Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1943-12-23, Page 2At; ..CAGE TWo eE `e + r+ +Q f +Ew +i r opto+Eiro+f +f + i 1 M+f+ f w t 1 Qe crumb , antow « bouivi tocan G' tenwo tiol umfoc iapto1 ww, rpottgro r a t. c!Itt! tutLItt The 'Luckriow Sentinel, Lucknow, Ontario fl 4iP N h..ji•. THURS., DECEMBER 23rd, 11943 s • IN their message "Fear • not-for_be_hold I bring you good tidings of great joy which 'shall be, to all people.... And the shepherds said. one to another "Let us now go even to Bethlehem and see this thing' which is come to pass". Christmas. will .,mean much. more to us if we also say; fi t • Let us. •goto Bethlehem. holiday, a happy time with glad home -coming,' (1111iiiltutao The True Meaning of Christmas (By Rev. C. IL l IacDonald) I want you to. think of the shepherds on the hillside near Bethlehem on that first Christ- mas night. In common with -all others of the , faithful in Israel they were holing, for the coning of the Messiah but no one expected' the Messiah- would be a little baby. all looking f r •a king The Gift of Gifts (By' Rev: G. G..Howse) Both the. word and the occasion should be divested 'of' all frivolous scussion"and icon- sideration. Christmas•3•n _ ns far more to us than thecasual' f tb wor indicates It has in Christmas Message (By Rev. J. W. Stewart) • Nearly • two thousand' years ago, an the hills near Bethlehem,- a strange, thing happened. A - wonderful light shining from:: Heaven lit.' up use o e those ,hills .and, plains. We are' accustomed to it spiritual 'significance, personal opportunity; many .strange .lights 'flitting .through the skies . , and •, The • , , night •n., these tinies•..•,but such a,li�'ht re •igiaus • power a 1 1 world h right to ex as that had never been . seen . before nor .has i'nd Christian testimony. The on any g: vu gar, '.commercia as.. no - - They . a were o ploit Christmas: • The ':thoughtless. avaricious • there ever since. At first that .light: struck fear To slay their foes and lift them high world has. no .right• to put. Christmas .on : the , ' into the hearts, of the shepherds who were there Thou earnest„ a >ittlg.'baby 'thing bairgain'counter it was intended to bring .to our •- looking •afte•r'.'their flocks, -.but soon'that fear That • made a woman . cry. : ' attention the Gift of Gifts: There is alp` coin-• . ` turned to ,j'oy • ' for out of that ' brightness 1 . To these shepherds came the angels ' with ' '' mercial or personal element in grace: It is. free,. emerged angels singing a glad refrain "Glory unmerited gift of.'God' Christmas was intended highest,d to. God in the Peace on earth, Good-• will toward niers” Was it .only an empty song? to present and keep ever before the people, . from thesmallest child to theoldest, person, After nearly two thousand years,•nations are nations the greatest of all gifts, the perfect manifest- at war .and there is no peace. Though peace ation of God's grace—thefree gift, the un- .4 is greatly to he desired, it 'seems so elusive, so merited gift, the gift that expresses the heart far away. Is there no peace, for • us? When, may • sacrifice and suffering, the giftwhich reveals we be blessed with it?,,Someone said recently the matchless love of •God - ,Christ. .• that Godhas been revealing H niself •in a won - Let Us. bring :Christmas :•back to the derful way, also his marvelouscreatio; in the Many . recent ,scientific discoveries. ' Has God, justcreated the 'electron, . or .any of the othfr, wonderful- things •.in nature 'that'. man is just beginning to discover? No, 'these things have . been there since tithe ,began, only waiting' for man to reach outand discover them' arid then use thein. God has many other wonders wait- ; -° -ing for -us to grasp. The possession of PEACE, that wonderful blessing, is one of them.. Even .1_ • For . too Many Christmas is just .another the bringing of gifts, the sending of greeting, ultruistic; unselfish, . giving - position. Not bar - and joyousfeasting in the horde 'circle. The • gaining, not exchanging, not lowering it to •the. , Son of God did not leave the. Father's- Glory •.'hucksters' tables'in the marts of the -world. We ... should bring Christmas'' back to the place where • and. come to the Manger. in. Bethlehem in orderN the heart seeks an, opportunity to. express i:rr • -that-"You and I • might have turkey and. plum e pudding and send and : receive gifts at Christ -•real tangible gifts its passion for souls, its love mas. He came to provide, the Bread- of Life of men and its good will for all concerned: deepest d of Regardless of whether • you are ever thought f sous or our , to satisfy the eepeS VSLL u s our *arts.. The Christmas, celebration is . ons = ' "' or ' ,,�.