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.
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MERRY CHRISTMAS
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JOHN 8 SANDRA BALFOUR
AND STAFF
CLINTON
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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
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