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Times-Advocate, 1982-12-22, Page 4Pogo 4 Times Advocate December 22 1982 imes Titre • dvocate Siening South Huron, North Middlesex & Noeth t,unbton Since 1873 irlissubod bi. I• rx trd' Publications limited • < ' ` •ROSS HA('GH Assistant Editor • DICK IONGKIND'.. Ru.inesc Manager R is e) Eris Mi rdirr„dav Ncxning at Exeter, Ontario i> C t,s. %t,ail ResistraM n Number 0386. 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada .$30.00 P., wor: U.S.A. $55.00 { C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS `A' and `ABC' :4111.9COMIRKURIPtitialM...Vi By Rev. Bruce Pocock Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Lucan "but the angel said to them,"Don't be afraid! I am here with goodnews for you, which will bring real joy to all people. This very day. in David's town your Saviour was born, Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11 (Good News Edition) -All of us have been blessed with some really goodnews-at one time or another. It comes to us in many and different forms, but. all of them arevery pleasant to hear and give us a wonderful feel- ing of happiness and joy. ' You know the kind of thing that comprises 'good news'.. It sounds aIke this, "Hey! I. just won the lottery,""Sharon just had a baby rt," "They've caught the thief," "Gary proposed to me last night and I said "yes", and "I got my marks back and I've passed." One piece of good news in our household is my constant "It's O.K. I've just found my glasses." Sometimes 'good news'' has universal appeal and its reception is never forgotten. Who�can ever forget where they heard the words "The war isover" if they•are old enough to have experienced that • piece of good news. Good news can result in many different feelings for those who hear it. It brings relief and new hope to a family caught in the desperation of these hard economic times when they hear father say, "I've got a job." Things can be pretty chaotic in the dressing room of a winning team. and outside, its ecstatic fans can be hav- ing wild times in the midst. of their celebrations. The birth of a baby brings other feelings. It touches all those who have patiently waited for it with a warm sense of humility and thanks. A successful surgery can bring the end of mountains of. worries and a bright new hope for better times ahead. • In short, good news allows us to experience the wonderful aspects of living. It brings good times, and it allows us to get free of the ordinary times and to rejoice. This kind of good news most of us experiebce at various points throughout our lives. It generally is the sign of the high points in • \any person's life. It is one of the times that we really enjoyed ourselves and had fun.. It was immediate, wonderful and full of This is the treasure that 'good news' gives to us, but it does n t usually last for a long time: In a short while, the good news becomes those treasured memories. and life goes on as usual. When we think back on such.things, we see that the acceptance of such goodnewswas an outstanding event in our life. It brought the good times. It lifted us above the ordinary events of living. We are always hungry for more such events, and the way it has manag- • ed to let us break free fora Little while. Perhaps that is why the song of the angels that we recall each Christmas -does not have the impact that it should. Most of us celebrate Christmas, but we don't really rejoice. The angel's message,that Jesus was born does not have an immediate and electrifying effect. We have become immuned or hardened to the joy that this message contains. We fail to see that this annual message is beyond the ordinary too, because we have heard it so much: _ This message of Christmas should be the best news of all, for as the `child' of Christmas said later in His ministry something that -has hope and joy•for all. He said recalling the words of the prophet Isaiah; - "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the op- pressed and' announce that the titpe has come • when the Lord will save His people. Luke 4:18-19 (Good News Edition ) The reason that most of us look for.the 'good news' in our daily lives is that we are oppressed and enslaved by the press of our daily lives and existence. Weare further plagued with self doubt and worry for the future. While the items of news that we hear offer temporary relief' for those worries, the message of the angels of- • fess relief for our deeper worries such as; Am I loved?, Why am I here?, What is my purpose in life? and Why am I so unhappy? The Child born at Christmas came to live the life we live. The pain we experience He shared. The questions we asked He asked and the loneliness we fear He lived in the extreme. The Christmas. mrr�essage then answers with incredible boldness, you do not have to`keep these things. You can shed them. Your loneliness, your fear, and your guilt they are gone because Jesus Christ is born. "Come to me. all of you who are tired from car- rying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take • my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit: and you will find rest. For the yoke 1 will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light. "- Matthew 11:28-29 (Good News Edition) .The invitation of Christmas is the offer of God to you to be truly free. Not just temporarily„but for always. You can live the