My four were all summer babies. September – August – July –
June. Today is the birthday of one of them.
I’ve just watched the news, where the coverage is all about
the royal baby born yesterday to Kate and Will. Well, why not give us an
expansive report? Usually our screens are full of injustice and violence and
hatred. How nice to focus on something as wonderful as a new baby.
Not everyone is that excited. Some are positively incensed
that we should waste our precious time on this media circus. Those are the
people who are calculating what a waste of money he is bound to be over the
years of his lifetime. Let’s ditch this anachronism, they declare, and get back
to the Serious Stuff.
Two thousand years ago the heavens themselves were excited
about the birth of a new baby. The angels formed a choir and just couldn’t help
belting out a few gospel tracts.
Some wise men were guided to find Jesus, and they were
excited, too. Looking for him cost them something – dangerous travel, loss of
earnings while they were away, possible threats from robbers or even the local
despot, not to mention the expensive gifts they brought him. They knew this
baby was someone special, and they were excited to invest their time, effort
and money in him.
The sitting king in the region, Herod, feared that this new
baby was, indeed, someone special, and as such, a threat to his power. So he
went back to the Serious Stuff pretty quick. More injustice, violence and
hatred. Kill all the baby boys of that age, in that village. That should do it,
he thought.
He missed the point though. The Kingdom of God was born on
earth that night, and the earth has never been the same again. With Jesus came
a resurgence of hope, of life, of love, of joy.
Jesus turned everything upside down, so that joy, hope, life
and love became the real Serious Stuff. He freed us to love life, to laugh a
lot, to party. He taught us that the Serious Stuff is not necessarily always
that Serious.
My summer baby born 31 years ago today also brought hope,
life, love and joy. Our hearts sang with praise of the God who made him, on
that night when he was born. Another wee miracle born to sing the praises of
his God.
Well. There is just something about babies, isn’t there?
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