God Loves Hugs

Christmas Story 2025

It was a tradition in the church that I grew up in for the pastor to tell a story on Christmas Eve.
In that spirit I’d like to share a story with you that I wrote a long time ago when my kids where little.

It’s based loosely on the beginning to John’s gospel And it goes like this . . .

In the beginning God was alone with the Word.

Which doesn’t really sound like God was alone – but the Word was God and God was the Word and because they were one they were both alone.

And they were also cramped. They could feel something inside aching to emerge.

So through Word, God created the heavens and the earth. And the creation was splendid and beautiful.

God’s Spirit filled the cosmos.

Spirit delighted in dancing as the molten rock that rose to divide the waters.

And Spirit enjoyed crashing against those rocks in the surf.

Spirit stirred in storms and whispered in the wind.

Divine spirit roamed the world. It roared through the prairie in the southern wind.

It decorated the delicate webs in the tallgrass with the morning dew.

And cast rainbows across the roaring waterfalls.

But God was still alone. Because God and Word and Spirit were still only one.

So God made creatures and breathed God’s sweet holy spirit into every living thing.

Time went by, and God’s creation evolved. And the creatures began to sense the presence of the creator all around them.

And as they played in the forests and meadows, and danced in the heavenly moonlight they communed together with the Spirit.

And after a very long time some of the creatures learned to talk. And it wasn’t long before the creatures began trying to talk to God.

They sang songs to God and gave God gifts.

They built special places for God and told stories and said prayers.

But, somehow the more they talked and thought about God the more they disagreed. And the further away God seemed.

So, the creatures went looking for God. They looked on mountaintops and up in the sky. They looked in forests and they looked in desserts.

Sometimes the creatures would feel they had just caught a glimpse of God, but afterwards the memory was like a dream and seemed to get all mixed up.

And when they went back to tell the others about what they remembered they would quarrel and fight.

The divine Word of God came down to the creatures.

Word was known by many names, davar, Logos, Light, Wisdom, and Sophia to name a few.

She came in many forms: in the dreams of children, and through the passion of prophets, in the words of reluctant leaders and even through burning shrubs.

But even when the creatures listened they were easily confused and distracted.

They divided into tribes and the tribes into nations. And the nations fought. And each claimed God’s love by their own name.

The almighty Triune Creator was unhappy.

What could be done to show how much God loved all the creatures?

How could the creatures be reminded that they were all part of God?

And how could God show them how much they could love one another?

God thought and thought.

And God said, “I need a hug.”

Word and Spirit became flesh.

A girl gave birth to the Almighty Creator in a humble stable amid the other animals.

She cuddled God up and hugged God close.
And the Triune Creator, God the Almighty, the great ‘I Am’ – basked in the mother’s love.

And God looked up and smiled.

For God loved the world so much that God came down to show his beloved creatures how to love God by loving one another – sharing the love that comes from God.

Christmas is a time to hold the infant Christ in humble awe and wonder – knowing that the Creator of the Cosmos became flesh – (that God came down) so that we might know what God’s love looks like and share that love with the world.

Christmas is a time to cuddle that newborn babe – that divine presence of God – into our hearts and our lives.

We do this when we love one another as God first loved us.

May this Christmas inspire and embolden us to embrace the holy child of God
– in our care for ourselves, for those we love, and for those that nobody loves.

Or for the kids – just remember God loves hugs especially at Christmas time.