„.,,, crer ['-- aev membered againnot; express yourself in . though ,,this ' great blessing is spurn • . •y. e the coming .Christmas . • a mockery if we.accept these• earthly mercies;d gift deeds acts nations; may not we, as ° individtiais, take the however. thankfully, and despise the wealth. -ays m gi -•- and genuine manifestationof true. love upon` • lead and utilize 'this great gift of God. Let us - He offers,'for our souls. , have peace in our 'hearts, and in our: relation people who . can never repay you . and • who may never the shepherds returned glorifying never know who their benefactor was. ships•.one to another: Then we will be echoing and praising God” Suppose, these shepherds i after hearing- the angel •;song - and .worshipping the Divine babe had - henceforth gone' w:ander- . . • ing, listening ' ever for the angel voices and ' born of. the Virgin Mary,. wrapped. in swaddling ,looki 'g everywhere fir the Divine babe. ' Sup• pose they had spent their time trying to re- call the ecstasy `of that wonderful might while ,6. • Christmas means God's only Son wastgiven • back the angel's soig, at this Christmas time, to the world,'therefore,, Christ expresses the . ' and telling the world that. those Were_ not full heart . love of God.for the' world: He was empty words, but words fraught with truth, wisdom and love.; •. In. wishing all`. readers of . this message a Merry Christmas and a .Happy New - Year, I pray that we may . catch the.. true Christmas Spirit, that is, discover more and - more of what God is trying to reveal to us: Christ's birth on`'" that first •Christi a's was' one of'God's re- velations to man. In it He was trying to 'show' man what He. was like.- He' desires -to reveal more • to us as -each Christmas day comes around. Perhaps today He (would like• to .reveal to us, what He would have us do and'' be. Tom discover this • would really make for us a Merry Christmas; and then having made this . dis- covery may we go into the New Year practising it. Then it, too, would be for us a Happy New Year. - • • Religious Preparedness Is The Need ^(By Rev. Herbert F.."Dann) To me, the message of Christmas : seems to be that' of a� great and. growing' need for re ligious preparedness. The' lack of thi prepay - sheep. But I do not think so. The shepherds m ' ation for the coming of Christ ' into the hearts May' •'the carols of earth, the music • of returned from vision' to •duty, but they 'returned) Heaven and the song of the angels .fill every of man lies at the root of all the disaster that glorifying and praising God. " ` Heart and be echoed around 'the world .because has . fallen . upon our poor humanity. "Prepare The 'vision might have made them dis- Christ, the Gift of Gifts, was born. as the Gift ye the way of the Lord, make 'straight iri. the satisfied with' their work.. Sometimes there is. of God to save the human race. desert a highway for our, God. Every' valley no return. The old life stands condemned in • • ' * * * * shall be exa�lted,.and every Mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be :The .Greatest of Stories ay theleft tothef les and robbers.;:. How foolish that would have been. '.The sudden . innnnreak of heaven into their lives. would have been a curse and not a bless- ' ing.. Yetis not that the action of the man who is always. trying to capture again • the spiritual ecstasy and neglects the tasks - bf earth. The, clothes and lay in the manger that He might lift His people within. the circle:of the will of God. The` dynamic of the Christian truth ' sheep were e mercy o wolves should cause us to overflow with love. There • is no. love without sacrifice there is no'sacrifice without ' suffering. God cannot separate love and suffering,' nor can he permit love - to exist • - without expressing itself in . sacrificial. gifts. What are •you willing to sacrifice, what are you wilihig to give, as the iresult of that cen- t . shepherds returned. It -was God's will.they • trolling passion, 'hat the world may.know' the should return. With the memory of all . the Son . of: God was born and that He'brought. . glory of that night in their hearts they went with Him the love: of God, the good will of back to watch` over .the sheep again. They re- turned to the same scene, to the sale task but 'was everything the same? No, they th God, the purpose of God, to save a lost world?. Lift your Christmas out of the mud . of •e em- selfishness and 'put it on'the high' 'ay of giving, . . selves were changed. bf course it .is possible . of loving, of sacrificing and of doing for others i • that as excitement died away they gradually. • that • they may know the real Christ spirit i fell back to what -they were before. The events which dwells in the heart of the Christian: i of that