My Grandfather’s Column

*Behind the Christmas Stories*

Most of us know that the Bible’s stories about the birth of Jesus
Christ have little if anything to do with historical facts. They were
written to show what an extraordinary and supernatural event was the
coming into the world of him who claimed to be the Son of God. Similar
stories abound about other great historical figures. What we have here
are myths but myth is just another way, like parables, of conveying truth.

I am interested now in one truth that comes across from the Christmas
stories and it’s one that we always try to present in our Nativity
plays. What did angels, shepherds and wise men do when they came to see
the baby Jesus? They might have asked Mary if she’d had an easy time;
but they didn’t. They might have asked Joseph if he had plans for his
son; but they didn’t. They might have asked what they were going to
call him; but they didn’t. What they did was to worship the child.

There’s an old song which contains these words or something like them:
Did you not see my lady go down the garden singing,
Silencing all the songbirds and setting the valleys ringing?
Surely you saw my lady out in the garden there
Rivalling the glittering sunshine with a glory of golden hair?

I love this song and I love its title which is Silent Worship. For
many of us worship means what happens in Church, where there’s not much
silence; or it may be hero worship, which is also far from silent.
Faced with a glorious sunset we may well have a sense of worship and we
can’t be surprised that people used to worship the sun as a god. What
did those visitors to the infant Jesus see that induced them to
worship? I simply don’t know but the writer, I’m sure, means to tell us
that here was a revelation of God, the Almighty, the creator of all that
is. To be aware of the presence of God is to call forth precisely
silent worship. I wish I spent more time at this than I already do. It
is amazingly rewarding.

-Peter Graham