There is a great nervousness in failing to affirm the divinity of Jesus


Monothesim was, and still is, foundational to the Jewish faith
which Jesus affirmed - and that is the backbone of Christianity.
Trinitarian ideas were a product of later theological debate,
of seeking a new focus for worship in a Christian context;
of seeking an equivalent or challenge to the worship
of the divine emperor and Grecian gods.

Christ lived and died as a charismatic Jewish Rabbi. Christ lived and died as a charismatic Jewish Rabbi.

He challenged the religious establishment of his day,
with a fresh interpretation of their dearest doctrines.
He was presented as the Messiah, God's messenger,
yet executed as a dangerous revolutionary


The facts of his life soon became engulfed in legend The facts of his life soon became engulfed in legend

As a result separation of fact and fiction is often over-complex
and many hold dear to what can only have been pure invention.
The stories surrounding his birth exemplify this very problem
as they merge prophetic scripture with pagan doctrine,
so meeting the need to find a worthy origin for Christ.

Thus his deeds and actions were soon adjusted
to fulfill ancient prophecy pointing to the Messiah;
a title that he never claimed but which was thrust upon him
by the compilers of the Gospel stories.

The stories were adjusted by medieval copyists and clerks, The stories were adjusted by medieval copyists and clerks,

so as to exclude ideas deemed heresy at that time,
or to promote the concepts and agenda of local clerics.
So Christ's call of justice for the disadvantaged
becomes lost in middle-class concerns,
as the dominant church destroyed all
that might point to contrary ideas.


The stories that we value today are truly a concoction, The stories that we value today are truly a concoction,

of medieval fable, paganism and some residual fact.
Yet they are all that we have to tell the tale of our founder,
of the source of a global faith, that endorses the reality of God
and gives us hope for a better world and, perhaps,
a model for human evolution.


Yet we value the teaching of infancy Yet we value the teaching of infancy

There is great reluctance to turn away from the cradle-teachings
about Jesus, Saviour, Teacher, loving and kind.
There is a great temptation to focus on Jesus,
to personify the God-head, make Jesus an idol
masking the reality of God.

Such idolatry is a feature of much of the worship
and liturgy of the church of today.

Though we may long for fact, not fiction, there is another path,
where myth exposes truth beyond the factual;
exposes things beyond our bounded reality,
things which are real but non-material;
true, but neither fact nor fiction.



In Christ's life we see the way of God laid down for our inspection.
A parable of how the world should be, compared to how it really is.
. Maybe his death is truly a parable hiding a less spiritual story.