What Then Shall We Do?
We Will Take Him in Our Arms,
And We Will Hug Him!
Jennifer’s Grandmother Barton loved babies. I mean she really loved babies. It just may be that she loved babies because she had loved being the youngest of 11 children in her family, but there was never any question. She loved all babies.
She loved them most when she could hold them in her arms. And you wanted her to hold your baby in her arms because if she did that meant that she would hold your baby in her heart and announce with a warm smile, “I believe this is the prettiest baby I have ever seen!”
The most compelling reason that I can give you for her warm affection is because of her love for the child born this night. Though she could hardly carry a note in a bucket, she’d have been inclined to join the chorus of angels singing to the shepherds good tidings of great joy, telling them the good news that God is here in a beautiful baby, and encouraging them to drop whatever they’re doing to get over here to see this new born child.
We would love the baby born this night if we’d take the time to slow down and hold this child in our arms. You can’t be hurried or hassled and see the real beauty of this little one. You cannot have your arms wrapped around a thousand other things or be tied in knots by the pressures under which you strain. To really fall in love, you have to reach out to receive this child into your empty arms and your open heart.
One of life’s greatest joys is gently tapping on the door of a hospital room to celebrate the birth of a newborn child with young parents. It’s a good sign that the baby is in the room with them when they answer in a soft hushed voice to invite you to come in. The excitement grows because you’re about to see a newborn baby. It is enthralling when the mother or father pulls back the soft blanket ever so slightly to introduce you: “This is Madeline Dean or this is Thomas Barton or this Hallie Tatum or this is Hayden Belle!” (If you were the one preaching you could have filled in the names of your grandchildren.)
With the introduction complete, the parents then compound the joy by asking softly and quite tenderly if you would like to hold her!
Respectfully you answer, “Oh, yes!” And then you get to take her into your arms and get to know her and discern her unique personality almost instantly as she stretches and wiggles. You feel her little heartbeat and sense the courage she will have to face this harsh world. Invariably you let loose with something like: “I believe she is the prettiest baby I have ever seen!”
Long before Jesus birth, at a time when he could only imagine this child that would be born, this son that would be given, Isaiah rolled off the most remarkable list of names to describe what Jesus would be like. “You shall call the child Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:1-9). Isaiah held this image in his heart. He saw deep into the character of this tiny vulnerable being. He exclaimed with such excitement that it still reverberates through the years to this very moment in time. If we are quiet, if our hearts are still, I believe we can hear the announcement of the angels as surely as the shepherds working the late-shift of that hillside duty. “This baby will be called the Prince of Peace. There’ll be no limits to the peace and wholeness he brings.”
While that’s the claim of Isaiah and the angels, you’ll have to decide for yourself.
Would you like to hold the baby?
Receive the Christ child this night into your empty arms and your open heart. In remembrance of this child, take this body given and drink the cup of his new life that is poured out for you. Feel his unique presence. Experience the warmth of his personality and the power of his resolve.
It is in this beautiful child that we learn just what to do!
What Can You Do?
By Darrell Adams
What can you do when the children are crying?
What can you do, you don’t know what to say?
You take the children in your arms, and you hug them.
You take the children in your arms, and you love them.
What can you do when the whole world is crying?
What can you do, you don’t know what to say?
You take the whole world in your arms, and you hug us.
You take the whole world in your arms, and you love us.
What can you do when you are crying?
What can you do, you don’t know what to say?
Just look deep into your heart, and love will find you.
Look deep into your heart, and love will find you.