Incarnation Mystery and Other Big Words

I often wonder at the power of story.

Why do people come to worship on Christmas eve?
Could it be to simply hear and sing the story?
Wm. Loader touches on this in interesting ways. . .

Christmas is a space which invites the coming together of many very significant life issues, but not as issues to be thought about, more as issues of experiencing, frequently unexpressed and inarticulate. That is why we need the angels, the romance, the symbols, the colour of the story. People can enter the story, find themselves there, make their own exploratory or rededicatory journeys with the shepherds, just to see, to be there.
For some who may make the Christmas service their one church visit for the year, perhaps just to be back with family and old friends, the story is still familiar, a mixture of fantasy and faith, an opportunity to engage that latent spirituality which has not found the church rings their bells. The inarticulate spirituality which will sometimes bring children for baptism in a kind of vaguery too often despised. The Christmas story remains a sacred site for very many people inside and outside our churches. Today is the day to encourage people to enjoy it, to touch its sacredness and let it touch them.

May the story of God’s great love for you be proclaimed, heard, felt and lived in your Christmas celebrations.

a story I’ve used often.

There is a story of an Anglican Bishop who was getting his family ready for Christmas Eve worship. On their way to the candlelight service, the son looked at his father and said, "Dad, are you going to let us enjoy this Christmas, or are you going to try to explain it to everybody?"

Explain well!