I Don't Believe A Word Of It

Reading from Luke II

Now there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel of the Lord said unto them:

"Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people: for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

And it came to pass, when the angels went away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go to even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger. And when they saw it, they made known concerning the saying which was spoken to them about this child. And all that heard it wondered at the things which were spoken unto them by the shepherds. And the shepherds reurned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, even as it was spoken unto them.

DISCOURSE

I don't believe it. I don't believe a word of it. Angels. Shepherds. A virgin mother. Wise Men. The star. My twentieth centutry engineer's mind rejects the whole business.

So why does the ancient story thrill me through and through? Why do I sing the Christmas songs with such enthusiasm?

Concerning that verse in Matthew that says;

"Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise; When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost"

--concerning this verse proving Jesus the son of God; Were you aware that the preceding verses trace the patrilineal ancestry of Jesus down from Abraham through thrice fourteen generations? Are you ready to believe a record that traces his descent through fourty two fathers and then says God stepped in?

So: I don't believe it, yet that story has so much power in my mind, and in the minds of so many around the world. Why? Why?

The story of Jesus' birth is one more telling of the birth of the Hero, and the story of his life is one more telling of the Hero Story -- the mystical story that so many people in so many different cultures have used to explain the coming of hope, wisdom, wholeness, love, serenity into our troubled souls.

So: I don't believe in angels, Wise Men, Virgin Mother, shepherds, Herod's attempt on the Babe's life. But I thrill to the message of light, hope, joy.

There is so much pain in the world. There is so much hunger and fighting and want and hate. There is fighting in the Balkans. There is deep trouble in our cities. In our own congregation there is loss, and estrangement, and pain.

Well, so it has always been and so I fear it will always be. And yet, for thousands of years people have found light in the darkness, hope in time of despair, beauty amidst ugliness, love beneath the meanness of life.

Deeply, passionately, I call on everyone, not to believe, no, not to believe but to find strength, hope, joy in the old old story.