Article December 17, 1949 Issue

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS

JOANNA FRESHWATER

Once again the Christmas season is here. People are busy buying and wrapping gifts, addressing cards, preparing for festivities. The whirl of material activity at this season is much like an elaborate Christmas stage presentation that a little girl was taken to see. Intently she watched the dancers, the glittering tree, the energetic comedians. Toward the end of the performance she turned to her grandmother. "But where's Jesus?" she asked solemnly. "I thought I'd see Jesus. But he isn't here."

The Christ is not to be found in materiality at Christmas time anymore than at any other period of the year. Men and women, however, discern varying degrees of spiritual light. To the consciousness almost wholly material, the celebration of Christmas consists largely of a pursuit of sensuous pleasures and indulgences. To those with a greater sense of brotherly love, Christmas is a time of expressing love through the giving of gifts, of sending good wishes to friends, of the gathering together of families, and, usually, of retelling the beloved story of the babe born in a stable.

And yet in these activities is there found the full vision of Christmas? Is its glorious message perceived? At the time of the birth of Jesus, the Wisemen and the shepherds saw this child with discernment beyond mortal sight and acknowledged with awe that the child was the Messiah: "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

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