[Rev. Dr. Edwin O. Kennedy, as quoted in the Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin]

I invite you, among other things, to join me in the struggle for simpler celebrations of the great occasions in life. ...

You and I may not be able to do much about the homes of others. But we can do something about our own homes. ...

There was a time when Christmas was in itself something so sacred, so beautiful, so meaningful that outward show was only secondary. Now, even before we have celebrated Thanksgiving, we decorate our streets and our stores. Does it matter that before Christmas comes our decorations are bleached and faded? ...

I do not know what you propose to do about it. But as for me and my house we have decided that we are going to struggle for simplicity. We are going to try to recapture the glory and meaning of Christmas. We are going to spend less than ever on ourselves and the members of our own family.

We are going to try to remember the people of the world who are homeless and hungry and dying. We are going to try to have the kind of Christmas that consists not merely in denying oneself, but in spending what we have for the treasure that neither moth nor rust can corrupt. I invite you to join with us in that struggle.

[From the Mapleton (Iowa) Press]

"Peace on earth, good will to men," was the message which the angels sang to announce the birth of Jesus Christ, according to the old Christmas story. ...

The first effort of his life was to spread the gospel of peace and good will.

This warring world needs such a message more than anything else. If the men who sway the destinies of the warlike nations would listen to that message, the world would sing the Christmas songs more jubilantly than ever before, and the dreadful burdens that crush humanity to the dust would be lifted from our backs.

We can at least worship before the altars dedicated to the memory of this Saviour, and pray that his loving heart may influence cruel men. The power of his love has before this broken down great empires, and mighty kings have had to yield before his spiritual presence.

Let us observe Christmas Day with confident hope that the spirit of Jesus will finally conquer the warmakers. When we give generous gifts to the children, to our friends, and the poor and needy, we help to promote the spirit of love which some day will overcome hate.

Every home where Christmas is observed with true gratitude, every church where men and women bow before the God of their fathers, and the Saviour who gave his life for humanity, is a center of healing and inspiring influence. Hate is self-defeating, ... but the Christmas spirit lives on forever.

[Henry Davis Nadig, in the Keene (New Hampshire) Evening Sentinel]

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."

On this Christmas the world's evidence bears strong witness to the fact there is no human peace on earth. Just as the Master's healing work brought resistance and persecution from those who refused to receive him, so Christian democracy has likewise brought unrest and violence from those who fear ... freedom. ...

Further, on this Christmas, it is our obligation and our sacred privilege to renew our faith in God, to reassert our loyalty to democracy, and to consecrate ourselves as witnesses to a high purpose. To this end, we know, with Isaiah: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord."

The peace that true Christians seek is the peace that Jesus meant when he said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you." That is the peace of Spirit, Love. It is not peace "as the world giveth." And it is significant that leaders in Christian democracy today, even as war is waged against the evil of aggression, are laying the foundations toward a more permanent peace—a peace which is "the fruit of the Spirit" and against which "there is no law."

[Rev. C. Melvin Elliott, in the Economist, Southtown, Illinois]

We are reminded in many ways that Christmas is rapidly approaching as we see evidence of it on every hand. Streets are attractively decorated and crowds gather before cleverly planned displays in store windows which breathe the spirit of the holiday season. Once more the angelic choirs sing, "On earth peace, good will toward men," but it is difficult to hear their song above the roar of battle. And peace on earth will mean in many places only the momentary cessation of actual hostilities. We see dark days indeed, and days that may be darker. But the star of Bethlehem will shine with ever greater brilliance than before in this dark world, for the world is eager for its message of hope.

In a world of strife, hatred, and injustice Isaiah dared to hold out hope to discouraged men and women by pointing to the Messiah who was to come. He said: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. ... His name shall be called Wonderful, ... the Prince of Peace."

So the star of Bethlehem is to the world ... a star of hope—a hope that is in men's hearts and will not die, a hope that the Christ of Christmas will one day be the means of drawing all men into peace and brotherhood.

[From the Poole and East Dorset Herald, Bournemouth, Dorset, England]

If Christmas stands for peace on earth, home life, the gaiety of children, and universal good will, the outlook is not at first sight exactly promising. ...

We may be tempted to enjoy Christmas as an escape from the hard world of grim reality. That is a false trail. Like Good King Wenceslas—the hero of one of the lands we fight to free—we must look out, from our relatively comfortable island home, on the "poor man" who will "come in sight" soon enough, gathering none too easily his winter fuel and his winter food. ...

We must look out for all these burdened travelers, and do what we can to lift their loads. What can be done in simple human ways, in kindly thought and deed, we will do.

But it is all too clear that one burden—and that the greatest—can be lifted from the shoulders of humanity in only one way. We must fight with all our might and main, in company with all the lovers of human freedom, till ... tyranny be overcome. ...

A stable was not a very suitable place for a baby to be born. The world was not ready for its infant king. Soon he was an evacuee, seeking refuge in Egypt. ... As a man he was often homeless, and he met his death through a miscarriage of justice in an occupied country.

We keep his birthday not because the world is ruled by his spirit, but because we want it to become so. We have known enough of it to be thankful and even joyful on Christmas Day. We shall be all the more joyful if we are trying to bring joy to others.

[Mrs. Gladys Strum, in the Saskatchewan Commonwealth, Canada]

Humanity kneels before the cradle of Bethlehem and becomes one great family. ... We take responsibility for the care and well-being of each other. The hungry are fed, the lonely are cheered. The family renews itself around the one day that calls forth the most kindly and generous impulses of the human heart.

It is significant that the promise of the angels on that holy night was not riches, nor power, nor even contentment. The highest good that the Christ-child came to bestow on mankind was "peace." ...

Let us cling to the angels' message, given on that first Christmas, above the sleeping hills of Judea. We were promised "peace," but not without "good will toward men."

Peace will come only when we accept all nations as brothers. ...

Let Christmas this year be a time of consecration. May love fill our hearts. Let us resolve not to hate, or to fear, but to seek to understand. Understanding will pave the way for intelligent action. Some day the light of knowledge will banish the darkness that is war. As you and I pause to listen again to the angels' song, let us resolve to help to hasten that day when the dream of the ages will be a holy reality.

[The Rt. Rev. Wallace E. Conkling, D. D., in the Living Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin]

Samuel Butler once remarked that he would be condemned if he should either deny the doctrines of Christianity or practice its precepts. Have we not learned that the second brings the greater persecution and difficulty? To follow our Lord in his way means to take issue with the standards of prevailing society. It means often to be at variance with those of one's own household. It means to stand for social justice. ...

Christmas celebrates the birth of one who demands not that we adorn his name with prestige, not that we surround his life from the manger on with a glowing radiance of romantic poetry and art, but that we make his interests our own. Christmas celebrates the birth of him who asked not that we should say of him "Lord, Lord" but that we should follow the example of his life.

[Dr. Alfred Grant Walton, as quoted in The New York Times]

Christmas speaks of things timeless and eternal. This war is partially the result of the greed of men, of imperialistic ambitions, the desire to reach out and possess what other possess. We have seen the hatred of one people for another, notably the persecution of the Jews.

Such hatred, however, as well as the cruelty and unkindness that may exist below the veneer of our civilization, is transitory.

Christmas speaks to us of a great hope for us all. These are hard times. People have lost faith in themselves and in civilization. Not a few have lost faith in God. But God still lives. Righteousness, good will, and love are better than hate, bitterness, and rancor.