Waiapu Church Gazette December Ist, 1944. GOODWILL TO MEN

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 35, Issue 10, 1 December 1944, Page 8

Waiapu Church Gazette December Ist, 1944. GOODWILL TO MEN

The sixth Christmas of the war finds the positiPn of the .fighting front such that we, of the Allied Nations have much to be -thankful for. ' Iri : the periqd of strain and anxiety for loved: ones overseas the message of Christmas will be, with its; new I hope, most refreshing. In the story of Christmas we. have the most moving and. vivid of all tokens and hopes. See Him born m the Stable. See the' stars of Eternity m the dawn sky over the manger. Begin with Him. . "lii- Him we are offered newness of life. On Him' we must keep -our thoughts as we turn our eyes from a world at war over the .horizon to -the vision of the new age. " We must learn the soul of Christmas as something quite apart from the Christmas commercialised.

The Christmas of recent -tradition was the feast of overflowing good fellowship and benevolence. But it was little if at all related to Bethlehem. And it is not surprising, therefore, if its development carried the majority of .our people farther and farther away from. its Christian origin. Until the war came to lay an astringent finger on all excesses, the secularised Christmas had become an immense by-product of commercial life.

Advent, which ; only a few people know anything about, becomes a season of. elaborate" and' exDensive preparation; so . that even now., an advertiser, desiring to keep his name and his products, before the public, can, with ingenuous simplicity, look forward to the days "when the war is over, and we can keep Christmas again." Keeping Christmas means to him no more than spending money on his goods. In short, there is nothing at, all surprising m the well-known story of the Jewish child, surveying the rich trappings of the Christmas feast, and asking of his mother: "Mummie, do Christians also keep Christinas?"

- For the. vast Jiiajprity of people Christmas and the worship of Christr mas ; have become completely divorced. . None the less, there is no denying that the observance of the season abounded with firie qualities of selfdenial and thought for . others, a delight iri giving happiness, and particular concern for those who had fared less fortunately m life. Men and women of every sort show themselves at Christmas capable of 'exhibiting m actual practice evangelical virtues.

The war has stripped away many of the trappings of the feast, but it has not impaired the desire. of everyone to do the best possible for others — friends, relations and neighbours— who m carying degrees have a claim on vacquaintanceship and remembrance. For a day or two life is

transformed by the spirit of good will among men. But the phase passes and, as the Christmas decorations are dismantled and the frivolous litter is swept away, all concerned drop back into their customary habits. The spirit of Christmas seems woefully evanescent.- There is deep pathos about Christmas if, as so often," it merely exhibits the pitiful attempts of men and women to rise by their own efforts to the. higher plane of persons living m harmony.

The privations of the war will have served to some good if they bring people's minds back to first things at Christmas. Let but the feast stand out above the exiguous adornments of the world and speak to mankind of the infinite practical consequences of man's redemption, old tradition can carry men far arid keep at least the remembrance of truth alive. The simplified enjoyments of Christmas this year, the intense happiness of families united, the great personal efforts and ingenuity which have gone to erisuring for the children that the great day shall not entirely-

lack the delights and surprises which are its due accompaniments, the thought arid the care and the bust banding of resources, which have made the Christmas hospitality, once so easy, still a possibility., should have done very much towards making people think of the reasdhs which lie behind all such, endeavour and render it not burdensome but delightful, not perfunctory but religious.

Christmas, 'because it is the feast of God pade man, is of all Christian commemoratioris.that by which the imagination -can be most easily stirred. It is a breath-taking truth that a life rooted m the wonder of God's coming into the world as a helpless infant, dependent on the love and goodness to be found m the fallen race of men, is the only life for persons living m the world. By- it the characteristic virtues of Christmas can. not only be^exeiriplified, but sustained. The Christmas of purely human evocation flickers and fails. The Christmas rooted and grounded m the historic facts of God's intervention m time, and space, and the affairs of men, is a merry Christmas and a happy Christmas; nothing can obscure its radiance, be the world of man's wilfulness never so dark. With this thought m view we wish our readers a- Happy Christmas and a Bright New Year.