In the Book of Job in the Old Testament Job is questioning why God allows suffering to happen. God questions Job in return: God asked Job from the whirlwind, was any human being present when God created the heavens and the earth? More pointedly, where were you Job at the beginning of creation when "the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly being shouted for joy" (cf Job 38:17)?

The answer to God's rhetorical question is no! Job was not there. And neither were we. Nor could any human being with all our knowledge and skill could bring about the creation of the universe. Yet the morning stars still sing and the angels still shout for joy if only we have ears to hear their silent song. The shepherds in the fields around Bethlehem heard them. "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!"

The fact that millions of people of faith and those without faith around the world sing Christmas carols tonight is perhaps a sign that we all do want to hear Good News. We do want to know that the universe we inhabit is a friendly place. We do want to be reassured that our small corner of the universe can be a better place for our children.

You know the Christmas Carol "Little Town of Bethlehem". The first stanza goes like this:

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

The little town of Bethlehem is not a pretty place these days. It makes a lie of the carol we sing. Today it is a divided town, a walled enclave with only a few remaining Christians in a far from peaceful Israel. A place of nightmares. In its dark streets lie hidden danger. Yet the name "Bethlehem" carries our imagination beyond the evil of our world to a new born child who carries our hopes.

The fact that we gather around the world in such numbers tells us that to hold on to those hopes we need each other. One reason we exist as a Church is to articulate those hopes for the world; to carry that everlasting Light. We try to be a Church which, even though it may not directly change the course of history by what we do in Nambour, nevertheless, shows that the Good News is a reality in our lives. To do that we are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary so our community lives in peace and harmony and that our children know that they and the world are loved by God.

The religion of Christians is often ridiculed today. There are many reasons for this. One reason I am sure of is that the image of God which some Christians present is a very small god indeed. Our world has found too much to wonder at in the magnificence of creation from the enormity of the universe to the smallest particle of matter. The god of some Christians pales into insignificance before such grandeur. He becomes just one Santa Clause amongst many, or one super hero amongst others. That needn't be so. If we would let the Scriptures speak for themselves without imposign our own agenda on it we would see that it is not so. If we could see the stars with the eyes of a child it would not be so. If we could hear the stars singing tonight it would not be so.