The Meaning of Christmas

Evening Star, Issue 20053, 19 December 1928, Page 13

The Meaning of Christmas

Once more from tho little Mil-town of Bethlehem comes the song which stirs. Christian hearts to their very depth. Christmas is on the threshold. In a few hours church bells will chime happy music, and devout spirits, from many lands and races will make mental pilgrimage to'Bethlehem, and join the lowly shepherds of the Eastern magi around the cradle of the new-born King. We love to think of the first Christmas Day, when the Lord of All came down to bless the world, and mark the shining way between earth and sky, while our hearts echo to the angels’ strain, ‘ Glory to God in the Highest.’ By universal consent, December 25 is kept as the date of the Holy Nativity. There is no or other authority to support the claim. It was not till the middle of the fourth century that the day was chosen for the commemoration. It was a Roman festival when, for a few days, all slaves were their own masters. It was “ The Day of the Dnconquered Sun,” and the day was observed as the birthday of the sun, which, a's Dr T. R. Glover says, is not a bad day to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Light of the world and the Giver of freedom. But the precise day matters nothing. Christmas is a spirit and not a figure on a dial plate; and the celebration of such an event on some day obeys a profound instinct of Christian hearts.

Birthdays are great days, for maternity is a sacred office, and the coming of a child marks the opening of streams of influence, the depth and range of which none can measure. When gentle Willie Shakespeare was born, beside murmuring Avon, it meant the opening of a new chapter in English letters. _ The advent of William Carey signified the birth of modern missions. But Christmas is the greatest birthday in all tho golden year. We have only to think what Christ has been, and done, to be thrilled by the inevitable glory of the hour when Mary brought forth her Son and laid Him in a manger. , To say that Jesus Christ has changed the chronology of the world is simply to state one fact in the amazing record. More wonderful by far is tbo influence this “ beautiful Syrian Saint ” lias wedded on the world of ideas and ideals. Eor Ho has steadily built Himself into the life of the ages, He has given tone and direction to the best thought, changed the world’s laws and customs, elevated and refined its religious conceptions until Ho is recognised as the supremo “ Master of the Art of Right Living,” and men judge the rightness or the wrongness of things by their relation to Him, Ho has baptised the world Avith a iibav spirit. Ho has given new moaning to education. Ho has lent new lustre to art, fresh sweetness to music and deeper wisdom to books. He has made cold laivs warm, consecrated common labour, made heavy loads lighter, and turned love into a ,sacrament.

We hardly realise the profound difference Christ has made between the old world and the new. The need of tho hour is that wo ponder the facts more deeply, .and give them more practical.application. Why should we confine Christmas. to one day in the year? If wo carried tho Christmas spirit into all tho days of tho year, wc should' build a new world and make life infinitely sweeter. When Charles Dickons, the Apostle of Christmas, wrote; “ It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when the mighty founder was a child Himself,” ho struck homo to the heart of tho world and set its chords vibrating. Eor whatever else Christmas may mean it is surely tho children’s festival. All our great writers enforce this truth, and none more successfully than Dickens . himself. It is not Scrooge, but Tiny,Tim,.with his simple prayer, “ God bless everyone,” who typifies tho true Christmas spirit. It has taken us 2,000 years to learn tho true inwardness of tho amazing deed when Ho in whom all prophecy and history found their climax and their crown was born in tho manger of Bethlehem. How strange beyond all telling . that .the birth of a child should change tho calendars of tho world! The Hebrews had reckoned their years from tho supposed date of tho creation, the Homans' from the founding of tho City of tho Seven Hills, tho Greeks from ..the first Olympic games; hut to-day if one meets Jew or Italian or Greek and ask tho number of tho year, the answer is one and the same. Each one’s calendar is dated from Bethlehem of Judea. Tho chronology of the world attests tho significance of Christ’s matchless personality.. Baby is King all the world over. Wherever a little child comes he is the centre, and all else is a mere fragment of the vast circumference. Our domestic arrangements revolve round “ His Majesty tho Baby.” It is the same with things national and political. Round tho face and form of a little child every great social question gathers, and the fiercest conflicts rage. Themistocles said that Greece governed the world, that the Athenians governed Greece, that ho governed tho Athenians, that his wife governed him, and that his little child governed his wife. It was a pagan’s way of saying that tho little one is tho huh of the universe.

