I was thinking... I was thinking how we tend to see the story of the first Christmas as a complete story in and of itself. Mary. Joseph. Baby on the way. Long journey to Bethlehem. No room in the inn. A stable. Baby Jesus is born. Angels appear to shepherds. They find the babe and his mother and spread the Good News. The end.

But that’s really just a chapter in a much larger drama. It starts before the Promised Land, before Moses and the burning bush, before Abraham and Sarah, before Adam and Eve. It starts even before the beginning when God spoke the first words of creation—”Let there be light.’

For before there was anything, there was God—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. The baffling mystery of the triune God—three in one—long before there was anyone to ponder the mystery. God was, as God is: all-knowing and all- present—transcending time and space. So before God spoke the words that would set creation into motion, God knew. He knew that after the light and the perfection, there would be darkness and sin. There would be murder and drunkenness, slander and idolatry. And God knew exactly what it would cost him. And God said the words anyway, “Let there be light.” But before the words were spoken, 1 Peter 1:20 tells us, God made a plan: Christ “was chosen before the creation of the world” (NIV).God knew what would happen.

God could have stopped the creation before it was started. So why didn’t he? Was God lonely? No, that would imply God lacked something. I think that maybe, just maybe, the thought of you, of us, was so wonderful God decided he’d rather suffer and die than to be without us, just the thought of you was that precious to God. God could have said, “Never mind.” But instead God said, “Let there be light.”

And there was light. And it was good. And there was sin and darkness and separation from God. And there was Mary and Joseph and a long journey to Bethlehem. Baby Jesus was born and he grew up and he lived and he died and he rose again that we might have the light of his salvation. But even then the story goes on. For Jesus has promised to return and call all his children home to be with him forever and ever. A story without an end. May he find us on that day serving him and sharing his light.