ABSTRACT
Mrs C.F. Alexander's Christmas carol provides a convenient reminder that the bottom line of Christianity is a story and that this story is an amalgam of myth (line 1), doctrine (lines 2 and 6), history (lines 5 and 6) and (especially prominent in the Christmas story part of the Christian story) legend (lines 3 and 4). The story of Jesus is itself part of the larger biblical and Christian story of God and the world which stretches from creation to a still expected future, but, far from being merely the central part of this, it is the allcontrolling centre. How Christians understand the larger biblical and Christian story, and understand themselves as located within it, is (or should be) determined entirely by their response to the story of Jesus, his life, death and resurrection, the gospel of God proclaimed by the Christian church and acknowledged in faith, hope and love within the worshipping community.
