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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1984-12-19, Page 27Pap 2d.—CLTA TON NFW4rIft,NCQ a , WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19,1904 Behold, a virgin shall be with child,'and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us... - Matthew 1:23 Christmas, more than a beautiful story By Rev. Dave Snihur Londesboro United Church For most of us Christmas is the highlight of the year. We dream of what presents we will receive and what special gifts we can give to others. When the Christmas season finally arrives it's rush, rush, rush, as we try to buy presents, go to parties, decorate our trees and spend tinie with our families. In the midst of all these festivities, it is easy to forget what Christmas is really all about. Christmas is a time of remembering and celebrating. We remember the story of Mary and Joseph and the birth of the baby Jesus in one of the straw filled stables of Bethlehem. We picture what it must have been like that, night when the angels sang for the shepherds and the star shone brightly for the wisemen. All around us, pageantry, music and stories attempt to recapture for us the mystery and wonder surrounding the birth of God's only Son. If we allow it to however, the birth of Christ can be lifted off the pages of black and white and become a story in which we can participate and believe in. This story is far, more than just another tale from history, it is an event that can change the lives of each of us. For in celebrating the birth of Jesus in the world 20 centuries ago, we are also celebrating the possibility of the birth of Jesus into our lives today. In a very real way, His birth signalled the start of a new age, the age of God coming down to man. Through Christ's birth, life and death on the cross, God showed us that he wanted to draw us to Himself and provide us with - forgiveness. The Christmas story waits to be completed in each of us as we reach out and receive from God the gift He is offering. This Christmas then, we should do more than simply remember Christ's birth as a beautiful story; we should allow Christ to be born into our hearts to be there not only for Christmas, but for the rest of our lives. IPs foiksI!ke you, our customer, who make being. in baseness a pleasure! LEFT TO RIGHT: Dave Saundercock;Mary Sutter. George Coventry. Tina Balfour, Alden Crich, Sandra Balfour Cheryl Dunn John Balfour. Front Row: Toby the night watchman ...so now at this holiday season, we want to express our sincere appreciation for the part you've played in making our business what it is today. We will always do our best to justify your faith in us and in our ability to serve you. In the spirit of the season, we wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS with good health, happiness,. and prosperity throughout the coming year. JOHN 8 SANDRA BALFOUR AND STAFF CLINTON HARDWARE -J.A. Balfour Retail Sales ltd, - 24 ALBERT STREET, CLINTON 482-7023 A goo time to negm By Rev. Stanley C. McDonald Christmas is a time of giving. At no time in the year are we so kind, thoughtful, and generous. It was no accident that old Scrooge in Dickens' A Christmas Carol was changed from a miser into a generous person at Christmas. His heart, as cold as a winter's night, was warmed by the generosity of Christmas. He was so different from the person they had known that the townspeople laughed at him. Dickens says of him: "His own heart laugh- ed; and that was quite enough for him." We have such fine examples of generosity at Christmas throughout our commgnitles through service clubs, church groups, and social agencies. There are also the generous impulses of our own hearts that lie so close to the surface at this wonderful season. Giving helped celebrate the first Christmas, Matthew tells of the wise men's search for the Christ child. When they found' him they "fell down and worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh." They were very expensive gifts and appropriate gifts since they told something about who Jesus was and what he would do. Gold was a gift for a king. Frankincense was used as incense and therefore a gift for a Priest. Myrrh, used in one of the most ancient of arts, that of embalming, was a gift for one who must die. But it was God's gift, not those of the wise men, that gave us Christmas. The wise men only celebrated God's wonderful gift. It was at Christmas that God, so loving the world, gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God gave with unsparing love and he gave unconditionally. He didn't say to our world, "If you will grow up,.get better, become wiser, and reform yourself, then I will give you my Son." What in effect he did say was: "I know how childish, broken, sick, and sinful you are: I'm going to give you my Son anyway." And he did. God was like the father in Jesus' story of the Prodigal Son. The boy, friendless and pen- niless, finally caine home wearing a tattered robe, having no ring on his finger or sandals on his feet. The father didn't say, "Prove yourself in six months and then I will see about accepting you back into the family." He accepted him fully and unconditionally then and there. Turning to a servant he said: "Bring the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on his finger, and shoes on his feet. