Rev Roy Henson

At Christmas I like to recall some of the writings that have enlightened me. The first is a story told by Howard Williams, a former minister of Bloomsbury Baptist Chapel in London.

It relates to Queen Victoria, and her concern for her son Edward VII, when he was a young prince. She was very particular about the people to whom he talked. She disliked, for example, his speaking with the barber, yet she realised he needed to have his hair cut. The problem was solved by arranging for the prince to communicate with the barber through a valet. The barber would ask the valet, "Does his Royal Highness wish to have more off the top or sides?", and the valet would ask the prince. The prince would answer the valet and the valet would tell the barber. Thus direct communication between a common barber and the royal prince was avoided.

But it is said that Queen Victoria was still haunted by the thought, that although the prince did not speak to the barber, he talked to someone who spoke to a barber! Christmas reminds us of the time in the world's history, when God ennobled by His own dignity, the human nature he assumed.

Then there is C K Chesterton's book, The Everlasting Man. In it he observes that the manger of the Christmas story was most likely a cave in the side of a hill, and points to the fact that Christ was born an outcast and homeless. (Sweet little cribs and shining haloes often blind us to this). Furthermore, the cave reminds us that Christ's coming was the beginning of an "underground movement" in which God set out to reclaim His world. The whole chapter, entitled 'The God in the Cave', is worth a read at least once a year.

Finally I enjoy still C S Lewis' description of Christmas in his book Miracles. In the chapter 'The Grand Miracle', God is likened to a man who has to stoop low to get under a great weight so that he can lift it up and carry it on his shoulders. Again, it is like a diver disappearing into the depths of the sea to reclaim a lost treasure, and in the process descending into the coldness and darkness of the seabed.

I suppose there is a common theme in all this - the humility of God. And what a mystery it is! I still think in awe about the Christmas story, and recall the children's hymn that once we sang:-

Great God! And will you condescend To be my father, and my friend?