From that sacred night in Bethlehem all things have changed for this old grey world. For the greatest wonder

[Written by Rev. A. H. Collins, for tho ‘ Evening Star.’]

of that marvellous night Avas not that angels sang and a uoav star appeared, but that men learned that hn r e is all and in all, and that tho best of all gifts that God can give to man or man offer to'his fellow is lovo. Stars grow, - dim, sweet music ceases, gold is. scat" tered, and frankincense loses its perfume; but Jove outlasts the .world. Simply to ho kind and gentle and generous, just to giA-o a cup of cold Avater to tho thirsty or place a smooth pilloAv underneath tho aching head of the loAvly—this is the sum of religion; . and ho avlio docs these things shall surely see tho King in His beauty. Applied'Christianity is tho only solution of our social problems. Men are not in ado Christian by sermon or tract, but by some incarnation of truth in living, breathing form.

And so the Word had breath, and av rou glit With human hands the creed of creeds, In loveliness of perfect deeds More strong than all poetic thought, Which ho may read that binds the sheaf, Or builds the house or digs the grave, And'those ivild eyes that watch the Avavo In roarings round the coral reef.

Mr Ben Turner, chairman of the British Trades Union Congress, spoke wisely when ho said; “The greatestjo? man can have is in doing useful service to his follow-man. This does not mean neglect of home, of wife, or, children. The man Avho is handiest with his service to others cannot overlook his oavii family, A man who loves his home, Ms Avife, and children, and has plenty to spare for his fellow-men, doubles his envn pleasure. In British language, a man Avho does ‘ nowt ’ is ‘ noAvt ’ —at least, that is my impression. I like a man to feel Christmassy all the year round, to_ start a Happy Ncav Year every morning. I shall be told it is not possible to be good and useful aud joyous all tho timo. Perhaps so, but it is possible to try to bo so, more than many of us. are. I am said to bo a sentimentalist. It is true. It may bo a virtue, or it may lie a failing. I look upon Christmas as a time especially to remember the other fellow. Goodness does not consist in squandering money about. It does not consist in giving presents in the hope of getting some back, or in prospect of favours. Giving service, spreading love around, distributing general kindnesses—that is often more helpful than a gift of money.” It is tho desire aud the effort to contribute to tho happiness of others that make Christmas so delightful. It is then a uoav fount of joy opens in the heart and a neAA r way of life is discovered. But giving does not consist in the bestowal of material things alone: it consists in devotion to another of time or skill or' thoughtfulness. That is the real joy of Christmas. X gave a beggar, from my little store of wealth, some gold. Ho spent tho gold, and came again, aud yet again, Still cold and hungry as before. I gave him then, a thought; And through that thought of mine Ho found himself —tho man supreme, divine — Fed, clothed, and crowned Avith bless* ings manifold. And noAV ho begs no more! Greater than all besides is the change Christ has made in our religious concepts, for Ho has touched tho human conscience, and changed the human heart, until multitudes confess they know no higher law than His commands and no diviner interpretations of life than Ho has given. If tho fatherhood of God is better understood, if brotherhood is one of the ruling ideas of the modern Avorld, if prayer ,is more confident, aud the future life no longer a dream or a guess, it is because Ho has spoken, and behind' His Avord has set the lighted transparency of His .wonderful life.

The difference hetwen morality and religion.is the difference between water and steam. Pagan morals may supply water, pure water, if you like, hut you may as well try to drivo a locomotive with a foot wanner as to produce the dynamic, of reform out of morality alone. The water must be changed to steam, and Bethlehem holds the secret. The Incarnation is the most stupendous act of .self-renunciation the world has ever seen. That tho Divine should thus veil himself in 'flesh, and tho Eternal .submit to tho limitations of time, might well smite us dumb with wonder. But to deny ibis groat mystery is to leave ns with unsolvablo problems. Oliver Schreiner tells a beautiful story of the artist who [tainted a wonderful picture. The glow and glory of tho gracious tints defied all imitation. Other men sought in vain to discover tho secret of tho artist's triumph. They examined Ids colours, but they were like their own. One day he was found dead beside In’s latest picture, and tho mystery was solved. Near his heart was a deep and fearful wound. Do had painted with his heart's rich blood. Tho legend enshrines a great truth. When preacher and reformer and statesman give their life to great causes they will paint the future in colours of which tho most radiant optimist has never dared to dream, and tho Wonder Child will rule tho world.