HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-12-22, Page 4Drawn by Donny Beaver, Grade 6, Stephen Central
Hun ter-Duvar and Douglas
Huntley as spares.
A threat of rabies in the area
has prompted Hay 'Township to
pass a bylaw stating that all dogs
must be tied up, effective im-
mediately until further notice.
A new feature for 'pupils of
Lumley School in Usborne
Township this year was an old-
fashioned sleigh ride around the
district. It was organized by
teacher Mrs. William Mail..
10 Years Ago
About $200 worth of sweaters,
slacks and other apparel was
stolen from T. C. Joynt and Son
Men's wear store at Hensall
Christmas night. Entry was
gained by breaking the glass in
the front door.
Loss of around $25,000 was
estimated in a barn fire near
Clandeboye early Monday
morning which destroyed
vehicles, livestock and produce.
The barn belonged to Joe Van-
neste, RR 1, Clandeboye.
The value of a young girl's
letter to Santa Claus now has
'reached the $2,500 mark since its
Christmas sentiments were first
published in the T-A eight years
ago. Elizabeth Knox, daughter of
Rev, and Mrs. Norman Knox
wrote the letter which read
"There are children who need
presents more than I do. I hope
you have plenty of toys for
them," Her wish was read by
"Another Elizabeth" in London
who made an anonymous
donation to the girl through the
Free Press. Since then, Elizabeth
has received a total of $2,500 all of
which is in a trust fund for her
education.
Gift of an open heart
(Jame, d eame, Emmtuad
By REV, DONALD BECK, Hensall United Church
With the. Advent of Christmas, 1973, the prayer of the Church,
and, indeed, the prayer of all humanity the world over could very well
be taken from the famous twelfth century hymn, 0 come, 0 come, Em-
manuel;
0 come, 0 come, Emmanuel,
And ransome captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, 0 Israel!
So often today the Church seems to be in exile from the very
humanity that it would seek to serve, and sometimes even from God
himself. And, on the other hand, mankind is also in exile today from
his own inner humanity.
As we look out, at the world we could very well say as did
Jeremiah, that it is not unlike the moment of creation. Perhaps the
words of the commentator are more appropriate: "Jeremiah looked
out on the world and saw a moment of uncreation, and could think
only of the words of the creation story in Genesis to describe what he
saw. And he said: 'I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and
void; andto the heavens, and they had no light. I looked on the moun-
tains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. I
looked, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the air fled. I
looked, and lo, the fruitful land was desert, and all the cities were laid
in ruins . "
Jeremiah looked out and saw a moment like the moment of
creation when God looked out on the face of the deep and saw a
void, saw all things without form, saw chaos reign.
Like Jeremiah we look out on our world in 1973 and we see
chaos. It is a world that seems sometimes almost without form because
it is changing so rapidly. Very little seems to be in its proper place any
more.
The Church struggles with itself to say the appropriate things
about this world, and it struggles to take appropriate action; but like
so many other things, it ends in chaos. The world attacks the Church
for what it calls hypocrisy and failure to be itself — that is the agent
and dispenser of love in a chaotic and sometimes formless world.
Within the Church, Christians are still caught up in the debate
about involvement. If the preacher speaks out about the social and
political issues of our day, he is not preaching the Gospel, or he is too
involved in politics and has no business there. If he does not speak to
the issues of our time, he is not answering the kind of questions the
people are asking and he is irrelevant.
But this is not just the Church's struggle. It is the struggle of all
men. So rapidly and so completely has the world changed, just in this
century, that a person of seventy or seventy-five years of age has lived
through Victorian moralism and now finds himself immersed in near
total hedonism. At one time happiness was seen to be the byproduct
of moral living. Now it is an end in itself to be sought at every level of
life and at whatever cost.
Earlier, responsibility was viewed as the primary aim and goal
of every mature adult. Now it is understood to be the senseless
jabberings of the clergy, the teacher, and that older and outmoded
generation of people who are over forty. The Victorian man's world is
becoming untreated, or unglued, in the modern idiom. Chaos over-
comes him like a monsterous wave and suddenly he's too old. There is
crime in the streets and in the byways, there is poverty in a land of
plenty, and there seems to be almost no hope.
