In the story book; ‘Jesus’ Christmas Party’, a particular favourite of mine, the main character is a somewhat harassed and grumpy inn keeper.He keeps getting woken up in the middle of the night by various visitors who are either seeking a room in the already over filled inn or who come to visit the folk in the stable. The inn keeper has a catch phrase of ‘round the back’ which he shouts at those who disturb his sleep. When the heavenly host appear and start singing it drives the inn keeper to distraction and his anger boils over and he storms off ‘ round the back’ to see what is going on. He is loud and noisy and is ‘ssshhed’ by those present as he will wake the baby. This revelation takes the wind our of the inn keeper’s sails as he peers into the manger. In an instant he is transformed and is delighted by the wee child lying on the straw and so excited that he rushes into the inn and wakes everyone up so that they can come and see the baby.

Nicholas Allan’s story is simple and witty but I also think powerful as it tells us of the transformative power of Jesus Christ.

Whether Jesus’ birth happened in the way the Gospel accounts tells us is less important to the fact that Jesus was actually born. Only in Luke and Matthew do we have birth narratives. In Mark there is no birth story at all - it begins with Jesus’ baptism by John as an adult. In John the story is mystical and refers to ‘The Word becoming incarnate’ without any reference to how that happened. And the two accounts by Matthew and Luke differ! In Matthew there are no shepherds on magi and in Luke no magi only shepherds. In no one account do we have the full story as we know it and if we only had one Gospel account our view of Jesus’ birth might be very different.

Because we actually have four accounts our nativity story is like a jigsaw, made up from various bits from each account that together give us an understanding greater than the sum of the various parts.

I have always quite liked that fact, once I realised that no one account has the full story. I like it because it says to me that we can’t contain God or ever fully understand God’s ways and that when we encounter Jesus - the Word made flesh, God on Earth, the human face of God (or whatever) we will like the inn keeper in the story be transformed by the meeting. Why?Because quite simply encountering God will always change one. We might not realise quite how but it does and always will.

Often, many of us struggle to get an understanding of who God is and why the world is the way it is and what our rôle in Creation actually is. But, in Jesus, we see someone like ourselves. A human being, no matter how divine he was, who lived a life like we do. Had all the pains and successes we do and loved and lost. he knew happiness and sadness and as such I think makes God easier to comprehend as we can begin the journey of revelation from a staring point we understand, being ourselves. As that exploration develops throughout our lives we daily get glimpses of the Divine in the encounters with others and God’s Creation. Those little almost unnoticeable things that can take our breath away or cheer our hearts. Things that transform who we are and how we see the world and our fellow beings.

For all of us with a faith, that transformation begins when we first encounter Jesus, be it in worship, in stories, in other people of faith. Those things which helped us to begin the journey or nourish us on the way. It is never an easy journey and at times we might doubt it all but if we continue to question and try to remain open minded Jesus will encounter us as much as we will encounter him. And, we effect those encounters when we interact with each other and spark that image of God within each of us that we are made with.

Jesus was both human and divine and we if we believe that we are all made in the image of God contain and essence of God and thus Jesus as well. An essence that we discover more and more as we explore that journey we call life.

On this Christmas Day we meet Jesus face to face as a helpless child in the manger. A could full of potential waiting to be discovered. We know his story but we can never fully know it or him, unless we journey with him and open ourselves up to be transformed by the journey we make in his presence. As the poet Wendy Cope says inter open 'Lantern Carol' :

“Ours if we will have Him.

Ours to love and keep.”

Enjoy this Christmas Day and look out for the ways in which you will be transformed in the coming year as you journey with Jesus the incarnated face of God.

Happy Christmas