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found." { Luke 15:22-24 )• Christmas tells us of the meaning of grace. God has made a gift beyond our worthiness to merit or our ability to achieve. Real life begins when we come to God in our shattered pride, confessing that all our goodness is like filthy rags. We come with empty hands, wishing that we could come like the wise men with royal gifts for a king, and God does a wonderful thing, He looks at our poor, empty hands and says: "You don't need to bring anything. You couldn't buy your salvation if you had„all the wealth in the world. It is a gift. It is grace. I have given my Son for your Salvation.” We have been the recipients of grace and. gifts, especially at Christmas. We have learned essentially from God and in some lesser degree from the wise men and the many generous people we have known that giving is one of the secrets of life. Therefore we can give, and in so doing we discover a key that giving is one of the secrets of life. Therefore we can give, and in so doing so we discover a key that unlocks life's meaning and power. Like the wise men we can do no better than bring gifts to Christ. He bids us bring to him what we have and are, be it big or small, and he accepts, blesses and multiplies. We need to be like the Little Drummer Boy. He wanted to give something to Christ, but he was too poor, so he beat his drum and Christ accepted the beating of his drum. But Jesus often seems far removed from the objects and causes to which'we give. If on- ly we could give more immediately and directly to Christ. We can! That is one of the wonders of Christian giving. Jesus told how shocked people will be, who had given to others with no obvious connection with Jesus, when he says to them: "Truly,. I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethern, you did it unto me." (Matthew 25:40) Jesus is wondrously identified with people, all kinds of people. We give to a homeless child, a youth battling drugs, a man in the middle of life breaking beneath heavy respon- sibilities, an old person lonely and neglected, and Jesus says.to us: "You gave it to me." There is a beautiful story of Martin of Torus, a Roman soldier, who was a Christian. One cold winter day, as he was entering the city; a beggar asked him for alms. Martin had no money, but the beggar was blue and shivering with the cold. Martintook his worn and frayed soldier's coat, cut it in two with his sword, and gave half to the unfortunate man. That night he had a dream. In it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels with Jesus in the midst of them, and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier's coat. One of the people said to him: "Master, whyy are you wearing the battered old cloak? Who gave it to you?" And Jesus answered softly, "My servant Martin gave it to me." • St. Francis said: "It is in giving that we receive ... It is in dying that we are born to eternal life." It is true. Let us not forget that in giving life, life. is. given back to us. Christnias is a good tinie to learn that secret. Christmas is a good time to begin. Discover the true gift By Rev. Wilena Brown In the sunny days of May this year I trod the turf of the Holy Land. It was my first ex- perience of trying to unite the words of the • Bible with reality. Christmas will never be the same for me. I ponder wrappings. This time of year we are concerned with choosing, procuring and wrapping gifts so we may be forgiven for thinking of pretty paper! But I mean the whole setting in which the truth of God's gift was wrapped and is wrap- ped today. We don't know the facts about Christ's birth as we would today with media help. Imagine the excitement - a new Star, the crowds forced by a most unwelcome Roman edict to get to Bethlehem. Or was the event really quieter, more private? Did the Resurrection prompt some of the details? • Bethlehem won't help us. It's a bustling commercial city with a desert to its south. The Church of the Nativity has been put together over many centuries. The equip- ment for worship for some denominations looks to us like decorations and they distract. The "Manger" was reported stolen by the Turks centuries ago. The "wrapping" here ruins the present for many of us, though for some it must help. On the outskirts of Bethlehem is the Shepherd's Field. It is not productive land - not even good pasture - but there are some trees and flowers. It is on a hillside. In the Turn to page 3A • MERRY CI-IRiSTMAS TO you caE Chad ie & Edith Burgess OUROESS Depatimenf Sloe n vlet,dl, sI. Mho * vatielr 15 Van.fisscohs OPEN: 7 DAYS A WEEK 8 AM -10 PM CLOSED CHRISTMAS DAY & NEW YEAR'S DAY 1