By tradition, animals have a special place in the Birth of Jesus – the ox, the ass, the cattle, the sheep in the fields, even the camel and tonight I want to tell you of an animal that found itself with a very special task that Christmas night in Bethlehem, long ago.

It is not an animal that you will ever sing about in a Christmas Carol and I dare say that you will never see it in any Christmas crib, nor on any Christmas card.  It’s a mouse  - and on  the night that Jesus was born, this mouse was sleeping quietly when he was awakened by a great commotion.

Peering from the door of his mouse-hole, he saw the sky all bright and lit up even though it was the middle of the night. He heard strange sounds as if a great choir was singing and being an inquisitive sort of creature he decided he must find out what it was all about.

So, off he scampered to see his good friend the wise Owl.

“What’s going on?” asked the mouse.

“There’s a great commotion because a baby has been born in Bethlehem and everybody’s going to see him, so it seems.”

The mouse wasn’t sure that he wanted to take the long journey to Bethlehem but, as I’ve said, he was an inquisitive sort of creature so he decided it was worth the effort.

Eventually he arrived at an inn and he followed the noise until he came to a stable yard.

There he found some sheep who had been driven from the hills by a group of shepherds.

“Where are you going?” the mouse asked.

“To see the baby.”

“Can I come with you?”

One of the sheep asked him – “Have you got a present?”

“No” the poor mouse answered wishing he’d thought to bring a bit of cheese or something.

“Well then, you can’t come with us. You must have a present. “

“We’re giving him some wool to keep him warm,” said a little lamb, rather pleased with himself.

The sheep went into one of the buildings from which came a glorious light.

Then some cows arrived and once again the mouse asked if he could join them.

“Do you have a present?” one of the cows asked.

When the mouse shook his head the cow mooed in a rather superior way – “Then you can’t come with us.”

“What present have you got?” asked the mouse noticing that they had nothing with them.

“Our milk of course, silly. The little baby needs milk.”

The poor mouse was beginning to feel very dejected. Then he saw a hen and he thought he’d go with her into the stable. The hen clucked at the mouse – “You don’t seem to have a present.”

“What present have you got?”

“Eggs. The baby needs eggs.”

“I don’t see any eggs.”

“Well, I haven’t laid them yet” replied the hen scornfully as she darted into the stable

The poor mouse felt more and more sad. He longed to see the baby but he had no present.

He felt suddenly cold and he noticed that quite a wind was beginning to blow. It grew stronger until it was almost a gale.

He looked up at the billowing clouds and as he did, he noticed that high in the stable wall there was a hole – about the size of a mouse in fact and a chink of light came from it. Suddenly, the mouse knew what to do.

Carefully, he climbed up the stable wall, all the time being buffeted by the strong wind and at last he arrived at the hole and stuck his head through.

It was an amazing sight!

There was a young maiden and an older man looking down at a manger where a tiny baby lay on a bed of sweet-smelling hay. There were cows and sheep and hens and all manner of animals. There were shepherds too and there was a wonderful light.

The mouse squirmed and wriggled to get through the hole so that he could have a better look – but then his body got stuck. He was too big to get through the hole.  Not that it really mattered. He had a wonderful view of everything and he was very happy.

He was even happier when the young maiden whom he heard was called Mary suddenly looked up and smiled at him. She tugged at the man and pointed.

“Look Joseph” she said, “that little mouse has blocked out the draught.” Joseph also smiled in gratitude.

And that was it – his present to the baby Jesus.

The moment he got stuck in the hole he had stopped the wind from reaching the baby Jesus and so prevented him from catching a chill.

The mouse stayed in the hole until morning came and the wind stopped howling. Then he climbed down and went off home, happy that he had seen the baby and had even given him a present.

On the way back home he met the sheep and the cows and the hen and he told them that he’d seen the baby Jesus after all.

“How come” they all said, “You had no present.”

“Oh but I did” cried the mouse happily.

“What did you give him?” they asked.

“I gave him me for as long as he needed me.”

 The story, told by the Iona Community, ends there but not before we are reminded that there is no better present to give to Jesus than ourselves, tonight and always.

But actually, it’s only part of the story.  It sort of concentrates on what we can give to Jesus and it’s true – that the most important thing we can give him is ourselves – our lives, our love, our service, our determination to live as Jesus showed us how to live and our friendship which turns us into his disciples.

But Christianity is a bit of a topsy-turvy thing and what we see as one thing can often be the opposite and that’s particularly true of the Christmas story. At its heart is not what we give to God but what God gives to us.

When God became human – when he took up our life and lived it in a way that showed us how to live ours and when he taught us that to be truly human is to grow in faith until we are alive with God’s love – then we were being given the greatest gift of all.

“God so loved the world” the Gospel writer John says, “that he gave us His only Son.”

And in that giving, God in Jesus Christ often behaves like that little mouse.  He gives us a present of Himself which closes up the holes in our own lives. 

Holes which prevent us from being complete and joyful human beings who knowing the love of God can become more truly like Him.  So he fills the holes which allow sin and wrong-doing to enter and take over  our lives.  He closes the pin-prick holes which are caused by pain and hurt. The ill winds inflicted on us by others.  He stops up the black holes of despair and sadness and guilt and hopelessness; the gaping holes of self-doubt and a lack of worth; the holes caused by disappointment that somehow life hasn’t realised the promise we hoped for it and the set-backs that all of us , from time to time have to endure.

Then there are the holes caused by failure – perhaps to love as much as we ought or to use our gifts in ways which God can use to further his mission to love all into His Kingdom.  And the holes caused by our tongues when we open the hole of our mouth to disparage, judge, condemn or criticise others.  Then there are the holes left in our lives when loved ones leave us – through death or when they move away from us for some reason – those mini-bereavements and those big losses which can leave us feeling empty and alone.   There are so many holes in all our lives and our soul is chilled and sometimes frozen because, of ourselves, we can do nothing about them.

It is then that Jesus, like the little mouse, makes supreme efforts to plug the gap by forgiveness, healing, hopefulness, care and love – to protect and save us from so much that would drag us down and in so doing to change the perspective by which we live - opening up a new horizon, a new life which beckons us to move forward from darkness to light, from life alone to life with God.

Like Mary and Joseph in the story, who looked up and saw that the mouse was there for them in their need then we  have only to look up – away from ourselves - to see Jesus there for us.  And He is there as long as we need Him – which I suspect is for a lifetime because whether we acknowledge it our not we always need him.

What the Incarnation – the birth of Jesus we celebrate tonight – has to tell us is that God is indeed with us – is there for us – and always will be.

Not only with us – but always loving us in Jesus – not just from a manger or even  a Cross, important though that is for our total well-being – but from the very heart of God from whom He came.   And it is in being held in  the  heart of God that we find our holes truly filled with Holiness – with Healing and Wholeness. As the Christmas message insists – God’s present to us from His heart tonight and for as long as we need Him - is His eternal, Healing, saving  Love - freely given, unwrapped at Bethlehem for us to accept with thankfulness.

May that Love fill your lives tonight and always.