DAVID ISIORHO
‘Christ submitted to the wounding that is the human condition’

A few years ago, my wife Linda and I were in church late one Saturday afternoon. The church door was open. Two obviously tired people came in, a man and a woman. They were untidy and poorly dressed in flimsy shoes. It turned out that they had walked many miles to obtain some proof of the woman’s identity so that she could claim certain benefits. They were temporarily lodged in a hostel in a town ten miles away. They had walked into the inner city and were now on their way back. They could not afford bus fare.

Linda washed the woman’s feet which were sore and bleeding. Then we took them home and made sure that they were catered for. Both people had long histories of illness. Neither had ever been able to work. Each had long since lost any real home. But what they had not lost was the sense that the Church was somehow their home. When they saw that open door, they felt sure that they were going to have some assistance.

What is the Christmas story and how do we give it a context to locate and implement our practical theology? Where is the incarnate Christ and how do we access the love of God in Christ Jesus? At Christmas time, we naturally think about those less fortunate than ourselves. Those who are homeless and without much cheer. In his flesh, our Lord was no stranger to suffering and to pain. He did not take the path of being different in condition from anyone else. He could have exercised his powers to float serenely through this vale of tears untroubled but he chose not to…

David Isiorho is the Vicar of St James, Handsworth, in Birmingham

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SUSAN DURBER
‘It depends on which story we are talking about’

What the Christmas story means depends on which story we are talking about. It is better to reflect not on the general muddle that we often turn into a nativity play or a carol service, but on the specific, artfully told stories of either Matthew or Luke.

Luke’s version is generally better known (Mary, the shepherds, hints of a stable, as well as much-loved set pieces like the Magnificat). All the more important then, to take the time to dwell with Matthew’s telling. Here are the wise men and the massacred innocents, the ‘flight to Egypt’, as well as several scriptural quotations and even more scriptural allusions. Here is a Joseph whom God talks to in dreams, a child rescued from a murderous king just as Moses once was, and a world full of threat, persecution and rescue. The more closely you read it, the more richly layered this extraordinary text seems.

It’s as though the reader hears someone say: ‘You remember how once we were slaves in Egypt, our children murdered and our people exploited? Remember how God came to our rescue then and brought us to a land of promise? And do you remember how once we were deported to exile in Babylon, taken away to a place where it was hard even to sing hymns? Remember how God brought us back home then? Well, God has done and is doing this again. God comes to be with us even in the midst of suffering and sadness now. The one called Jesus, who is called ‘God with us,’ is the fulfilment of those older stories. He is so deeply connected with the stories you already know that we can tell his story using echoes of these. And he is so much a fulfilment of these stories that they foretell his.’ …

Susan Durber is the Minister of Taunton United Reformed Church, Somerset