Article December 25, 1948 Issue

ETERNAL CHRISTMAS

CLAIRE CHANCELLOR SPRIGGS

When the Christmas season has come and gone, thought is sometimes tempted to turn backward with a feeling of regret that the same glad spirit of good fellowship which characterized it seems no longer to permeate the hearts of mankind. When such regret tempts the student of Christian Science, it is well for him earnestly to contemplate what the true spirit of Christmas is, to see its unchangeable and eternal nature, and to find what his part is in keeping the spirit of the eternal Christmas alive in the hearts of men throughout the year.

At Christmas time, in commemoration of the loved Nazarene, one turns again to the simple, scientific goodness of the Master's life and rejoices humbly in the daily demonstration he gave of the power of good to still all human strife. But the spiritual, eternal qualities expressed by Christ Jesus, which constitute real individuality, include joy, good will, generosity, warmth, and tenderness, which, while happily emphasized at that season of the year, are by no means confined to it.

To commemorate the birth of the Master, one day in the year is set apart by mankind in which to do him reverence; but the Christ, or healing Saviour, can be commemorated in daily and hourly demonstration of divine Love in a continuing recognition of man's oneness with God. In "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mary Baker Eddy has this to say of Jesus and the Christ (p. 261): "Christ is the Truth and Life born of God—born of Spirit and not of matter. Jesus, the Galilean Prophet, was born of the Virgin Mary's spiritual thoughts of Life and its manifestation."

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