THREE-MINUTE SERMONS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 259, 24 December 1914, Page 3 (Supplement)

THREE-MINUTE SERMONS.

(From tne "Christian Commonwealth.)

1...."N0 ROOM' "'There was no room lor them in tin. inii." —Luke i'., I-

Christmas should bo a time of joy. which is only possible when the mass ot men individual.}/ and corporatively incarnate tilj Christ spirit. It matters little to-day that oiwu there was no room for Jesus in tine mn. but the very joy ol Christinas depends oil whether then is room now tor the family of Je&n«, or whether some aro still shut out in the cold. Here are three cases known to ma personally:— (1) A breadwinner is dying slowly. He is too ill to be left by his wife; the children are too young to work; shortly all insurance money will slop; and there will be "no room" for that fam'ly.

("2- A widower, an infant, and the grandmother. The former lias been out of work for eight weeks. His boots are worn out tramping about for work. He has been warned by the landlord's agent. Soon there will lie "no room" for another little infant.

A young man—twenty-five—has lost his work through drink and gambling. He wants to make a fresh start, but no one will help him. Even the firm whom ho served for the first nine years of his working life has not so much as answered a letter written on his behalf.

It. is Christmas again, and there is still "no room" for Christ's family.

lI.—FOLLOWING THE STAR. Those who hitch their wagon to the star of social service must expect a rough journey, for a star travels too fast and too far to negotiate ruts and roughness —or even mountain torrents and peaks—comfortably. But the light of a star is steady and unquenchable, unshaken by any of the winds of earth, and those who follow i t are not led into a moracs. The end or the journey :s sure, though it may be a long way off. It was a star that brought three travellers in days of old by different r< utes to the same goal. Many travellers leday are approaching by different pat lis. Tb 3 same goal, and the guiding light is tho same for all though seen from various vantage points. And wo should count it a great honour to be even the humblest torch-bearer on one of taose pat lus.

Mrs. Ma lion Holmes.

111. —CHRISTMAS HELLS

"I'ing out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be." —Tennyson's "In Memoriam." Canto civ.

I have chosen th?se lines for my text because, in the first place, most of lyou children have the words in your school books; and, because ttiey have the ring of truth and wisdom in thom. All children dislike darkness in the sense of the darkness that nignt makes. Some of you even dislike into a d-irk room Happy children, too, dislikj ugly streets and sad faces; for sadness, you know, is another name for darkness. Well, that's what the Christmas bells want to ring out. "Oh. but," you say. "at Christmas time there is no sadness, everything is jolly and bright. Santa Clans fills our stockings with all kinds of good tilings; we have plum pudding and turkely. t°. v « and crackers. Nobody is sad. The bells are part of the fun.''

Yes. so th?y are. They do their very best to make the fun go round. Christmas bells dislike nothing so much as dark spots in the land and the real meaning of the Ding, dong; ding, dong, is, "Come on. all you children who have toys and crackers, plum pudding and turkey, don't be greedy or selfish; don't want more than your own share; don't bo mean or cowardly; don't be sulkjy or cross. That makes darkness in th 0 land." There the tolls pause. That's tho first head in their sermon. Then on they go, ding, dong; ding, dong; "All you children who have toys and crackers and sweets; let them so round; let th?m go round; fight for the right, fight for the l ight, Christ is born ; be a little Christ, be a little Christ —ding dong. ding, dong. I'll tell you a story, very shortly, written by a great writer calljd Charles Dickens about a man who loved darkness because it was cheap. And darkness followed him everywhere; I doubt if the brightest electric light could have lie up the room where that man was. One Christmas Eve hj« sat in his dismaf house nodding half asleep by his scanty fire when the sweet Christmas bells 1» gan to ring softly in his heart, and they showed him all his stupid sad life, and tho darkness he had made; the poor clerk h.i had ground down, and the people be had cheated. Then they paused to show him the sweets and crackers lie might, have given away and the jolly SinK-s he might have had. Oh! wasn't that man ashamed of himself. And when he awoke it was a glorious morning. The Christmas bells were pealing. And Mr. Scrooge became a Christ Soul.

Christ Soul! Listen to the Christmas Bells!

Isabella Laing

WHEN FATHER CARVED THE TURKEY. With determination writ large on his manly brow, Spiffkins approached the turkey. He felt that the e yes of all the guests assembled at the table were upon him, and he meant to show them that he. at any rate, knew how to carve a bird. Ho dragged off a limb of the turkev with a sort of " I'm used to this kind of tiling' air. But. alas! that limb fell on the tablecloth. Gingerly picking it up with hia fingers, it slipped into the gravy-dish. and splashed the greasy liquid over the ..now-white linen. Ho hastened to dry it up with lus handkerchief Then a sudden wave of heat seemed to strike him. and perspiration showed on his frehead. _ "'ls there such a tiling as luck. - ' inquired a well-meaning guest. For reply the host again advanced to the attack, and sent the turkey slithering off the dish on to the table, where it improvise! a cake-walk, and oventuallv concluded on the carpet.

Quick as lightning Spifi'kins's youngest. hopeful dived down, and soon a piping voice came from under the table* "It's all right now, dad; I've got my foot en it I"

DIPLOM A I K'. ITardupp shenifwdy schnifrdwlyn -Too church Christmas bazaar, but fie had no intention of buying anything if he could possibly escape. "Oh. come now." pleaded a girl at the first stall, "do buy something from ' "Aw. well vou see" explained Hard' upp sweetlv. *" T onlv buy things from the plain girls. Tliev have a much hanler time selling things than you pren, ones vou know!" And he worked this right down the l'ne.

Hostess (to little Bobby): "Would vo;i like some bread-and-butter. dear.' Little Bobbv (in pained astonishment): " Bread-and-butter ? Oh. I thought this was a Christmas party! '