DOUBT YOUR DOUBT: ENGAGE WITH GOD

Q: Who made the world?
A: God did.
Q: You sure?
A: I think so.
Q: How did he do it then?
A: Ah, well that’s not so simple. Some claim that it was just like it says in the Bible. Over the space of a working week, God just said the word and things came into being.
Q: And others?
A: Two others, actually. One group says that God didn’t exactly make everything individually, but that he just said “go” and things sorted themselves out, learning from each other as they went along, with only the fittest lasting the pace. They call it Evolution.
Q: And the second group?
A: Yes, well these people say that God had a plan, a very clever plan and that he put that plan inside everything and in the end it all turned out according to that plan. They call it Intelligent Design.
Q: Which one is your money on?
A: Oh! I don’t gamble; that’s a Mug’s game.

However we see it, the story of creation is a thing of wonder. It fills believer and non-believer alike with a deep sense of awe. But even if the day ever comes when everyone is agreed as to what happened and how, it is unlikely to turn everyone into believers. For the truth is that belief in God is much more than belief about God. In our lazy way we like to think of creation as a “once upon a time” thing. But belief in God is more concerned with the present than it is with the past. In our lazy way of thinking we easily fall into the trap of imagining that God is out there somewhere, watching us, observing our conduct, occasionally helping us and finally judging. But belief in God is more concerned with a God who is a living, creating force, present at the heart of our lives, now. This God is no mere observer but an active participant.

So let’s not underestimate Christmas. Too easy to leave it to the children and excuse ourselves for doing so on the grounds that Jesus insisted we should all become “like little children”. When Jesus spoke those words, he was calling for a TRUST that is huge, far from childish and very grown – up. Jesus was inviting us to trust that the maker of all that vast immensity of space and time, which we call creation, is also the God of our personal lives. The Angel of the Annunciation reminds us of precisely this when he uses the word, Emmanuel: “God-With-Us”.

Christmas gives us the Gospel in its own simple and attractive way, but the message it contains is far more awesome than any pictures the Hubble telescope sends from outer space. In the vast depths of that other and still greater space, our own lives, Christmas challenges us to imitate the Wise Men. We too are asked to journey and lay our gifts, the tools of our trade, before a God who has no wish to be kept at a distance. The picture of our creator, which we find wrapped in the gift of Christmas, invites us to distrust our doubts and engage with God in the stardust of our lives. All of which adds fresh lustre to those time-honoured, homespun words, “Come, come, come to the manger”.