The Very Rev Albert Bogle urges readers to rediscover their identity as they look again at the Christmas story.

COMMENT

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ADVENT has arrived again. The period when we in the Christian Church begin to prepare spiritually to consider the most arresting event of all time and history. The idea that God became one of us.

We call this the incarnation. The Bible does not go into the technical details of how ‘God substance’ could become mixed up with human identity.

It simply states the idea that Jesus became the human face of God in order that human beings might in turn become reconciled to God and know him intimately as father.

The coming of Jesus into time and space was to enable us to understand our purpose and significance in being eternally loved by the one who created us.

No matter who we are, this is a big idea worth pondering.

How is it possible that weak, vulnerable, ephemeral creatures like us could be loved into eternal existence?

It has happened because God in Christ became vulnerable, weak and helpless in order that we who are spiritually blind might see beyond our limited understanding and be embraced by the love of God.

God came into our timeframe and sight lines and made it possible for human beings like us to be connected to him, and to be reconciled to each other. This currency of redemption attaches great value to all our souls.

It must cause us all to reflect upon how we treat each other. Could it be that we could bring someone back into the warmth and love of the family this year?

I wonder if the true value of Christmas cards for instance, is to send them to those we seldom see. And perhaps the real practical message of Christmas is to make space for those who have been excluded.

I think that is why the ‘Sleep in the Park’ initiative is a truly incarnation idea. Helping others subtly uncover the Christmas story is something all of us in the church can surely do.

We all know that most people miss the point and significance of the Christmas story.

It is often so wrapped up in tinsel and nostalgia that it is almost impossible to let the story speak. We need to let the story breathe again.

This is a story about personal identity. It should almost be told with the same intensity and attention that is felt by those, seeking their ancestors in the popular TV programme Who do you think you are?

The Christmas story invites us to ask ourselves, who we really are and what is our purpose on this blue planet?

For me the Christmas story is God’s way of revealing our true identity. It’s such a wonderful revelation that we are called to share the good news with the world.

This Christmas Sanctuary First is going to be advertising this wonderful message on social media and our local radio. We have four short video clips written especially for social media. We are putting together a campaign that invites harassed and tired people to stop and – “Take a Moment”, just a moment, and encounter the presence of God in the beating of a heart and the air we breathe. In the short movies we’re asking the public to take a moment to feel the peace that comes from knowing who you are in Christ. To see the glory that is all around in the story of God becoming one of us. To encounter the love of God reaching into our souls. And finally to see that Christmas is an invitation to live the joy of the story told by men and sung by angels.

The Very Rev Albert Bogle is a Pioneer Minister of Sanctuary First Church Online at www.sanctuaryfirst.org.uk