And this struggle is certainly not only an individual matter. The
nations are also caught up in it. The chaos of the Middle East situation
can be duplicated, to some extent at least, on almost every continent
of the globe. Our cities are filled with seemingly unanswerable
problems and are in a constant state of upheaval.The cry that comes
out from every capital in the world is: "Our enemies will destroy us
and our friends don't love us." And even the United Nations offers dis-
trust and chaos at the highest level. There is strife in the world; there is
poverty of spirit; and there seems to be no hope.
Therefore this prayer is very appropriate for Christmas, 1973:
0 come, 0 come, Emmanuel,
And ransome captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here .
If we left the matter here, however, we would end in despair,
and an end like that is unworthy of mankind, whether Christian or
not. If there is one thing that comes through all of this chaos, surely it
is the sound of hope.
The Church struggles, the individual struggles, and the world
struggles, and we all continue to do so only because there is in us
some hope that it will all come out right in the end. And even when we
struggle we look for someone who will come into our midst and help
to straighten out the mess we are in. The Church cries for the Messiah.
The pillars of the community cry for strong police protection to
take care of crime. The people of the new generation cry for someone
who will love them; the disinherited cry for justice; and each nation
looks for that leader who can, by some act of genious, bring peace to
the world without, at the same time, dishonouring human and
national aspirations everywhere.
It would be ridiculous for me, or anyone else for that matter, to
try to answer all the questions that are raised by our loneliness and
exile. But is there anything the Church can say this Christmas even to
itself that makes any sense at all? Obviously, I believe there is or I
would not be writing this today.
The real question in all this, at least for the Christian, is: What is
it that we hope for? What kind of Messiah do we expect? What kind
of a Messiah do we want?
The old answers don't seem very helpful anymore because they
are based too much on the overlay of requirements written by men
who see themselves as perfect, who describe the Messiah in terms of
that perfection, and who make it the basis of participation either in
some earthly utopia or heavenly kingdom. If the Arabs and the
lsraelies, the Russians and the Chinese, the French Canadians and the
Canadian Indians, the Africans and the ghetto residents of this world,
if they were all to accept our standard of excellence, of perfection, of
morality, then they can participate. We are told that only in this way
can we overcome the chaos and the exile that afflict our world. Of
course, it is precisely this "establishment' concept of the Messiah that
the world is rebelling against.
The old Messiah comes to give his "stamp of approval" to the
"good guys" and, perhaps, the main thing wrong with this view is that
it does not admit to the need of judgement, It is too simple because it
sees the "good guys" as those who honour, usually by lip service, the
traditional standards of our society, or the traditional folkways, such
as attending church on Sunday morning, wearing the right clothes,
wearing the right length of hair, or assuming certain approved
responsibilities, As long as we Christians accept this view, we will find
that the Majority of people are not listening and the Church's exile
from humanity is bound to continue.
The Messiah of the New Testament seems to bear no
resemblance to the Messiah that we seem to want. The true Christ
comes in love and judgement. He sweeps away all our petty and over-es
simple judgements of people, He sweeps away our tendency to
think of ourselves as righteous and pure, Who was it that he befriend-
ed and lived with? Largely they were the outcasts, the disinherited,
those who lived in poverty. He identified himself with the interests and
needs of the lowliest members of his society,
Perhaps there are no greater surprises in the New Testament
than those called the surprise of righteousness and the surprise of
judgement which appear in the parable of the sheep and the goats in
Matthew 25:31-45. The publicans and sinners were surprised that he
cared for them at all. They were surprised that he thought them
worthy of his time. And I expect the pillars of that society were even
more startled that, under his judgement, they did not come up with
the sheep, but with the goats — not with the "good guys", but with
the "bad guys".
