Love came down at Christmas,
love, all lovely, love divine,
love was born at Christmas,
star and angels gave the sign.

The first verse of a carol that I remember singing at my primary school, but which is very rarely heard or sung these days. It was written by Christina Rossetti in 1885.

What it reminds us is that at the heart of Christmas, at the heart of the Christian story, is love, God’s love for the world and for its people.

A question that we probably don’t ask ourselves very much is what we mean by love.

A researcher asked a group of 4-8 years olds that very question - what does love mean? Here are some of their responses.

o Rebecca, aged 8 - when my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands have got arthritis too. That’s love.

o Billy, aged 4 - when someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know hat your name is safe in their mouth.

o Chrissy, aged 6 - Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your chips without making them give you any of theirs.

o Terri, aged 4 - love is what makes you smile when you are tired.

o Emily, aged 8 - love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mummy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.

o Mary Ann - aged 4 - love is when your puppy licks your face even after you’ve left him alone all day.

o Lauren, aged 4 - I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and but new ones.

Quite a mixed bunch of responses.

Two other children gave answers that I want us to reflect on a little more this evening.

Jessica, aged 8 came up with this statement: “You really shouldn’t say ‘I love’ you unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”

Christmas reminds us how much we often forget the love of God for us. There’s a wonderful verse in John’s Gospel that reminds us about God’s love - God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosever believes in him should not perish but should have eternal life. And that’s a message that God continues to give us day in and day out. Through the Holy Spirit, God dwells with us.

But sometimes we are blind to the messages of love that he gives us. So, it is good to have times such as Christmas, when we focus again on that message of God’s to the world - I love you.

Christmas retells the story of how God showed that love to his world, of how he became a small and vulnerable baby, born to a young girl in a stable away from home, with only a manger for a crib. In order to communicate that love to us, God became human so that we might understand better what his love for us means.

And right back at the beginning, we see people recognising who Jesus is. There are Mary and Joseph, both visited by angels, telling them about the wonderful that thing that was to happen through them. We see their love for the Christ-child.

Then we see the shepherds and later the wise men - shepherds from the lowest end of society, unable because of their life-style to keep the Jewish laws of purification and cleanliness, and the wise men from afar, rich and exotic, brining expensive gifts. The symbolism is clear - right from the start the love of God was recognised by lowly and important people, by Jew and Gentile, and God accepted their love.

God’s message to the world through Jesus is to say to us - I love you. I love you whatever you do, however you feel. I share your joys, and I live with your pain.

It’s so easy to want to blame God for all the ills of the world, but as any parent knows, there are times when you have to let your children go their own way - when the loving thing is to stand back and give them their space and let them make their own mistakes. You don’t stop loving them in that situation, you long for them to come to their senses, but you don’t force them to - you stand back and live with the pain that that gives you because you love them.

And, of course, it’s not only parents and children who experience that sense of pain because another person is hurting. Love is a risky business, because it brings great joy, but can also bring great pain.

And that too is part of the Christmas story, for we cannot celebrate Christmas without remembering the pain of crucifixion and the joy of resurrection, as well as the joy of the birth of a boy.

God’s love is not just for the good people - in fact when Jesus grew up, it was the so-called bad people with whom he spent most time, because they were the ones who needed his love most in one sense, they were the ones who knew they needed loving. The outwardly good and righteous often had no room in their hearts for the love Jesus brought.

When people are faced with the idea of God, all sorts of feelings begin to surface. Some people feel they are not good enough for God’s love, some people feel angry with God, particularly if they have experienced some kind of tragedy in their life. Some people question whether God exists. Others feel blessed by God and thankful for all that God has given them, and manage to rejoice even in the midst of hard times, because for them God is their life.

What Christmas tells us is that God is wanting to do just what the 8-year-old Jessica advised - ” You really shouldn’t say ‘I love’ you unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”

God does mean it and his saying I love you was something he did by acting not just by speaking. His actions in sending Jesus become in themselves a powerful language, and when Jesus left that message of love continued because God lives in the world even now in the form of the Holy Spirit.

The other child’s response that really struck me was that of Bobby, aged seven. He said: “Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas, if you stop opening presents and listen.”

Of course, presents and treats are lovely and exciting - I’m looking forward to opening mine tomorrow and eating lots of lovely chocolate and other special food, but presents and treats are not the main reason for Christmas, in spite of what the shops have been trying to tell us for months now. When the food is eaten, the drinks drunk, the presents opened and laid aside, what is left.

What is left is God’s love, there with us, wherever we are. We don’t always recognise because we are too busy or we shut it out, but it’s there, and the Christ-child is a reminder of it.

And, of course, that love is something that we are all called to be a part, to accept and recognise for ourselves, and then to share it with others. For the work of Christmas is not just for the 24th or 25th December, but for all time, for eternity, because God’s love never ends.

When our lives return to normal, will we take the Christ-child with us, or will we just forget him until next Christmas? Will the words of the carols we have sung be put to one side or will the become part of us?

God doesn’t switch his love on and off like a Christmas light - it is constant and faithful. It reminds me a bit of the Dogs’ Trust slogan - a dog is for life, not just for Christmas. What do we get if we turn the dog around? God is for life, not just for Christmas.

I don’t know who wrote the following words, but they are a lovely reminder of what God wants for the world, of why he sent Jesus, and of the way in which we too can be part of that love in the way that we live.

When the song of the angel is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and the princes are home,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost
to heal the broken
to feed the hungry
to release the prisoner
to rebuild the nations
to bring peace among all people
to make music in the heart.