This was the talk for our 2025 carol service. The children would stay in, and it needed to be a maximum of ten minutes.
On a particular day every year, my family makes a big fuss of me. They blow up balloons. They get a cake and put some candles on it. They sing a song. They give me cards. They give me presents. What do you suppose that special day is? [Response – your birthday!]
Why do we make a fuss of people on their birthdays? It’s a way of telling someone, ‘We’re glad you were born!’
Christmas is a time when we celebrate a very special birthday – Jesus’s birthday! When we celebrate Christmas – and we make Christmas all about Jesus – we tell Jesus, ‘We’re glad you were born!’
We often give people birthday cards on their birthdays and last week the children in our children’s club did some cards to wish Jesus ‘Happy Birthday!’ Let me show you some.
Are we glad that Jesus was born? I certainly am! Someone else a very long time ago was glad too. When Jesus was born, an angel appeared to a group of shepherds. He told them: ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour…’ [Luke 2:10-11].
Whether we realise it or not, we all need a saviour.
So, this Christmas, we’re celebrating Jesus’s birthday and today, I’d like to talk about birthday presents.
Occasionally, presents aren’t quite what we wished for. Who here has ever received a pair of socks they didn’t really want? But most presents, especially when they’re given with love, are wonderful.
There are all sorts of variations in birthday presents.
Usually, people give presents to the person whose birthday it is. Rich people sometimes give very expensive presents. It’s believed that Beyoncé gave her husband Jay-Z a Rolls Royce costing £20 million for his birthday. In 1969, an actor called Richard Burton gave his wife Elizabeth Taylor a huge diamond for her birthday. Today, the diamond is thought to be worth well over $20 million.
Famous people sometimes give extravagant gifts. We can’t do that. But we try to give thoughtful gifts. When we think of gifts for children we think of things like a book or a Lego set. I hear that Yoto players are very popular. When we think of gifts for grown-ups we think of things like books or hampers or some sort of gadget.
Sometimes, a person whose birthday it is gives presents to other people. For example, people often take a box of sweets or some cakes to work or school on their birthday and share them around.
Sometimes a person’s birthday gift can be very generous. Do you remember Captain Sir Tom Moore? For his 100th birthday, Captain Moore asked people to donate to NHS charities instead of giving him a gift. His original goal was to raise £1,000 by walking 100 laps of his garden before his birthday. He ended up raising over £30 million for NHS Charities Together.
It’s quite common these days for a person whose birthday it is to give themselves a present! One year, Oprah Winfrey gave herself a present of a bathtub carved to fit her body.
But it’s Christmas! What about Jesus’s birthday? Can you think of any presents associated with Jesus’s birth?
I have a little box here. Any guesses what’s inside it? Would you like to see?
Inside are gold – well, not real gold! – frankincense, and myrrh. People sometimes think frankincense looks like golden raisins. Myrrh is a darker brown colour and it’s less shiny.
Who gave gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus? [The magi / wise men.]
The gold, frankincense, and myrrh were wonderful gifts to give Jesus. I said that when we make a fuss of someone on their birthday it’s a way of telling them, ‘We’re glad you were born!’
Today, we often try to think of gifts which suit the person we’re giving to. The gifts the magi gave to Jesus were very suitable for who they believed he was.
Gold was a symbol of royalty. By giving gold, the magi were saying that Jesus was king.
Frankincense was used in the temple. By giving frankincense, the magi were acknowledging that Jesus was more than just a king: he was God in human form, worthy of worship.
Myrrh was used for people who had died. By giving myrrh, the magi showed they understood that Jesus would have to die.
Jesus was less than two years old when the magi came to see him. He wouldn’t have understood the gifts then. But I’m sure that Mary told him about the magi and their gifts, and as Jesus grew older, he would have understood what they meant.
There’s another gift associated with Jesus’s birth which I haven’t spoken about yet. But it’s the greatest gift of all. The greatest gift is Jesus himself.
The Bible says that God gave Jesus to the world. It also tells us that Jesus gave himself. Jesus once said, ‘For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, AND TO GIVE HIS LIFE as a ransom for many’ [Mark 10:45].
We’re not used to people giving themselves to someone else. But when a person truly loves someone, they give themselves wholeheartedly. A good marriage is like that. The husband gives himself to his wife and the wife gives herself to her husband.
I said that rich people sometimes give very expensive presents. God is the richest being in the universe and he gave what was most precious to him – his Son. Who did God give Jesus to? He gave him to us. Wow! We have received the most precious gift of all time!
What should we bring Jesus on his birthday? The wise men brought Jesus gifts. But what about us?
About 150 years ago a poet called Christina Rossetti wrote a carol. She gives a very good answer to that question. The carol is called ‘In the Bleak Midwinter.’ The last verse is as follows:
What can I give Him
Poor as I am
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb
If I were a wise man
I would do my part
Yet what can I give Him
Give my heart
What can we give Jesus? Rossetti said she would give Jesus her heart. I believe there’s nothing Jesus would like more from us than that we give him our hearts.
What would it mean for you to give your heart to Jesus this Christmas? Let’s take a quiet moment to think about that.
TALK GIVEN AT ROSEBERY PARK BAPTIST CHURCH, BOURNEMOUTH, UK, 14TH DECEMBER 2025, 10.30 A.M. SERVICE