The real Messiah is concerned about human beings and about
their relationship to one another. And this, after all, is one of the ma-
jor concerns of every group in our time, in our society, in our world. It
is at the heart of every problem we face. Our seventy-five year old
Victorian is really asking how human relations can-again be made as
real and as sensible as he feels they once were. And that person on
the other side of the gap between generations wonders how human
relations can be made genuine and honest.
The 'answer to both of these questions is in this parable in
Matthew's Gospel. In this story Jesus introduces the element of love
and concern as prerequisites to life in the kingdom.
It is not that we should not live morally, and it is not that concern
and love are all there are to it. It is that morality without love and
concern is really only sterile legalism. The love that Jesus talks about is
not just sentimentalism, it is not some kind of sexual license; rather, it is
the love that demands true discipleship. It is ,the love that makes us
choose the cross and the cup of death for the cause of justice in our
society and in our world. It is, if you will, the love that overcomes the
Church's exile from the world and humanity's exile from itself.
But let the parable speak for itself:
When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with
him, then he will sit on his throne. Before him will be gathered all
the nations, and he will separate them from one another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place
the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the
king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, 0 blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda-
tion of the world; fort was hungry and you gave me food,1 was
thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcom-
ed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you
visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the
righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry
and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we
see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee?
And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' And
the king will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, as you did it to one
of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me,' Then he will
say to those on, his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into
the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels; for I was
hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me
no l drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, sick and
in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer,
'Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
naked or in prison, and did not minister to thee?' Then he will
say to them, 'Truly, I say to your as you did it not to one of the
least of these, you did it not to me.'
This, then, is what the Church offers to the world, not so much as
an answer to the specific problems of, housing, or crime, or immorali-
ty, but rather as the way of viewing our lives in the world. There can
be no solution to any human problem that fails to recognize that, at
every point, we are dealing with human beings who are loved by God
— the same God that we serve — and, therefore, they deserve, simp-
ly on the basis of their humanity, any love and any concern that we
can offer.
In dealing with the problems of our society, we are not dealing
with some abstract problems of crime, of poverty, of education, or of
race, but with people who are being maimed and destroyed by the
systems that we have devised. And as the Messiah embraces them, we
must embrace them, too. And, if necessary, we must take hold of those
very systems and change them so that men's lives are no longer maim-
ed or destroyed.
In many ways we have become slaves to our traditions and our
systems. We need to remember that, no matter how imperfect they
seem to be, the protesters, the disinherited, the downtrodden, will rise
up, armed with the judgement of the Messiah, and will destroy those
traditions and those systems unless we learn to place humanity above
every system and above every tradition. This is the Church's message
that it offers to the world every Christmas.
The Christ Child comes in Judgement and love. He brings all
humanity — not just some small, segment.of,it — the gift of grace, but
it is a costly grace, because this Messiah also brings the Cross, by
which alone we are able to become selfless, by which alone we can in-
herit the kingdom, which was devised for us from the foundation of
the world.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, 0 Israel!
50 Years Ago
Dr. C, Fletcher of Hensall
occupied the pulpit in the
Presbyterian Church on Sunday
in the absence of the pastor,
Mr. W. E, Sanders on Monday
shot one of the big California jack
rabbits and experienced a lively
time doing so. He was on the road
in his buggy waiting for the dogs
to bring the rabbit around when it
came down the road toward him,
closely followed by the dogs. He
pulled the horse to one side and
yelled to scare the rabbit into the
field and shot it from the buggy.
The noise of the gun frightened
the horse and they went down the
road pell mell for one half mile
before he could stop the beast. He
says he will not try it again. The
rabbit weighed over 11 pounds.
Mr. Matt Routley was elected
president of the Exeter District
Plowmen's Association at their
annual meeting in the town hall
last Saturday afternoon,
The Boy Scouts of town should
he commended for their kindly
Christmas spirit in distributing a
large number of Santa Claus
stockings to the children of the
town on Christmas eve.
25 Years Ago
New 1949 licence plates will go
on sale Monday January 3.
