We have an appropriate Christmas message this week, written by my Great Uncle in December 1940.
He was already feeling the impact of war, being wrought by Adolf Hitler, such a shame that 2 years later he would lose his own life preparing to fight that evil, but we give thanks that he is now with our Prince of Peace, Jesus.
This Christmas we continue to pray for peace in the four corners of our globe and most of all, that men would know the peace that the Prince of Peace brings, as a current song says, I trust you, you are my peace.
We pray that He would be your peace today.
J.M Rowland
5, Tichborne Street,
Leicester
Lesson 6
To C.U at School – 17/12/40 – on the occasion of collection of gifts for poor kiddies.
At such a time as this, especially with such a grand collection of gifts before us, our thoughts naturally turn to Christmas.
We think of the way in which we usually enjoy ourselves at this time of year, and then, suddenly realise that we are at war, and that a nasty personage called Hitler has altered all that.
We remember sorrowfully that cakes and Christmas puddings will be fewer and smaller, that the traditional turkey will look very anaemic compared with ones of past years, that presents will be more expensive and therefore less frequent than previously, that Christmas cards will cost 1d instead of ½.
In fact, to sum it all up, we come to the conclusion that Christmas won’t be Christmas anymore.
But are we right in coming to this conclusion?
If we think, we shall see that all these things we’ve mentioned which the war can alter are merely additions which man has made to the Christmas festival.
The giving of gifts at Christmas, the sending of cards, the eating of plum puddings are all traditions which man has woven around the celebration of Christmas.
If they are only traditions then it doesn’t matter very much if they get messed about a bit.
The true reason for Christmas cannot be altered by umpteen fritzes with their blitzes.
For, essentially, Christmas is the time when we celebrate the birthday of the most compassionate, the most loving, the noblest and the bravest of all men – the Son of Man himself.
That in itself is wonderful enough, but the fact that that Man was being born onto this earth with the sole purpose of saving rotten sinners such as us from our sins is too wonderful for words.
For the Christian it is that marvellous truth that Christmas stands for, and for the Christian no sirens, no bombs, no black-out, no blitzing will ever alter the Spirit of Christmas one tiny little bit.
So shall we all leave this room resolved not to let our Christmas be altered by Hitler or his satellites?
I personally shall endeavour to make this Christmas as much like a normal one as possible.
Circumstances may curtail the celebrations to a certain extent, but circumstances can never alter the reason for the celebrations – the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
‘For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called ‘Wonderful’, ’Counselor’, ‘The Mighty God’, ‘The Everlasting Father’, ‘The Prince of Peace’.
My Christmas Thoughts
For many years I did not celebrate Christmas, being disillusioned with the commercialization of the season and the lack of focus on Jesus himself by many and my own attitude towards the season had not been perfect.
I remember one year, not long after I became a Christian, a local vicar asked me why I was not celebrating the ‘incarnation of Christ”.
At the time I thought it was such a pompous statement, and I really couldn’t relate, but years later I see things differently.
Our Saviour really did come to earth in a human body, putting on human flesh.
The God of the Old Testament, who spoke to Moses and so many others, came to earth, taking on human form, so that we could see Him, in the flesh.
It’s Not About the Presents!
I remember one year, my mum asked me what I wanted for Christmas, so I told her that I wanted a bird table!
I loved feeding the birds in winter and wanted to feed them better.
That Christmas morning, at my mums’s house, I was hopeful, but when I opened my present I was disappointed!
My present was a big box of the things I wanted the least, a sewing box full of needles and different coloured cotton threads!
I had always hated sewing, never been any good at it and frankly, I would just rather go to the shops and buy something ready made!
This was never the person I was going to be!
I stormed out of the room in disgust that day and when we became Christians, I was happy not to celebrate Christmas again.
Thank goodness I eventually found that Christmas is really about the incarnation of Christ, of Jesus coming to the earth to save us from our own selfishness.
Now that’s something I can celebrate!
He saved me from myself in the beginning and He continues to do it.
Reading this on Christmas Day, we have shared great mirth of our own experiences on Christmas morning. My lovely husband told of one year when he was asked what he would like for Christmas and replied “A Pool Table”. Blissfully unaware of the practicalities of getting a full size Pool Table in the door, let alone the cost, he remembered the shear disappointment when he opened a box the size of a biscuit tin, containing a small toy pool table with cues the size of chopsticks. The tiny round plastic balls did not roll because they were two halves stuck together and the excess plastic flash had not been cut off, looking more like the rings of Saturn than a pool ball. By mid-afternoon, this 12 year old had yeated it out of the window and it landed on the roof of the coal shed where it stayed until his father removed it a few weeks later. I wonder how his dad felt at this exhibition of ingratitude. With patience, he showed his son how to remove the excess plastic from the pool balls with a knife, which helped to hone his lifelong modeling skills and made him the master modeler he is today. And the coloured balls became extra ammunition for his catapult.
In our latter years, we have decided that we won’t buy each other Christmas presents at all, to avoid that unfortunate Christmas feeling – disappointment. We have realised that we do not need any more things. We are understanding that perhaps we should not be storing up treasures here on earth, but work more on storing them in heaven and have come to value each other’s time more. Enjoy your Christmas.
Yes, we haven’t done Christmas presents for years, just buy something when we need it! Treasures in heaven are far more important.