The first Christmas was completely unworldly. So spiritually keen was their discernment that the shepherds watching over their flock by night perceived God's glory shining round about them; so still were their thoughts that they heard the angel message, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people;" and then the angelic host saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." It was their spirituality—their recognition of spiritual values—that enabled them to observe this first Christmas, for Luke tells us that "as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us" (Luke 2:10, 14, 15).

The shepherds brought no material gifts to the babe. Yet their reverence, their faith in his mission, their glimpsing of the universal, saving nature of the Christ, were perhaps the greatest gifts, causing them to make known abroad that unto them that day was born "in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Their gift made the spiritually-minded Mary ponder.

We may be tempted to think that the world today is farther away than ever from the spirit of this first Christmas. But is it? Are we not sharply aware of the incongruity of conflict of any kind on this day? Do not commercialism and materiality jar our sensibilities? And, on the other hand, do we not respond and see others respond to the spirit of good will and joy which generally pervades the atmosphere at the Christmas season? If the answer is "yes" to all these questions, then we have proof in ourselves of the fulfillment of Christ Jesus' own prophecy (Matt. 24:35), "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." He could make that startling statement and utter those wonderfully comforting words (Matt. 28:20), "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," because he knew the Christ, the divinity which he expressed, to be the true spiritual idea, ever present to save men by revealing to them man's immortal nature.

No wonder that John, beloved of the Master, when writing of the latter's life said, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." It is plain that he saw also the saving mission of the Christ, for he said, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God" (John 1:12, 14). "Thus it is," writes Mary Baker Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 332, 333), "that Christ illustrates the coincidence, or spiritual agreement, between God and man in His image."

It is man's sonship with and inseparability from God that gives meaning to the phrase. "Fear not." Throughout his ministry Jesus used it with mighty power, for he brought forth the evidence that man is not subject to sin, sickness, and death. Rather is he in the very presence of God, infinite good.

Mrs. Eddy's Christmas message at the beginning of this century includes one sentence that has brought peace and joy every time it has been read or pondered by one Christian Scientist. It is (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p.257), "The Christ is speaking for himself and for his mother, Christ's heavenly origin and aim." If we listen to the Christ speak for himself and for divine, universal Mother Love, his origin, with what tenderness and healing joy it will dissolve all disappointment, fear, friction, and pain. We are hearing the Christ speak every time that we trace any evidence of good, any evidence of justice, intelligence, or love to God. It is the Christ, the true idea, which tells us that all good and only good belongs to God and therefore to man, and we are learning to know Christ better as we cherish every evidence of God's holy presence and seek to magnify in our consciousness every sign of man's uprightness. Simple beginnings in our thought. As simple as was the birth in the manger.

One year as the Christmas holidays approached, a student was dismayed as she realized that for her to give gifts or remembrances to all those who might normally expect them would not be honest. Her family was already making tremendous sacrifices that she might continue her education. As she turned to God, she heard the angel message. "Fear not." As she listened, she found that she had already made a gift in her recognition of and stand for a new view of honesty. Quickly it unfolded to her that there were other gifts she could give—gifts that would be satisfying. These were to give appreciation and consideration, to make a constant effort to see those around her as they really were—unburdened, loved, free, lacking nothing, joyous, and so on. When she left for home a few weeks later to spend the holidays, she had no sense of lack, no sense of having been unable to give. And before she returned again to take up her courses, notes had come which showed that those to whom she had wanted to give had received the gifts she had given.

When we recognize the spiritual significance of Christmas giving, our gifts, whatever their nature, wherever they are made, will point to something larger than themselves —even to Love itself, which satisfies all human needs. It is not too much to hope that these small experiences, which all of us have, will some day yield a larger measure of healing grace as we persistently deny admittance to fear on the basis that God and His perfect creation are present, as we value spirituality and welcome in the Christ, which is always ready to save and strengthen.

As we listen to the Christ speak "for himself and for his mother," we shall more and more rejoice in man's complete likeness to his Father-Mother Love and enjoy the peace which God's government assures.