Let us pray: O come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Emmanuel. Amen.

    Do you believe in miracles?

    Imagine, if you can, that you are there. Walking by on a simple evening mission, along a back alley in a middle eastern town. Things aren’t like they are now - the darkness is profound, clearly the brightest light around comes from the stars in the nighttime sky. The darkness wraps itself around you like a blanket. It’s not like now, where darkness is something to be sent away by a multitude of street lights. It’s an everyday event, this nighttime time of day accentuated by the brightness of the midday sun and the contrast when it is not there. You are used to it, but never quite comfortable, dangerous things can happen in the darkness of night, so you scurry along as fast as you can while still watching for hazards that might be there on the path to trip you up.

    It’s not a regular occurrence for you, this late evening journey, but not one you haven’t done before, common enough that your mind is still able to reflect as you walk, but infrequent enough that you need to be on watch.

    You turn a corner and there it is - light leaking out from under a stable door. A bright light - much brighter than candle glow or warming fire. Uncommon light, unearthly light. Is it scary or inviting? What is it? You want to go and see, but you are afraid of what you might find. What should you do?

    What would you do?

    The light of course is unearthly. It’s God’s light, and many who’ve gone before you have also been scared and attracted at the same time. Here is how hymn writer Brian Wren puts it: “Will you come and see the light from the stable door? Will you hide or decide to meet the light?”

    Tonight we celebrate Emmanuel - God with us. What does that mean? How do the events of this night affect your life? What does the light from that stable door mean for you?

    God has been with us for a long time. God will continue to be with us for a long time yet to come. But on this night, something special, something miraculous happened. Jesus showed God in a new light. Jesus strengthened our human understanding of the way in which God is present for us and the way in which God calls us to be seekers and beacons of the light. It all started in most peculiar, remarkably unremarkable circumstances. The most you might have expected is that this was a perilous birth - not in the high percentile of hopeful circumstances, let alone world changing!

    But there it is, and here we are. Who could have known? And how can we not respond to something such as this? Do you believe in miracles? How could you not? Will you travel by the light of the babe new born? In the candle lit at night there’s a gleam of dawn, and the darkness all about is too dim to put it out: will you hide or decide to meet the light?

    Merry Christmas, seekers and beacons of light in this world. God-is-with-us. Thanks be to God. Amen.