wonderful night might.in time become How necessary then is.it that we .pr'epare our •�► , • just- so many: strange, experiences' to gossip • hearts, as we prepare in many other ways for about as, they,, sat in • the moonlight 'tending Christ as the light' of the vision and. then the only course is to abandon it altogether, or carry. on the con- t science the burden of a lifelong reproach. But I do not think, the shepherds •were dissatisfied with their work. True it had not much romance ,in it but it. was good necessary • it all the elernents of wonder. But for all that, -' honest work and they. were glad to do it, and it is the simplest, the most homely, ' and the the glow of that vision transfornied their task• most natural of all the great stories' that enrich making it nobler and more beautiful, the memory of the world. - • made straight,. and the rough places plain; and - illy Rev. 3.• W. Donaldson) ' the glory • of • the Lord shall be revealed . "•' However' many Christmases . we have The inference. from, the prophet's words is known, we never tire of the story. It has in . obvious,' The country through which our Lord must travel before He can approach our- life is a hard country to traverse. There are Cold. and 'forbidding peaks of undeserved human pride, and power of undeserved human pros- Some may ask, why was this great ex- t • • perience of revelation wasted on: shepherds? ,a I canunderstand why a vision was given to • Isaiah, God wanted to send him as a prophet; or to Paul on the way to Dahiascus. It made an apostle of him and he enriched the -world. Preachers, authors, statesmen, musicians these tragedy of all history is a line writtenwith need vision and they can translate vision into a- broken heart, "Ire came unto HIS own; and • noble human ministries. But does a ;shepherd . His own received Him not". Had they done Christrnas• is like a star on a dark .night. perity and arrogance. There are dark and cruel • It gives light and direction. This war -stricken - • valleys of undeserved •human misery and ' world needs the steady light of Christmas. It ' squalor, of; undeserved human poverty and brings a message . about God. To- a loveless • suffering and wretche. dneis.' There are rough world God has sent His love. God coal not " :places of human doubt and perplexity, of give more when He so loved that He gave. The human peril and difficulty,, There are crooked placesof human . craft and error,, of human cunning and ' deceit;''' _ If we, want our Lord to come into His own, to enter Our life and reign. over ,us, : we must make it possible for Him to, come by .building Him a highway that .shall be straight and level and broad and open. tend sheep better because lie has heard the so; history would read very differently. The angels song? Does a man need a vision to en- gift 'however, is still on offer. And in. that A, able him to sell groceries • or' hardware; or to' . • fact lies the ,Christmas • message of hope—it Is e mend shoes or to -feed cattle? The man who .. a star, gleaming brightly upon a darksome wan- • asks that qu stion - does not understand the dc>>ring world. , The. magic .of the. message. is to .be .seen, inindividual life. It is the one day of the service we render to God and our fellowmen, ' ' year at least when everyone manages acheery and if at Christmas time we go to Bethlehem . • - smile . and hearty greetings and the spirit of to see this great thing which is come tO pass good will reigns suprerne. It is also the day whfch • the Lord hath -made 'known to us, we that belongs to home and family. If Christmas t too shall return to our dailk- Work glorifying means such a transformation there, it also holds and praising - God for all that we have .seen the promise of the same transformation for the % and heard., Joy f Christmas fill world. It is the only promise of a better future May y . ,q l all your, . which stands fast in these ,changing days. hearts. ti full significance of work. Work is . not just that by Which we, earn a . living. It is the This Christmas; holds for scone of, you a . home_ _anxious - for the ,safe return ' of its mem- bers from. active, service; for others, a vacancy .never to he restored, either through the ravages of war or the. passing of time. Again, it *ill hold for sonde a home in Which .happiness shall give' free reirr to the season's®spirit. Ineither case. I •but direct you to the Christmas Star. May the Christmas Star ,with its. fullness of joy' and peace, shine brightly upon you all, and bring; you God's richest blessings this coming season. - ' • ++ tr, n -:,-or . iirm ; -i `nomwei, 'it 'i ?'" A `+!?�i'i'l,� f ,$ '" #!' �#1,�#$�lr�.##�#�^'1N�'#�,"�t�#t���b?�iii�",lt��''�1'1ob�✓tfrri��it�t►,�1,,�'#�"h n • .. ,r.