abun- dant life, and pass the rough times knowing that you do not face them alone: You can enter into God's love through the 'key' of the . Christmas message, andyoucan share with all those who proclaim the 'Child of Bethlehem” Lord the fellowship of love, care, con- cern and, above all, joy. That my friends is the truly -`good news' of Christmas that "Jesus is born." The promise of God is fulfilled and you can be free to really celebrate. This Christmas may yop capture truly that precious gift of His coming and find your life renewed and strengthened and your hope rekindled. • May you hear the 'good news' and feel the difference this day can make. God bless you and yours with a joyous and wonderful Christmas. Newsletters noticeably y m is sing the the writh • Throughyears. writer as been beseiged by Christmas newsletters from several friends. You probably receive a couple of your own; filled with a glowing account of the laurels attained by those friends during the past year. I -could never decide whether\they were attempts to cheer me, or just make me feel envious. At any rate, the newsletters revealed how the writer's daughter had finished first in her piano test; the athletic son had captained the high school football team to another championship: the mother of the household had been elected grand poo -bah of the local lodge and the head of the house (yes. he is a chauvinist ) had been 'elevated to the lofty position of vice- president of his company. There was ottter drivel about their en- joyable arid expensive two-week vacation on some remote fantasy island:,how their Outrageously costly purebred mutt had won his designation as a champion and a closing diagram of the layout of their posh new family room. It always appeared rather hilarious to me that they had forgotten to have the printer include the usual Christmas greeting at the end. it was found scrawl- ed in hand -lettering beneath the fancy type extolling their exploits of the past 12 months. The glossy paper didn't even make the communication useful for a purpose to which paper would have been better suited_. a complaint that has been echoes by many of our forebears ever since the 1 • • catalogues graduated from the softness that made them practical. The pomposity that was contained in the newsletters was almost beyond com- prehension. The tales were impressive It may only be a coincidence, but there BATT'N AROUND with the editor have been no such newsletters from old acquaintances this year. i can only be suspicious that the economy may have something to do with that. With a mind that has always secretly longed to "get even", I suspect the piano playing- daughter has run off with the town's pimp, the lady of the household has been purged from the lodge for failing to maintain their secret codes, the athletic son has been banned from sports for ,\ throwing games for rewards from gamblers and the old man's firm has gone belly -up. They've been 'forced to eat the dog to put some meat on the table and the flew family room has been rented out to a boarder to help pay the mortgage. Fl o . it serves them right. Such egoism usually ends up in a good diet of crow. * * * * Those newletters were indicative of the excesses and opulence of the '70s when the good times -rolled.. in many ways it ex- plains the difficulty people are having in adjusting to the tribulations of . the present. Our priorities became sadly out of whack: happiness it seemed was con- tingent upon materialism. Nowhere was it More evident than at Christmas. Now that things have turned around for many people, there is the tendency to associate unhappiness with the lack of materialism. Not an unusual phenomenon. of course, but one that in- flicts more hurt and fear than it should, The joy of the season should surely be based on our blessings: an inventory of which most people are still richly endow- ed. whether it be based on their needs or in comparison with the status of the ma jority of people elsewhere in this world. There are. of course. people in the com- munity who face a rather; bleak Christmas through no particular fault of their own. and the manner in which others respond to that need will provide testimony to how well the community as. • a whole measures up to the challenge of the real meaning of the season. Let us not be found wanting! To you and yours... best wishes for a full measure of the joys and happiness of the season. "Amazing how Christmas seems to come around when the stores are busiest!" Neither fits the bill I don't know what to get my grandboys -. for Christmas, and that's a fact..,, I know what I'd like to give them, and..I know what they want, but neither one fits the bill. E- cept that they. call be "Bill" and it's Bill who meets the bill. What I'd like to give them is what we'd all like ,to give our children and grandchildren; . a feeling of security, of being loved, health. happiness, good marriages, children of their own, acclaim in their • chosenfields, whether it be pumping gas or pump- • ing philosophy, good and dear friends. dignity, honor, virtue. integrity, and enough to eat for the.. rest of their lives. Pretty wild dream, eh?, for children who will, if they are lucky, sail into the twenty-first century as•.. young adults. • They'll have a feeling of securitY and love as long as I'm around. Health is dicey, at the rate our great' leaders are allowing the world to be