This year there are 35 on the
roll for classes in the High School
for displaced persons. The course
of study is basic English.
It was the stork that brought
Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon Wein their
best Christmas present this year,
Sherry, a baby son, was born on
Christmas morning.
Mr. Charles. Waghorn was the
winner of the radio at Robert-
son's Drug Store.
The best bushel of turnips
submitted by the members of the
Huron club at Achievement Night
was that of Harry Dougall.
Santa Claus arrived by air at
the Centralia RCAF Station on
Wednesday afternoon and
thrilled close to 500 children. '
15 Years Ago
The CGIT of Caven
Presbyterian Church presented
the Christmas Vesper service in
the church on Sunday evening.
Carole Hogarth was the leader
for the service.,
In competition with United
Church Sunday Schools from
London and surrounding district,
four pupils from James Street
United Church in Exeter upheld
their knowledge of the Bible
without a defeat. The members of
the team were Ann Fair-
bairn,Elsie Gosar, Larry Idle,
and George Godbolt, with Linda
The Sunday School staff of a
certain church school was
making plans for their annual
Christmas play. Everything
seemed to be working out fine
until they remembered one
snag . . . Bert.
Bert was a lovable thirteen
year-old . In most ways he was a
model pupil . . . courteous, co-
operative and happy. Yet, every
year he presented a problem at
Christmas concert time. Why?
Well, Bert was retarded and it
was often difficult to find a part
suitable for him.
Eventually one of the teachers
hit on an idea. "Let Bert be the
innkeeper," she suggested, "he'll
only have to say a few words and
I'm sure he can handle it."
So, it was decided. Bert was
delighted with his part and
diligently practised with the rest
of the children, carefully
memorizing the six words he had
to say.
The night of the concert arrived
with all its excitement. Teachers
feverishly stuffed small
wriggling bodies into costumes,
straightened eschewed halos,
hunted for lost sandals, pinned up
last minute rips until
finally . . . it was curtain time.
Everything progressed
beautifully up to the time Mary
and Joseph approached the inn to
ask for lodgings. Inn keeper Bert
flung open the door at their timid
knock, stuck out his head and
bellowed, "There's no room for
you here," and slammed the door
in their faces .
They turned and were making
their weary way slowly across
the stage when the inn door flew
open once more, and Bert came
running after them tears
streaming down his checks.
Putting his arms around them
both he sobbed, "I'm sorry . . I
didn't mean it. You can come
home with me and sleep in my
bed tonight."
Needless to say, there was
scarcely a dry eye in the
audience.
Had the pageant gone off
without a hitch it' would have
caused scarcely a ripple. Oh,
they'd have gone home saying
'how lovely it was' and been
proud that their little Betty or
Jackie had looked so cute as an
angelorshepherd.And then they'd
have been caught up in the frenzy
of Christmas preparation and
I forgotten all about it.
But that night Bert gave them
all something that no parent,
teacher or child would ever
forget. He showed them and gave
them the deep seated love from
his open, guileless heart.
Christmas day comes with its
tender memories, present
gladness and high anticipations.
We'll all be giving and receiving.
Some of us may be limited in our
giving by circumstances but we
can all give Bert's gift . . love
from an open heart.
Christmas is really our
response to God's greatest gift of
Himself to us. The shepherds and
wisemen responded by bringing
gifts to the Babe in the manger.
Often, we become so intense
about 'what' we give that we
forget 'why' we give the gift.
The other night, on her special
show, Julie Andrews sang a song
about Christmas not being the
things you do at Christmas but
the Christmas things you do all
the year. True.
In mahy homes the gift of
patience would be the most Ac-
ceptable gift a family could
receive. In others, the gift of
cheerfulness and a good
disposition, Again, gifts of
cooperation, kindness, ap-
preciation and tender-
heartedness would be gratefully
received,
This Christmas let us pray that
this self-giving, which we see God
personifying in the manger, will
live in our'hearts 'every' day of
the coming years.
"A messed Christmas to all of
you." brawn by Laura Beck, Stephen Central