respond to it, just as Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and wise men did. We might wonder why God did not provide a better location or easier circumstances for His Son (and we certainly wonder why He does not make our lives easier!), but God’s solution is to enter the mess, rather than remove the mess from us. Jesus came as God’s message of peace and goodwill to all men, but He asks for our response and has chosen to give us free will. We need to be willing to give our whole lives to God so that we can respond in faith and love. If we do so, we can enter 2015 confidently, not apprehensively, for we do not walk alone but have the Light of the World, Immanuel, walking with us.