‘O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie’, the first line of what I regard as one of my most favourite of carols. It reminds me very much of the village I grew up in, in mid-Wales called Llanfyllin.
On each Christmas eve, my family and I would walk down to church for the midnight service; great excitement beating in our hearts as Christmas day was fast approaching and all the presents, we were hoping for would be laid out in front of the fire. The service would have been the normal Anglican Eucharist lasting about an hour, and then everyone would wish each other a very merry Christmas as we left the church. On our way back home, we would have to walk uphill, until by our house we were virtually overlooking the town; and on those coldest of nights we remember as children, I would look down across the roofs, and see the lights of houses and streets, and then look up to see the stars all shining bright as the frosty air made everything seem so much clearer. There in front of me was my ‘little town of Bethlehem’ and I would wonder just what it had been really like the day that Jesus was born.
From the scriptures there is little or no clue as to the date, what time of day it was or what the weather was like in Bethlehem when the birth of our Lord happened. We do know that according to Luke it was the sixth month, and we can presume it was dark by Luke telling us the shepherds were watching their flocks by night; but other than that, there is little written that gives us concrete facts.
For many people this lack of information gives them little or no inclination to believe that this baby was the Son of God. Like doubting Thomas after the resurrection, they need to have every i dotted and t crossed before they can even start to consider the importance of this amazing event. Faith is seen as a weakness not a strength; Christians are seen as gullible fools, having no little or no facts to back their claims. Yet, when we read further into my favourite carol, the answer is there staring at all who wish to see, and it reads ‘How silently, how silently the wonderous gift is given, so God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in’.
Faith is not about facts, it is about being, about feeling, about truly knowing in our hearts that our Lord was born to die for our sins and set us free. For us Christmas is not just about presents and decorations it is about hope, it is about expectation, it is about preparation for the second coming of Christ when all the facts will be truly known. But until that day comes let us go out into the world in faith and sing the wonderful glad tidings of the Christmas angels ‘O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Immanuel’.
I pray you will all have a very merry Christmas.