Unto us a son is given! Or in my case....

Unto us a son is given!

Or in my case - a grandson is given!

Last Monday my little new grandson was born. His name: Gabriel John David and he weighed in at 6Ib8oz. Congratulations to John and Donna, his proud parents.

And congratulations to me! It is wonderful, isn’t it, holding a newborn baby. I am sure fellow grandparents will relate to this: to hold your grandchild in your arms. I am told, of course, that it is wonderful being a grandparent, because you get all the good cuddles – and when it comes to the difficult bits you can hand the baby back! (Although, so far I haven’t wanted to hand him back!)

But this feeling is not just for grandparents! Parents holding their newborn offspring – that is amazing, of course. But uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters, and friends of the family – it is wonderful holding that little child in your arms. Little fingers that grip yours; little toes; little arms and legs wriggling about; little eyes trying to focus: wonderful!

But why the bother about babies? A question from this for Christmas – why bother with the baby?

Well you say, you bother with the baby because this is a little precious person. Because of the unique person he is. Gabriel is a precious person and as I held him I wondered what sort of personality will he reveal? What is this unique person like? What will be the distinctive attributes of his character as he grows up? Will he be loud or quiet? (Loud so far!) What type of sense of humour will he display? What will he be good at? What will he enjoy?

And what football team will he support? Well, Luton Town of course! He already has his Baby Hatters tracksuit! Maybe he will play centre forward for the Town!

We remember another newborn baby at Christmas, who Mary and Joseph held, and the Shepherds, and the Wise Men and no doubt others – maybe even the grandparents sped down on a revved up donkey to Bethlehem for a cuddle. (A Ferraronki or Phorsche?!)

Why bother with that baby? After all, there have been many beautiful babies in the world.

Because of the unique person He is. This baby, we are told (in John chapter 1), ‘was with God and was God’ and He came to bring ‘life’ and ‘light’ to all people. As he grew he lived a life and spoke words that brought God to many people. And his life and words continue to bring God to millions of people; many would claim that for them selves, including me. And we experience that in his death we find peace with God, and in his resurrection we find eternal life.

Why bother with the baby – because of who He is.

He brings light. Some of you remember the power cuts of the 70s. Remember them? When all electricity would go off in different districts for hours on end. It might be a bad recession at the moment, but not that bad. But hang on, I’m beginning to sound like a Grandad! ‘You are so lucky Gabriel, it were so much tougher in my day!’

But in the power cuts, if you wanted to find something you needed a candle. And you quickly realised how important light is. Without it you are lost. In this dark work we are lost – but Jesus Christ has come to bring light to live by.

And he brings life. There is nothing like a baby to make you realise how precious life is: those tiny lungs breathing their first breaths; the tiny beat of that little heart. Surely there is meaning to this? Experiencing this proclaims that life is much more than existence.

Jesus Christ came to bring meaning to life, life in all its fullness (as John’s Gospel declares) – for Gabriel, for me, for you.

Why bother with the baby? Because of who he is, and also what he will become. In order for a baby to grow into his or her potential, certain things are required of course: love, care, food, warmth, education, guidance and so on.

What will you do with the baby? In Gabriel’s case he will be loved and cared for so that he may grow and live a full life. You can’t ignore a baby. You need to respond to him.

In Jesus’ case we also need to respond to him - not so he will grow, but so we will. So we will live life in its fullness. What will you do with the baby? Ignore him? Turn your back on his teaching? Disregard his life and death? Surely not! But that is the challenge of the season. Why bother with the baby? What will you do with the baby?

Shah Abbas of Persia was a king who desperately wanted to know and relate to his people. But every time he talked to anyone they would bow and scrape and he never got to really know them. So he took off his stately robes and put on ordinary clothes and went to seek ordinary people. Deep in the basement he met the stoker of the royal heating system. Not realising who he was, the stoker chatted away to the Sultan, and day after day the Sultan returned and a beautiful relationship grew.

Eventually the Sultan thought he should tell the truth to his friend. ‘I have a shock for you – I am the Sultan! And as my friend I offer you up to half my kingdom.’ The stoker thought, and then said quietly, ‘Your majesty, you have already given me your most precious gift – your friendship’

God comes to us in ordinary clothes and gives the most precious gift of all - his friendship, his light and life. Why bother with the baby – because of who He is. What will you do with the baby?

Let us pray that we will receive the friendship anew that was born in that holy birth, and receive the God who comes to us as a baby.