polluted. Hap- piness is something you experience, If you're lucky, two or three times in your life. They'll pro- bably make lousy mar- riages, as so many do these days. i can't guarantee they'll even be any good at pumping gas - or philosophy - same thing. Their friends may turn out to be.rotten traitors. Their dignity and all the rest is up to them. •i- can't even .promise they'll have enough to eat for life. although they try to store up enough when they're visiting to make do • for years. So, I can't give them what I'd like to. Nobody can but God, and He doesn't hand Mit stuff like that at Christmas, or any . other time. You have to grow, and roll, your own. I know what they want. Nothing much. Simple, really. Just about three thousand dollars worth of electronic games; Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and such. And new Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley sk t d a es an a rifle each And a -magic wand each And anything quite expen sive that is- guaranteed smashable in eigh seconds. And some ex plosives, to blow up thir teachers. And a kitten each, and a dog each, and a horse- each, and, if it weren't too much trouble, Grandad. (Bill ) maybe a small elephant each. Nothing fancy. What I'd like to give them is impossible, realistically, and what they'd like td get is im- possible financially and aesthetically. And grand motherly. My old lady is sick "of having kittens damped on her. She'd have a stroke if the boys went off, after Christmas, and decided they'd have enough fun with their baby elephants, and were leav- ing them for Gran. What i should give them is a suit each of long underwear, a Bible, and a one-hour lecture about the work ethic and saving your money for a rainy dhy. t 1' can just 'hear Balind, "But, Bill, it rains every day.") Those gifts would bore all three of us out of our skulls, although they're the kind of gifts I used to get when • I was their age. It's bad enough'trying to figure out gifts for the boys, but I come to a com- plete blank when I try to think of something for the Old "Battleaxe. She has everything. After all; she • married me. What more • could a woman want? Ex- - cept jewellery, furs, a new hi-fi, a private checkin t acount,• and two weeks in - / Mexico with an exciting man. g t Well, she- can't have them all. If she's.willing to put up the air -fare, 111 go, reluctantly, to Mexico. My son is another dilein- .ma. He professes to be completely uninterested in material things. only in those of the spirit. And every time he . leaves, after a visit, I'm missing my favorite shirt or jacket. About the only thing I can give him is a couple of hours of my undivided at- tention, while he goes on about astrology, spiritual auras, the occult, and the very slim chance i have of getting to the next world and flapping'around with a bunch of sourfaced "sav- ed" who denied themselves all kinds of fun • on earth so they - could have no fun in heaven. it would be a real sacrifice, because i can usually last only' about. • twenty minutes, when he gets go- ing. without blurting something that starts with B, and heading off to the bathroom or some other sanctuary free of, saints. • That's what. I'll give him. Along with the usual cheque. • - ' What about my daughter? I'd like to give her a twenty -four -hour -a - day baby-sitter, a job she loved, a rich, handsome and extremely understan- ding husband. -two angelic sons to replace the wee devils she has, a total relief from the migraines she suffers. Along with the usual cheque: And what about yours truly? - You can't love other people unlessyou love yourself. So goes to- day's cant: What I usually get for Christmas is the blasphemous job of trying o make the "%$& • Christmas tree stand up. the .treat of making the turkey dressing,,and the sensual delight of signing crisp new cheques. This year, it's going to be.different. Lsaw ;Ilene! on the bulletin boardilhe other day. A couple with a terrific home, all modern gadgets, • near Peter- borough, would like to ex- change houses for a week at Christmas with so- meone in our area, for the skiing. I'm going to write and make the switch. neglecting to tell them that our house included two grandboys, their mother, their uncle, and all the friends tthey.drag in. And if that doesn't work, 1'11 give everybody Gran for a year, a month at a time. 1t would be cheap. good for them all. and give • me -a chance to • grow senile in peace. And . may your ('hristmas choice. by ' equally easy. ' It's Christmas, 1 982 And all of us are happy Looking through the stores Por that perfect gift F'or Uncle Henry A pair of socks? MF ybe that polka-dot tie What can one buy for •aman in a 'home' Anyway What can one give To a than who can hardly see Who can barely feed . • himself What can one give To a fellow who worked outside And alwayssaid he had all he ever needed He always said that if a • Perspectives i)itl the chores every day For forty Years without complaint By Syd Fletcher man had good people • Around him A warm house and plenty of grub What more could he want i wonder what i should give Uncle henry for Christmas in 1982. i wrote the above little poem aftervisiting a nurs- ing home on a Sunday afternoon. if you've got an Uncle 'Henry' there in some 'home', i suggest that the best gift you can give "him is yourself, all wrapped up in your best Christmas smile. Try it I'm sure he'll love it.