I feel like the messages from the angels that Kick off the Christmas story, that messenger sent to Mary to tell her what to expect once she’s expecting, and sent to Joseph to reassure him of what was going on was like God making sure that God’s son was going to be ok. It was metaphorically like God attaching a label to Jesus with the message “please look after this baby, thank you” written on it.
And Jesus is like Paddington, they’re lucky, they find a place in a family who makes space for them and love them.
But it isn’t just the small nuclear family which makes space for Paddington and choses to look after him, there are many other friends and people in his life who love him and look after him.
There are many more people, maybe even you reader, who have made space in their life to love Jesus.
And when love is shared, and a relationship is reciprocated the gift giving goes both ways doesn’t it. While the gift of love and family care was first given to Paddington from the Brown family, Paddington wants to give a gift in return. His gift is exuberant, a little bit reckless, and may be misunderstood from the outside to an untrained eye, but it is a gift of love nonetheless and Mr Brown understands.
Friends, we love because God first loved us. Jesus came to give us a gift in return for our love. A gift that is exuberant, a little bit reckless and can be easily misunderstood from the outside. It is the gift that Jesus came to give us this and every Advent.
Lexisms 