A CHRISTMAS SERMON

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 23 December 1922, Page 7

A CHRISTMAS SERMON

BY THE MV CA.VOK EAWXSLEY. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. —John iii. 16. That is the keynote ot all our Christmas rejoicing. A gift and the love behind it': the. love it stands for, and is meant, to symbolise. It matters not whether the gift be a Christmas card or a motor-car, an ounce of tea or a

cheque for a thousand pounds, it is a Y'ift. that expresses someone vise's love for eomeono else ,and is a sign that wo have a wider outlook than for ourselves only, that wo really feel that we have an interest in common humanity. Have we realised what a blessing it is to us, all so prone to selfishness and the isolation from the interest# of others, that once in the year the old tTIUBCH CALLS TIER. CHILDREN into her warm holly-scented and green wreathed houses of praise, and while (.lie Christmas hymn touches the heart aud dims the eye, we feel a sense of brotherhood steal through the congregation and find ourselves, even against our will, forced to think of others besides ourselves, and to desire to share our gifts with others. I often wonder how those Christian at Antioch and Alexandria got on without their yearly recall to tho day of “giving,” We know from a sermon preached by St. John Chrysostom in the year 38’fi that the custom of keeping the Christmas festival had not been introduced into Antioch till the year 375; we know also that neither at Alexandria. nor at Jerusalem was there any Christmas Day observance in the first four centuries .

Bui life all through the year must have been poorer for this absence of recall to God as the “lover of the cheeri<;! giver,” and it must have been a. tiled "day when, for the first time since [he birth of Christ, flic Christians at dmisalem, m >bc year ‘l3O, assembled to think of how. as on a certain day in that year four hundred and thirty years mio. '“God so loved the world” that Ho showed Himself to be tbe God of all rivers to (lie end of lime by giving His mdv Begotten Son, that ' ‘'whosoever helieveth in Him should not perish, but nave everlasting life.” And we are railed on to think of tbe warmth and glow fbai comes into our common Christianity by being recalled to tbe fact that it is MORE' BLESSED TO GIVE THAN’TO REGEIV 1.0. Verv wisely and well from Hus point of view did Hie Latin (Hum'll, at Hie hechining of the third century, ti.y on December 2b as Hie day when Hie birth m Christ the Giver should be celebrated. Fur mi that day tbe Romans of an earlier ’.imc celebrated Hie Festival of ‘■Natalis invicti," the birthday of the “H(icon<|iiereil One” the Sun. And though, no doubt, the t hristiau Church at Rome was guided in its choice of Ihsi dav. because it fell that tbe customary worship of “Mittras,” or the Bunged, must needs be superseded by the worship of Him who was the Daystar iiom on High,’ “Tbe Rigid to lighten the Gentiles,” it can hardly be doubted that the Christians fell that their spirits i needed each year to bo rekindled at the altar of memory, and warmed by the fire of such love' one to another ns could be lit- once again in their hearts by the thought of God’s giftpf Christ .and of the Heavenly Father« message by liis Gift “of peace and goodwill to men of good will” nil tbe world over. As one thinks of the breaking of that first Christmas morning upon the redbrown slopes .and the gloaming white limestone outcrops of Bethlehem, the air itself seems tilled with the joy of giving. Light, wondrous light, inis been GIVEN OUT OF THE DARKNESS. Rrai.se, wondrous praise has been given out of the silence. And this glory of light and gift of song has been poured forth not upon selfish men, but upon poor men who all through the night have been giving of their best solves in their Master's service, and in defence of tbe flocks entrusted to their care. Then will these shepherds give of their lime and of their wonder, and will, instead of going off wearily enough to iheir well-earned rest, “go even unto Bethlehem” to see the thing which bad come to pass, and to give oj their adoration first to tbe Christ Child, and of their praises after unto God, “for all the things which they had aad seen as it had been told unto them. What is it. that makes the joy of Christmas? Is it the gift or

THE SPIRIT BEHIND THE GIFT?

Surely it is this that makes us all feel 1 in; glow of the day thawing the coldest heart. Wo give because God has given us One who has taught us that the joy of life consists not in having but sharing. Our little Christmas present is precious not in the sight of man, hut of God Himself. Wo give because God had first given ns, and w*o feci as we giro that Vf are sous of a common Father who so’ loved us that He gave us of Himself ■ .'ii is only begot lon Fon, that we who believe iri Him might have everlasting life. , ... And can these little Christmas guts he I,carers of so great a power as hlo that is everlasting? I answer boldly, it is in this very fact that every lime Christmas parcel or Christmas letter bears witness to and is so charged with a Divine power. 'They make for life. They are beavers of the very Spirit ot Christ .the Life-Giver, to Iho souls ol men. Fur these Christmas cuts mean more than money's worth, .they mean CjiHand thought for others. They mean that this care and this thought have the mind of Christ stamped upon llumi-—our presents through the Christmas post have not ottlv

THU KIND'S IIKAD UN TIIFM. bill the bead of Oii.> wiu. is no earthly Sovereign—they bear the sign oi the Sou of Man. (In 1 King oi nil tin 1 world. Nf-u remember i.oiv Jesus said, Inasmuch as ve have done d unto one of those least, ve have done it- unto -Mo; ,in Christmas Hay Ho seems to say. ''inasmuch as ye have clone d hy one, ol l.bose least offerings ol love to brotnoi mail or sister woman, ye have. done, a deed of worship and praise to Me. He. Jesus, the Lifc-Givcr, _ HIeRSOR the deed and transforms it into ide. And because of Christmas Hay and its Christinas gifts, the life eternal ol brotherly kindness is known as a presence and a power among men. You remember how Christ Jesus seemed in all iDs giving to oe a personal tnrer for those to whom He gave He. gifts. It is this

KHARINC OKOHRSRLVFS with others in these little presents which is so essentially of the mind of Him who was given to bo the Giver of Himself for the life of the world. , , „ r You remember how, in the poem ol “Sir Lannccfftl,” the American poet tells us: . The Holy Supper is kept indeed 15v w hatso we share with another s

need, Not what wo give, but what wo share, For Mhc gift without the giver goes bare. And it is this sharing of our very ownsolvcs, the deepest part of us, our power to feel personal love and kindness for those who are around ns, that Christmas morning, ministers unto.

One pities the man or woman or child who cannot at tips season feel the joy of doing something land to others than themselves. And it is a mercy that the Christian Church has decided to sot apart one day in the year when there is such a kindling of the sense of a desire to give that even the “Scrooges” among us cannot help finding out some “Bod Crotchet” to make the happier by our care and

deed. Mo let us to-day he givers ot more than gifts of thought to our own kith and kin, to tho poor at our gate, to tho unemployed in our streets; lot us scud out our thought aud our prayer to those who fool no Christian message can sound in their ears. Yea, let us give our prayers as well as our thoughts, and nob only pray that brotherly lovo may yet abound in the establishment of peace and righteousness between man and man, but on this day of goodwill let us give thought to our own want of goodwill to other nations, and endeavour from this Christmas season forward to sow only seeds of friendship and trust between ourselves and tho nations of the Continent.