There have been times when I have taken Christmas services when a thought has momentarily come into my head - do you ever have them? They come from nowhere and like an irritating wasp, hang around for a while before disappearing forever.
When we were singing the carols about the angels and reading the Christmas story, I thought, 'wasn't this a bit over-the-top - you know all these myriad angels singing and then Gabriel coming out of heaven to talk to sinful people?' Not only that, but the Magi turn up having travelled for who knows how long just to worship the baby and offer their gifts. We don't even know how long they stayed or how many there were, but they were influential people and it caused a bit of a stir with king Herod, so they must have been 'heavy weight' men of power. These players are in the story to make a point.
I think though, that the wise men, angels and heavenly host were minimal players in the story compared to Jesus. Just think of it - God comes to mankind in the form of a human, leaves heaven, loves everyone he meets, encounters everything that's not good head on, directly confronts the political system and its rulers and ends up dying for his enemies and so the course of the world is changed once and for all and everyone's life can be redeemed. Somehow, when thought of like that, the angels are an aperitif. Jesus really is the main course.
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