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I Thursday, December 22, 1960 THE CLINTON CHRONICLE IS IT ENOUGH TO PUT CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTMAS? By E. STANLEY JONES The movement “to put Christ back into Christmas’’ is long overdue. The commercialization of Christmas has become nothing less than a scandal. People who care nothing about Christ person- nally use Him for their own sel fish purposes. There is a very close kinship to the scene where at the crucifixion the soldiers were throwing dice on His seam less robe to see who would get it —commercialization on redemp tion. The commercializing has be come so all-pervading that a wo man could say as she looked into a store window at Christmas time and saw a replica of a church: “Well, of all things—the church is horning in on Christ- mas!’ ’ It’s time a reaction set in. But if the reaction is real, then we must put not Christ back into Christmas, but Jesus. Is there a distinction here? Yes, and a very real one with very real consequences. A Hindu said to me one day: “We Hindus are all interested in the Universal Christ.” “Not in the historic Jesus?” I asked. He slowly shook his head and said: “No, we are interested in the universal Christ.” Why was he interested in the universal Christ and not in the historic Jesus? Because into the universal Christ he could put any content, even a Hindu content, for it is not anchored in history, in fact. But you cannot put any content you desire in the histori cal Jesus. By His life and teach ing and death and resurrection He has put His own content there. The Christian faith is founded upon the Incarnation, the Word become flesh. It begins with Jesus—the Incarnate. You can not legitimately say Christ until you have first said Jesus. For Jesus puts character and content into Christ. The Jews put a very definite content in the term Christ—a conquering hero who would restore the kingdom of Is rael. Jesus redeemed Christ by making the term Christ stand for the spirit of Jesus—something quite different. You cannot say God until you have first said Jesus, for Jesus puts character and content into God. Apart from Jesus our ideas of God range from a vague Cos mic Energy (the God of many scientifically - minded moderns) to a Grandfatherly old gentleman We greet you with a friendly note of thanks for your good will and kind patronage. Ladies' Ready-to-Wear Shop JOAN ADAIR CLINTON PHONE 129 Adair's Sporting Goods JOHNNY ADAIR CLINTON PHONE 1694 INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY CO hat greater blessings to cherish than the love and devotion of our friends and those dear to us. A Joyous Christmas to all. C-W-S GUANO CO. Inc. Pitta — Odua L. Young Frank Conley — Marie M. Workman Simple Christmas Best for Children Crowds of faces glowing with fee Christmas spirit, Santa wife hit laughing eyes and hearty chuckle, gifts you can use and soma you can’t—that’s a grownup’s-eye-view of fee holidays. A forest of toga, a frustrating heap of things to touch and see and an endless Journey of being pushed and pulled through a hot noisy place — that’s a child's-ere view of the holidays. If you give children a happier view of the holidays they'll give you a happier one too. First of aU, avoid crowds with your children. If they shop with you, it’s best to take them imme diately after a rest and not stay too long. Proschool children often don’t understand Santa Claus. Take them to see him If they want to go. Forcing them to sit on his lap often makes them cry and leaves unpleasant memories because they were frightened. Children often receive so many gifts that they’re confused and can’t decide which one to play with first. After they open the gifts, put some away for a rainy day. See which they’d like to save for later. The holiday season will be a pleasant time tor your children if you keep it simple. As you store holiday foods m your freezer, you’d save time if you put tham in tha pant U which you're go inf to hoot tham. To decorate a fruit cakt. dip one tidt of eanditd fruit to tyrup and pram it into tha top of tha fruit oaks. BOY, OH, BOY ... If this Isn’t the biggest and brightest candle this yoaagster ever dis covered, H will da aatil seme tatare year when matarlty will bring fee deeper significance at this great heliday. seated tn heaven (the God of many, even in our churches). The question of whether there is a God is important, but the ques- I tion of what kind of God is even more important For what God is like, we must be like We cannot be at cross purposes with God,, the Ultimate Keality, and not get hurt But apart from Jesus we know little or nothing about the character of God Jesus is God revealing Himself in terms He is God showing His understandable terms, human character where our character is wrought out, namely in the stream of human history Jesus is that part of God that we have been able to see He is the human life of God. He is God simplified. God understand- able, approachable, lovable. When I say God I think Jesus. And I can think of Him in terms of Jesus We believe with Canon Wilberforce, “in the Jesus-Christ- ness of God ” He is God’s authen tic self-revelation So Christmas is the celebration of God’s first step in the Incarna tion with us—becoming like us as a baby It is God’s identifica- that we may become like Him. The birth was the first step In that identification The Identifi cation was progressive: He was born as a human He was bap tized into the toil of the human He w o r k e d at a carpenter’s bench. Then he was baptized into the world's sin when He took a baptism of repentance alongside of sinners as one of them—He who knew no sin. And then that Identification became complete when at a cross He was crucified between two sinners as one of them. He became sin for us. He cried the cry of dereliction that you and I have to cry when we sin, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” The Identifi cation was almost complete. But not quite. At the cross He was identified with our sins. But at ! the tomb He was Identilfed wi*h the results of our sins—death. But now that He has become j identified with us, He opened the I possibility of our being identified ; with Him. He