Luke 1:26-38: A home for God?
Hello, it's me again, the angelic housing officer - and I'm getting worried. Gabriel obviously knows what all this is about, but she's not letting on to me. I must have the wrong end of the stick, surely? God can't be thinking of a home inside this young girl. It may seem nice and warm and comfortable, but from what I've seen, that sort of home is never permanent. They always get moved on after nine months. And how in heaven's name can the Creator get mixed up with the creation to that extent? Yes, I know I was talking about every atom having God's fingerprint on it - but I never thought it would get this messy. Flesh and blood? Bones and muscles and skin? How can you bear living like that? And how could God possibly consider taking on your limitations? No offence, but you are pretty puny creatures, aren't you? Coughing and sneezing, leaking red stuff whenever you get a knock, unable to go on living without food and air and water?
What is God thinking of? David's idea of the right sort of house was much better. And his son Solomon really went to town, with gold and bronze and ivory and jewels - that was somewhere an ultimate being could be seen without too much embarrassment. But a human being? And this particular girl? She's very young for one of you to be a mother, just a teenager. She's going to have trouble explaining what's up to her parents, and to the man she's going to marry. But she's looking so peaceful, so calm. As if she's thought it all through, what Gabe's told her, and still wants to go through with it.
Quite impressive, really, I have to admit.
In fact, if God is going to do this crazy thing and get inside human life, maybe she's not such a bad place to start. Someone who trusts God to do the right thing, even when it looks impossible. Someone who loves God enough to say yes when she's asked to do something really hard, that'll hurt. Someone who's got enough love to care for her child when he comes into the world, whatever terrible things happen to him. I'd have to admit: she passes quality control. I still have doubts about humans as building material - but God's the Lord.

No home for God? Luke 2:1-7
Well! This is simply outrageous! What are you humans thinking about, letting people live in these conditions! And your young too! What God sees in you, I simply cannot tell!
Sorry, but you'll understand why I'm upset. Now God's made that fateful decision to live in a human house, I've got to make sure the conditions are acceptable. And acceptable these conditions are certainly not!
To start with, think of all that jolting as poor Mary travels to Bethlehem with Jesus inside her. I know he was well cushioned, but still, it was a bit much to expect someone in her condition to travel. That emperor should be ashamed of himself. Didn't he have a mother? But I suppose important people forget what it's like for everyone else.
And then the crowds in Bethlehem! Everyone from generations back coming back to be counted - traffic jams all over town, cousins from the hills and total strangers all desperate for a room for the night - and all those Roman soldiers getting in the way too. It's a good thing Mary had Joseph with her, so they could keep up each other's courage. Door after door, and no one would let them in for the night, though she was about to drop from tiredness!
And then, just as we were all about to give up hope - and I can tell you, it takes a lot for an angel to give up hope - finally, someone took pity on them. But the place he said they could stay... well, I've never seen anything like it. Insanitary? Health and safety would have a fit! Yes, I know poor people often sleep in the same building as their animals, it's like mobile central heating. But in the same room? With a new mother, and a very new baby, too?
Give them their due, the cows didn't look too put out to have their feeding trough taken away from them, to put little Jesus in. That Joseph, he's good at improvising - comes of being a carpenter, I suppose. But your bodies are so weak, so fragile. Jesus went to sleep, as good as gold - but when he wakes up there's going to be a racket, till he finds his mum.
And all this is where God has chosen to live? With you lot?

A home is found! Luke 2:8-20
I'm sorry to sound snobbish, but God's not only chosen some very poor surroundings for this pied a terre, but some very dodgy company. Everyone looks down on shepherds, because they never get to synagogue, being out in the fields with the animals all the time, and when they do - well, the smell makes everyone wish they'd never come. And by the excited look of them, I strongly suspect they had a flask out in the hills with them. But I must be charitable - God's always telling us angels not to look down on mortals, and I know I don't always succeed. Maybe it's just the effect of having our choir give one of their best performances.
Goodness knows what the heavenly noise abatement society's going to say, but thankfully that's not my problem. I must say, our angelic choir does a pretty good Gloria, not to mention a Hosanna in excelsis. That's Latin and Hebrew for Three cheers for God, by the way. I had no idea that they've been practising for centuries, for this very occasion. Amazing, the way God's plans can work out when you've no notion what's happening.
But I'm still a bit bothered about it being shepherds that came to see God's human home. God could have chosen people known for their wisdom, or for their wealth, or for their love of God. But who do we have? Ignorant dirty farm workers. Wonderful!
Ok, maybe there are some invitations out to kings or such, maybe it's just taking them a while to get here. But I don't know - it seems such an anticlimax. After all my hard work to try to make sure God's house is up to spec, God's sorted it all out anyway, and not at all the way I'd have chosen to do it. Still, that's God for you - mysterious ways and all that.
Oh yes, I almost forgot to say. It seems you're all invited to God's housewarming as well, this coming Thursday here at half-past ten. I was specially told to ask you to get your own lives in order for the occasion. Because it turns out, God loves the world so much, God wants to live in all of you. But don't panic! I know I've been stressed about the external quality of God's living accommodation, but seems like God's really not worried about what your life looks like on the outside. It's what you're like on the inside that matters to God: the love and welcome in your heart for others.