Oxford English Dictionary suggests there are at least a quarter of a million words in the English language, three times that many if you count different meanings (e.g. DOG = noun & verb). Other estimates go as high as 2 million.
Today many of us feel we are bombarded with words – that there are too many of them on the radio, TV, newspapers, internet, etc.

Nonetheless words are essential to communication, to human life.

The God of the bible is a God who communicates. The words of the bible are vital to our faith and understanding.

But words have their limitations – they can be misunderstood, twisted. They can be uncommunicative.
So for his ultimate communication God has gone beyond words, and has come himself, in Jesus, to share our human life. He has communicated his very self to us through the birth at Bethlehem that we celebrate tonight.

“The word became flesh” – that’s the amazing news that St John communicates to us in our gospel reading. All the words spoken by God in times past through the prophets, to which the writer of the letter to Hebrews refers, have been brought to a culmination in God speaking to us in the person of his one and only Son, Jesus.

In Jesus we can see God in action, showing love, serving others, not just saying words, but living them out. What a privilege, what a wonder that God should be so determined to make sure we get the message of his love.

Now we in turn are challenged to give substance to our words: to not just speak our creeds, but to live by trust in God; to not only say that we care for our neighbour, but to do things to help him.

As James writes, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1v22) James continues, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2v14-17)

So as we this Christmas contemplate the child in a manger, we are challenged to recognise in him God’s ultimate communication of himself and of his love. We are also challenged to follow his example and put our words into action, so that the response of love to which God calls us is expressed in deeds.

The characters of the Christmas story, each in their way made a response to God’s communication, in deed not just word – Mary became Jesus’ mother; Joseph accepted the role of his father; the shepherds left their flocks to go and see the Messiah; the wise men travelled a long way bringing their gifts.

How can we respond to God’s Christmas gift of Jesus, not just in words, but in actions that translate our words into deeds, so that our words too have flesh?