The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, December 23, 1948, Image 13
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THE CHRONICLE
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Newspaper, Complete
Newsy and Reliable
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If You Don't Read*
THE CHRONICLE
You Don't Get the News
Volume XLVIII
Clinton, S. C, Thursday, December 23, 1948
Number 52
BometltUUf, the. Atujeli Sa+uj.
SERMON BY ROBERT CASPAR LINTNER
In Christian Herald
large and small, in cities and tiny»derment of the shepherds and the
i
seems again frightfully, frightening- I that leaps unbidden, to our singing
ly near. hearts and lips? ' country places? Do you know the j lavish gifts of the wise men.
Nor is that all! More than food and; Before you give a glib answer to j score °. 1)0 y° u know h° w many of ‘<c;k) r y to God . . . and—on earth
freedom are at stake/ The angel cho- that query you may recall in shame ! the chil dren a hd youth and parents „
j it w :tu tui.. tu_t a / y. i. u!—nf vour oommnnitv who nart pas- c • • •
We are not worthy of Christmas
rus concerned itself with earthly that our America spends more each f y° ur community, who part eas
peace only as a second thought; the year on alcoholic bevergaes than we *1/ admission Prices at the tick
leading motif in that heavenly an-1 scrape together to preach Christ in *
them boomed forth so majestically ’ our homeland and its far-flung line
I that you wouM have thought we! of Christian outposts. And that isn’t
never .have failed to heed it. funny! It’s something for which to
j “Glory”—it rang out—“glory to God hang our heads in shame. It ought to
Have you read the Christmas Story to plenty and peace and security and | in the highest ...” ' prompt us to resurrect the sack-
recently, in Matthew and in Luke?
Do you recall the beauty and state
liness of the words that tell of the
coming of the Prince oif Peace?
Can you read those words without
being conscious of a strange nostal
gia—a wistfulness for the world He]
came to bring us?
For ours is not the kind of world
of which the angel chorus sang on i
that glorious night. Matthew, once a
publican in the lush employment of
Caesar, told of men both wise and
rich who brought their gifts to lay
at the feet' of the newly born Mes-!
siah. Discerner of political intrigue, !
Matthew wrote of a frightened Her
od,- feverishly demanding to know ]
the King’s birthplace and foully pre- !
tending homage where only hatred;
and fear and murder lighted their j
lurid fires in his dark heart. The one
time publican listed the princely
gifts spread out in homage before the
King, and then disclosed the stealth
and the expediency of the rich Magi
who, fearing to fall into the clutches
of the crafty Herod^ went back to
their own country by a different
route.
Luke, physician and artist that he
was, spread the wonderment of sim
ple shepherds on his canvas, deftly
showing them finding their way
through the starlight to the inn 1
where He was cradled, to kneel then,'
having no gifts but their homage and
their love to offer Him for whose
coming they had reverently prayed
for years.
Then Luke spread light and glory
through the darkness where only a
dun lantern had glowed. The story |
erf the Lord shone through the dim-
et windows of motion-picture houses,' and its Greatest Gift unless these
care enough for the glory of God to | ma g nific ent words from long ago
assemble in public worship once a haunt us and challenge us to glorify
week or once a month or once be- j n unnumbered ways and
in
decency, we find rampant insecurity. I Do those words mock us too as we cloth for which the Old Testament
After the most taggering expend!- ! feast at our laden tables this Christ- Hebrews had a use!
tures of blood and treasure that have 1 mas and go smugly out to sing our Do you get around much among
ever been emptied out for peace in neighborhood carols? Is the glory of churches and have you troubled to : Bethlehem and the exultant singing
all the history of, the world, war i God our chief concern, the theme notice the attendance '
tween Christmas and Easter. unstinted measure, and then try ear-
We’d better look into that — and nestly and laboriously to build the
some other matters—if we still have fabric of a world in which both
it in us to be mowed when we read righteousness and peace shall flour-
again of the shining of the star above ; ish.
And We had better be at it
in
churches of the heavenly voices and the won- quickly!
nees and the heavens were a-throb
with such music as earth had never I
heard before. Listen! Hear it again! 1
“Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace, good will ...”
A lovely picture, complete with
sound and such technicolor as Holly- j
wood would give a rajah’s ransom to
lay its hands onl
But that picture mocks us for our
failure to build the sort of world for
which the Saviour came and died.'
It shames us because we have al
lowed the Christmas Story to be only
a fitfully remembered mural in our
minds and no tan enshrined fresco
in the holy of holies of our hearts.
We turn to it once a year when the
lights gleam amid the tinsel and the
i trappings on the trees that grace our
hearths, but it should be infinitely
more than that to us. We need to
remember it constantly as a divine
challenge to glorify God and build a
peaceful world. We should be rest
less and intrepid crusaders for the
sort of world which the heavenly
chorus sang in the wonder of that
first Christmas. - j
This Christmas 1&48 is no time for*
smugness and selfishness. All think
ing Christians must feel obligated to
bring our world closer and .closer to
the ideals of the Prince of Peace. I
Your children may be very happy
and your home cheerful and bright.
There may be gifts for all beneath
your roof, and your windows may all
be ablaze with lighted stars and can
dles, but how poor and dark and
embittered and enchained is this
world for which the heavenly chorus
over Bethlehem had bright hopes!
Recently I heard a highly educated
and deeply religious Jew as he told
of his trip to Europe to visit the Jew
ish organizations and see how con
ditions were. He spoke of Italy as
the “hot spot” in connection with the
Jewish crisis in Europe, and said he
could not yet reveal some things he
had learned there. But he told of
small Jewish refugee boys, 8 to 10,
many of whom had seen their own
fathers and mothers killed before
their very eyes. These urchins, he
told us, have forgotten how to smile.
He deliberately tried to make them
laugh but he failed. They had noth- j
ing to laugh at! Their shrunken
world has become laughterless!
But that isn’t all. Those small boys
are being trained in the techniques
of war, so that they can be shipped
to march against Arab armies in the I
very land to which the Prince of
Peace came! , .
Then they are being trained for
certain death, you say! Do you think
they fear that? They live in a drab
and embittered world where smiles
have no place and no meaning.
Hands — blood-bathed hands — have
reached out to strip the bright stars
from their dark sky. Shall they be
afraid to die when life has had its
meaning snatched aw r ay? I
Even though we shrink from pes- ,
simism, we live in days when real-!
ism lays a heavy hand upon us. We
live in a world where slave labor is
’ flaunted in the face of civilization. 1
The coneentration camps bwilt by
Nazi hands are still populous, though
under the msh of other than German
keepers. The lethal flames of race
hatred are being fanned. The gnaw- {
ing pangs of hunger havd claimed
millions of victims. In a world that
has every right, by all that is holy,
May the desires of your heart be
granted at this glad season and the
New Year open its doors of success
and happiness to each of us is the
wish of your city officials.
It's good to know that Christmas
i
holds the same old warmth
and friendly glow. There are
wishes old but true in
this Christmas greeting, with
the same old fashioned friendlinest
that we have always had for
those about us.
CITY of CLINTON
L. E. BISHOP. Mayor
W. B. OWENS, City Clerk and Treasurer
MRS. ARTHUR HOWARD, AaUstant
BOARD OF ALDERMEN:
Hugh C. Ray, L. L. Copeland. Sr., W. M. McMillan. L. W. Cooper. Woodrow L. WUmb, 3
AND ALL CITY EMPLOYEES
Crain*
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