by Rev Geoff Usher.
Behind the Christmas story are truths of great significance for humanity. The whole story of Christmas is a mixture of symbol and fact, of imagery and truth – literal truth and prophetic or spiritual truth. The prophetic dreams, the wandering star, the song of the angels:- we may find it difficult to accept such elements of the story as historically true. We may be unable to regard the Biblical narrative as a complete and accurate account of what happened two thousand years ago.
And yet, they are more than simply a flight into fantasy. There is truth in such elements. And through them great truths are being communicated; and communicated in depth, not merely superficially.
We miss the meaning of Christmas if we fail to listen to its messages:- its message concerning the reality of God; its message about life, and about our part in life and about the purpose of history. The story of the child in a manger is more than, the birth of another child of the year. It goes beyond simply relating the beginnings of the most influential figure of our western civilisation, and perhaps of the whole history of humankind.
Although many myths surround the story, at Christmas we celebrate the birth of a real man, not a myth:- we celebrate the birth of a child two thousand years ago, who came to be known as Jesus – although his real name was probably Joshua bar Joseph — Joshua the son of Joseph.
Serious scholars do not question the historicity of Jesus. There are doubts, queries and inconsistencies about some of the details.
To read the compltete sermon please click here.
A great read thank you Geoff. You were always one to inspire.