Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 39, 15 January 1943, Page 6

Thoughtful Moments

(Supplied by the Whakatune Ministers' Association).

THE INN THAT MISSED ITS CHANCE "THE LANDLORD SPEAKS: A.D. 28"

yviiat could be done? The inn was full of folks! His honour, Marcus Lucius, and his scribes Who made the census-: honourable men From farthest Galilee, come hitherward To be enrolled: high ladies and their lords; The rich, the rabbis, such a noble throng As Bethlehem had never seen before, And may not: seen again. And there they were, Close herded with their servants till the inn Was like. a. hive at swarming time, and 1 Was fairly crazed among them. Could I know that they were so important? Just the two, No servants, just a workman sorb of man, Leading a donkey, and, his wife thereon, Drooping and pale—l saw them not myself, My servants must have driven them . away; But had I seen them, how was I to know? Were inns to welcome strangers, up and down In all our towns from Beersheba to Dan, Till he should come? And how were men to know? There was a sign, the} 7 say, a heavenly light. Resplendent, but I had no time for stars. And there were songs of angels in

the aiiBut on the hills; but how Avas I to hear Amid the thousand clamours of. an inn? \ Of course, if I had known thenij who they were, And who He that should be born that night For now I learn that tlicy will make Him King, A second David, who will ransom us From these Philistine Romans —who but He That: feeds an army with a loaf of bread, And if a soldier falls, He touches him And up lie leaps, uninjured? Had I ; known, I would have turned the whole inn

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

(By Dr. A. Wells)

upside down, His honours, Marcus Lucius, and the rest, And sent them all to stables, had Ii known. So you have seen Him, stranger, and perhaps Again will see Him. Prithee say for me, £ did not know; and if He comes again, As He will surely come, with retinue, And banners, ami an army, tell my Lord That all my inn is His, to ,mfcke amends. Alas! Alas! To miss a chance like that! This inn that: might be chief, among them all, The birth-place of Messiah—had I known! IN THE TWILIGHT Hark liow the. north wind moans and mutters, Whirling in gusts the drifting snow; Draw the curtains and bar the shutters, And stir the fire, to a ruddier glow. The shades of night close 'round us thicker, The mist's thin arms clasp vale and hill; But the flame leaps up with a gladder flicker, Our laughter rings with a blither trill. Is there a grudge the. heart remembers? Bitter bequest of departed days? Seated around the Christmas embers, Oh, let it melti in the ruddy blaze. Is there a friendship, a love forsaken?

It is not dead, though it lies cold; It shall stir in its sleep and sigh and, waken, To the warm, sweet life it knew of old. Oh, when the Christmas bells are pealing. Peace upon earth and fair good will; How can we. cherish resentful feelings!; Cling to our friends and factions still? Open the soul to the kindly graces, Welcomc old love, old hate depart; The joy of Christmas shall light our faces, The peace of Christmas enfold the heart.