Conversations at parties or barbecues often turn to the ‘‘true meaning’’ of Christmas. 

What is Christmas about for you? For many people it’s about spending time with family, relaxing at the beach, enjoying festive food and exchanging presents. Of course, for Christians Christmas is mainly about celebrating the birth of Jesus. 

December 25 is not actually Jesus’s date of birth. We do not know what that is or why exactly Christians began celebrating Jesus’s birth on that date. One theory is that Christians ‘‘hijacked’’ an existing public holiday, celebrating the birth of the Roman sun god. If that is the case, then Christmas is a bit like the Queen’s birthday: it is not the date she was born, but it is a convenient day to enjoy a break. 

When some people learn that we do not know Jesus’s precise date of birth, they think that somehow that undermines everything Christians believe — it does not. 

The Gospel writers were not just concerned about telling us the precise dates certain things happened (although they contain plenty of accurate historical details). But the real concern of the Gospels is to help us see that Jesus was no ordinary man. It is not even enough to call him a ‘‘great man’’: the truth is much more profound than that. 

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is called ‘‘Immanuel’’, which means ‘‘God with us’’. When you think about it, that is a staggering conclusion to reach about a fellow human being. Yet Matthew, along with all other New Testament writers and thousands of other people who lived in the first century, reached the same conclusion about Jesus.  

How did this man manage to have such an extraordinary effect on so many lives? Not just in the first century, but in the 20 centuries since then? If you do not know, I encourage you to attend a Christmas service this year. 

Not just because that is ‘‘what Christmas is really about’’, but because Christmas is a great opportunity to discover or rediscover Jesus and the hope he offers us. 

In this time of global uncertainty and through the stresses and strains of our personal lives, the Christmas message still resonates. Jesus is indeed our ‘‘Immanuel, God with us’’. 

 *The Reverend Michael Baines, Minister, St James’ Anglican Church, Kurnell.