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Times Advocate, 1989-12-20, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, December 20, 1989 limes Established 1871 Advocate Islabtished.1881 Amalgamated 1924 BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1985 Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 510.235-1331 ROSS HAUGH Editor HARRY OEVRIES CNA IIM 8E0kE11 Publisher & Advertising Manager OO'. SMITH Cu:nposilion Manager Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $27.00 Per year; U.S.A. S68.00 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex - & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by I.W. Eedy Publications limited BLESSINGS 'TO ALL At this holy time, we extend the blessings of the •season to you and yours. May the peace of. Christ abide within every heart. A handshake from God 4e�er u�sa���, 1A -V. Oacme\, se_tiosi arak3 • By Rev. Ed Laksmanis Zion United Church, Crediton A decade ago before I started my training as a minis- ter, I worked as a mailman. It was a good job. Every morning I would set out to deliver the mail house to house. Some of the houses were big and luxurious, oth- er were small and in disrepair. Faithfully I would deliv- er mail to them all. The months passed, and soon I found myself deliver- ing Christmas cards, and boxes that obviously con- tained Christmas gifts. But as Christmas drew closer, I noticed something else happening. Many of the mail- boxes in the richer homes were not empty as they had always been, instead, contained within them was often a card or even a gift addressed to me, or rather to "Mr. Mailman". " I felt somewhat uncomfortable with these gifts. They seemed so impersonal. Why would anyone give a gift to someone they didn't even know. Many of these peo- ple worked, and so they had never actually met me. I was just some invisible force that delivered their mail. Maybe, I cynically thought, these gifts were meant to be some kind of sacrifice to ensure another year of mail delivery. Maybe they thought that this might stop an- other postal strike. I don't know. As you can probably tell, I wasn't yet in the Christmas mood. My. mail route then took me away from the richer homes to a poorer section of town. No gifts were wait- ing for me there. But then, as I reached one of the more dilapidated homes, a surprise occurred. I was about to put the mail through the door slot, when suddenly it opened, and there a man stood. He took the mail, smiled, extended his big hand to me, and as our hands greeted he said "Merry Christmas". I was impressed. He had waited for me to come to his door to wish me a Merry Christmas. That greeting, that warm handshake meant more to me than all the presents I had received. It was sincere, it was personal. As I left that humble place to continue on my mail walk, I soon found myself quietly singing Christmas carols. I was finally in the Christmas mood. Christmas had started with a hand- shake. It seems to me that for the most part we have forgotten the simplicity *of Christmas. We have forgotten where Christmas begins. A few years ago I saw a sign that said: "Christmas begins at and, there was the name of a major department store". Christmas does not begin at a store. And will ifts may often be appropriate, at times they can also be a heap substitute for what really needs to take place. That was God's experience in the Old Testa- ment. There people would give God gifts, hoping that these gifts would make up for their not taking time to get to know God, their not doing what God asked. Obviously this didn't work. Nor does it work today. Maybe instead of concentrating on thoseperfect gifts, we should con- centrate on how we can get to know the would be recip- ients better. Very often that begins with taking the time to greet them, to shake their hands. Through a handshake the peace and good will of Christmas can take place. Christmas doesn't begin at a department store. It begins with a handshake, a very special handshake. A hand- shake from God. Two thousand years ago, in Bethlehem, God extended his hand to you, and it's still there. But that is only half of the story. If Christmas is really to occur for you, then you have to extend your hand back to God. Out of that hand- shake, other handshakes will come about as well as you live out God's hope, peace, joy and love. As a closing note; perhaps we need to be reminded that Christmas is really made up of two words - CHRIST MASS. What better place to shake hands with God and others than at church this Christmas. Merry Christmas. Have a blessed Christmas It is more blessed to give than received. One certainly gets that impres- sion this year as the drive for contributions for the Christmas Bureau is being completed. Alma Godbolt and Audrey MacGregor who were in charge of the local bureau at Exeter United Church say the amount of merchandise, articles and fi- nancial contributions is well in excess of last year. If the Christmas Spirit hasn't hit you yet, there is still time. There are ways to help those less fortunate enjoy a happy and merry Christmas. Anyone wishing to help in a fi- nancial way may send cheques directly to the Christmas Bureua at Family and Children's Servic- es in Goderich. The Exeter Le- gion also assists needy families and they would be glad to get some last minute help. We should all be like' children when it comes to Christmas and realize the true meaning. The From the ; editor's disk by Ross Haugh Christmas Spirit is alive and well in the hearts and eyes of lit- tle children. May all of us find love and hope and peace in the eyes of children and in the eyes of those who can be like chil- dren. We will close this column with the last two verses of a poem "What Christmas Means to Me," written by Polly Per- kins. It's the shining eyes of chil- dren When they hear the story old Of the Christ Child in the man- ger, The Wise Men who brought gold. It's the sadness and the joy When the angel on the tree Seems to light a path to heav- en- That's what Christmas means to me. May each of our readers have a very Happy, Joyous and most importantly, a very Blessed Christmas season. Ghosts of Christmases past What is it that makes Christ- mas and snow go hand in hand? Does it really make sense? After all, I doubt the shepherds had to make their way to Bethle- hem across fields of snow. But I'm not one to complain. There is a special, wonderful, connection between Christmas and snow. Perhaps it is because all the rough edges of our world are hidden under a pure, white, silent blanket. Assuming, of course, you live somewhere where it does snow. As a child in southern England white Christmases were, for me, a very ram and special occur- rence. But they were possible. 1 could wish for them even if they never arrived. That wasn't the case when I lived in Singapore. Only a handful of the population cele- brated Christmas. I suppose we were tolerated by the Hindus, Tamils and Buddhists as a pecu- liar religious minority. We had to make do without chestnuts and open fires, without carol singing in the streets, and with- out that sense of world unity we like to imagine during the holi- day season. And in Singapore Christmas came without winter and with- out snow. My parents tell me I had a hard time comprehending a trop - Hold that thought... By Adrian Harte ical Christmas. I was young and full of questions. How would Santa Claus find me in this strange land? What good was a sleigh where it never snowed? How could he possibly get to the Far East from the North Pole on Christmas Eve when it took us a whole day to get there by jet? Mom and Dad did their best to dispel my fears. Apparently, Santa had to use a helicopter in equatorial regions. It made sense, but my parents would prove it to me. All I had to do was put a clean sheet of paper on the lawn on Christmas Eve where Santa's helicopter was sure to land: The next moming, I ignored the presents in the living room and rushed outside to find my paper, now smeared with the distinct treadmark of Santa's hel- icopter. It was true. I guess I didn't hear Dad move the car in the still of the night. But, deep down, I knew real Christmases had snow, and ici- cles, and sleighs, and I used to dream of the far-off lands where this was commonplace. Today, I live in the Great White North and I appreciate every white Christmas perhaps more than the average Canadian. This, however, is going to be a special Christmas. Nineteen eighty-nine caps a decade of prosperity we may not be able to match for some time and this year in particular has been wit- ness to changes_ in the world po- litical climate many of us be- lieved were impossible. And that is why, I think, of all the white Christmases around the world this season, the snow will be falling most softly, and sweetly, on Berlin. Mcrry Christmas.