Editorial December 21, 1981 Issue

The work of Christmas

BEULAH M. ROEGGE

One of the most hard-bitten persons I've known said surprisingly, "I love Christmas. No matter what people think about the rest of the year, on that day many are remembering Christ Jesus." One might say that Christmas works in the hearts of people, softening, subduing, promising, even though we may not always be aware of it. This glorious seasonal reminder that God loves us finds humble ways to enter our lives.

"Again loved Christmas is here," writes Mary Baker Eddy, "full of divine benedictions and crowned with the dearest memories in human history—the earthly advent and nativity of our Lord and Master."^{ The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 256.} And elsewhere she comments, "It is most fitting that Christian Scientists memorize the nativity of Jesus."^{ Miscellaneous Writings, p. 374.}

I've often thought of this statement in the light of the phrase "to learn by heart." When one memorizes the nativity of "our Lord and Master," it is in his heart that he knows the story. Seasonal activities may spark those memories to an ever-deepening awareness of what it means that God loves the world, and that Christianity is to reflect this love in a healing ministry.

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