reached bottom with us that we might reach the top with Him by surrender and obedience, then we become identi fied with His victory. We get un der a process of redemption that will end in our being made Into His likeness So putting “Christ into Christ mas” is more than substituting Christ for commercialization. For that might substitute a name for a name. Two things must become facts if we are to put Christ back Into Christmas. We must begin with Jesus—the Incarnate—and make Him first of all Saviour. “Thou shall call His name Jesus: for He shall save His People from their sins.” The name “Jesus” means "Saviour” and He must become that to us. A Saviour from what? From hell? To Heaven? No, from sin! If be doesn’t save us from sin, he odesn’t save us from any thing. The business of the Chris- Observance Grew With Christianity The observance ot Christmas is we know it today is one ot Joy and peace, making it difficult for us to realise that the holiday haa not alwayi'been universally recog nised and observad. When Pope Gregory sent out missionaries in 001 A D„ he told them to let pagan converts weave the harmless features of their fes tivals Into the spiritual fabric eg Christmas observance. The popularity of the Christmas observance grew with the progress at Christianity, but there were set backs. Abuses of Christmas reached such a pitch in fuedal England that the Puritan Partite ment outlawed the holiday in 1M4. The observance declined until tha middle of the 10th century when Charles Dickens published his heart-warming “Christmas Carol." word in human affairs? How did they come to that stratllng con clusion? Did they find that the touch of Jesus upon life was the touch of God? That He was doing something that only God could do? And were they forced to the conclusion that Jesus is Lord? Yes! They tound He was Lord of the past, forgiving sins and releasing men from the bondage and guilt of the yesterdays. They found Him to be the Lord of the present, releasing men from temptation and sins and giving them power to face up to tragedy and sorrow and make something good out of them. They found Him to be the Lord of the future, pulling the sting of death and making men unafraid of anything that might happen. They cried: “We don’t know what the future bolds, hut we know Who holds the future.” They were secure with an invin cible security—Jesus is Lord! Not will the Lord—is Lord here and now!” This Jesus as Savtonr Lord must be put back Christmas! Then Christmas will be redeemed an we, toe, will redeemed! So the put Christ back into must gather momentum deeper—it must put Jesus, the caraate, back where God Him—“Jesus Is Lord!” If this is done then Christmas and Chris tendom will be saved and with it the world. TRUE CHRISTMAS CAROL Charles Wesley, s Methodist minister England wrote "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing*' on a Christ mas morning. Tha brother of John Wesley, founder of Methodism, was inspired by the pealing of church bolls when he penned fee famous carol. W f- \ 1 3' * ’ TELL MB. TELL MB . lovely lady haa eaooeeded to brtngtog Old 8ante tote vtew by gasing tote her crystal ball, yet H seems feat fee vtaiea Isn't clear eaeagk to foretell fee gtfte feat bo la baartag. Ob. wall ■uw la saly a short fens away, UP SHK GOES ... It takes plenty of horsepower to hoist the huge Christmas tree In New York's Rockefeller Plata. The three ton white spruce shown above Is estimated to be 63 years old. tian redemption is not to get us out of hell, but to get hell out of us, not to get us into heaven, but to get heaven into us. And moreover, His redemption is not to make you healthy and not to bring you happiness—ex cept incidentally If you make your health the aim of the Chris tian redemeption, then that makes God serve you; you’re the center, not God. And if the end of that redemeption is to make you happy, then again God is the servant of your happiness; you are the center But the end of the Christian redemption is to save you from the central sin—the sin of making yourself God God be comes eternal, God becomes God, noa you. When that takes place, then health, happiness, effective ness, success, are added as by products The Kingdom of God is first and then ’’all these things are added "You haven’t put Christ into Christmas except marginally, until Jesus becomes Saviour The second thing is to make Jesus lx>rd. He cannot be Saviour unless we also make Him Lord. To make Him Lord means that He lias the final say in our lives. We have moved over and have given Him the wheel We finally bend the knee at His feet and only His feet Jesus is Lord! That phraes, “Jesus is Lord,” is very important. It was the earliest Christian creed: "If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord you will be saved.” Again, “No one can say ‘Jesus Is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (R.S.V.) Here also is the simplest and profoundest creed. It is said that all great discov eries are a reduction of complex ity to simplicity. The false hy- potliesis is always complex for lots of words have to be used to cover up the falsity. But the truth is always simple. Of all the re ductions from complexity to sim plicity, this is the greatest: Jesus is Lord! How did it happen? How did a fiercely montheistic people whose characteristic statement was: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord”—God was Lord —how did these people come to the conclusion that Jesus was Lord? How did they believe that this Man, who was born in a sta ble, walked our dusty roads, died upon one of our trees, was buried in a rock tomb—how did they be- tyeve He was at the place of final authority and would have the last s pood to greet our friends and neighbors at this happy holiday season. And it s good to know that we have so many loyal friends and patrons We value your good will, and vhcrish the privilege of serving you. Sincere thanks. McGEE’S DRUG STORE YOUR NO. 1 PHARMACY Amid the many joys of the holiday season, one that we especially cherish is the tradition of greeting our friends. We’re proud to count you, our patrons, as friends, and thank you heartily for the opportunity of serving you. K <■ YARBOROUGH OIL CO WEST MAIN ST. Ivtirr