Luke 2.1-14 – 25 December 2021
Neil Millar
Glory to God in the highest’, the angels proclaim. ‘Glory to God in the lowest’, says GK Chesterton. ‘There has fallen on earth for a token a god too great for the sky’, he writes in Gloria in Profundis.
He has burst out of all things and broken
the bounds of eternity:
into time and the terminal land
he has strayed like a thief or a lover,
for the wine of the world brims over,|
its splendour is spilt on the sand.
Glory to God in the lowest! God’s glory revealed in a humble human being, a new-born child, lying in a manger. How do you picture this scene in your mind’s eye?
Since the earliest centuries of the Common Era, the Nativity of Jesus has been a major focus for Christian art – there are literally thousands of portrayals. Most have their genesis in the gospel accounts, and all are elaborated by human imagination. This morning, I’m going to reflect briefly on five depictions, which I hope might deepen our engagement with the meaning of this glorious event. [Four of these are printed in the sheet you received as you entered, and the fifth is in the service sheet itself. So, let’s have a look.]