Christmas day is a day for singing and rejoicing, for the giving and receiving of gifts and for family and friends. But it is also a day that should push us out beyond all of our old comforts and convictions, our habits and fears and even our need for possessions. The singing invites us to recognise a new world given to us by God in his revelation, a world where everything we know is turned upside down.

The question is, does it? Whether you come today as someone who comes often to church, or someone for whom church has a special place just at Christmas, it is so easy to stop at the door. To think of today only in terms of a baby in a manager, the journey of the shepherds and the star, the three wise men and the faithfulness of Mary and of Joseph. Not to think of Jesus the man, but Jesus the mystery, focussing on the sacredness we hear in the story without engaging with what his life really means for us.

But it does not have to be that way. Fantasy, mystery and reality are not mutually exclusive. All can be woven together to bring a message of love and hope for the world. They are all woven together in the Christmas story as they are woven together in the bible as a whole.

It is important for us to remember that these events we are talking about occurred at the time of Caesar Augustus, a long time ago. Caesar Augustus, after bringing peace to Rome, was hailed also as Son of God and Saviour, as a bringer of peace and good news person to a grateful nation. A new calendar was instituted to show that he was the Lord of time, and his birth day was seen as the beginning of the new era. Rome made much of these claims however, to legitimise its regime of suppression and exploitation, law and order through the empire. The poor got poorer and the rich richer. To see the Christmas story in this light is to see it as a complete reversal of this political reality and a direct challenge to imperial theology. We have Jesus presented as a defenceless baby whose family can’t find accommodation and the good news being received by poor shepherds of the hills, rather than kings and rulers. The message coming through clearly is that Jesus is the saviour who brings peace on earth, not Caesar. And he brings it to all.

This radical reversal of order is found throughout the gospels. Regardless of how you see the Christmas story, fact, fiction or something in between, it represents the gospels in miniature. When we look back over Jesus’ life and ministry it suddenly becomes clear. This contradiction with the world we see on Christmas morning is that same contradiction we see throughout Jesus’ life, when he challenges those that want to belittle and exclude people, when he calls for love and compassion instead of hate, and justice and peace instead of war and excess. We see it at the end of his life, during Easter, when he goes to his death on a cross wearing a crown of thorns, hardly the all powerful King the Jews thought he should be. Jesus’ story is based on a constant theme, from his birth, to his mission which only lasted a little more than a year, to his death. The theme – that with God there is a different kind of life and a different kind of future to be had.

So what am I saying about Jesus this morning that may affect us more than the tinsel and the presents? In Jesus, the person, God was and is revealed, a divine encounter that is ongoing. When people of his day met Jesus, they met God. It is the same for us today. In Jesus we celebrate God reaching out to all human kind, to all levels of society and to all people, regardless of culture, gender, and social and economic status. And in Jesus we are presented with the possibility of participating in the life of God and the peace of God in our world.

It is this last one that is the most powerful because God cannot do it alone. The reality we live in, where power corrupts, war and poverty are overwhelmingly common and the rich get richer is amazingly similar to that experienced by Jesus all those years ago. That is why our world requires us to act in whatever way we can, for just as Jesus did not sit around praying all day, neither should we. The birth of a new order, where everyone is included, needs us as well.

So this morning let us look at the Christmas story not as some isolated incident which we think of but once a year, but a proclamation that what is revealed in Jesus is the way, the way to a different kind of life and a different future. It is his light that can transform even the darkest place. This is why we should sing this morning, and greet each other with joy. For we know that there is hope even for us, in our world of greed, and corruption and injustice. The light has not gone out. It may have dimmed, but the light will never go out. Let us continue to follow that light, the light of Christ.