A veteran of the Korean and Vietnam conflict era, every day on the battlefield you think of home, and every day at home you think of the battlefield. The people of Vietnam are going through the third generation of Agent Orange mutations...still endangered by landmines planted 40 years ago.
My cousin had just come back from WWI, the war to end all wars, he had been gassed on the front lines in France. Back to home, poor beyond comprehension, it was still the best thing on Earth to him. Away for several Christmases, he decided to liven up the annual Christmas tree celebration at the country church, where people had very few reasons to smile, by putting a young rabbit in a shoe box wrapped with nice paper and ribbons addressed to his “old maid” Aunt. The gifts given out at the church at the annual Christmas party were for the children. Imagine her surprise when a gift was delivered to her. She gingerly opened the box and this young, scared rabbit jumped out, causing her to shriek. The rabbit ran all around the church to the delight of the children. He had accomplished his purpose, bringing laughter to a poverty-stricken community at the most festive season of the year.
Later, during WWII, the pastor of the church (my cousin) took over the orphanage supported by the church. He told me later in life, before he died, that he cared for 80 homeless children on a budget of $10,000 a year. Two of my Aunts worked with him at the orphanage-- large, stark buildings almost totally dependent on the generosity of people who did not want children to go hungry. My Aunt told me that at Christmas, from what was contributed by churches and interested individuals, each child received one gift. If everything went well at their Christmas meal each child received one orange and a small bag of chocolate candy. This was Christmas in the 1920s and 1930s in eastern North Carolina.
Once in London, I visited the founding church center of the Salvation Army. General William Booth, who founded the Salvation Army in London, in his lifetime saw the army facilities grow around the world. One Christmas, he wanted to let each of his quasi-military Evangelical citadels know he was thinking of them. Always careful about spending valuable army money, he sent a telegram to each with just one word: “Others”. This is that time of the year in every Christian life. If you have bought into a part of the season which the world offers--spending, spreeing, overeating, overworking, over-entertaining--it is your fault. This is the only thing the world has to celebrate. You have the blessed memory of WHY Christ was born in this world and you KNOW where to celebrate the reason, at His table.
Don't let your Christmas celebration be artificial...artificial trees, artificial greetings, and efforts at artificial entertainment. Don't let your worship of your Savior be artificial...mixing secular music with majestic Christian hymns. I heard recently that one church raises money for their church by selling Christmas tree ornaments. You buy an ornament to put on the church Christmas tree. Much like another church which sells a rusty nail to be hammered into a wooden cross. Does anyone think God appreciates this type of worship giving?
We know it is difficult to separate the truth of the season from the lies of the season. Imagine the quandary of a small child taught to be truthful... A fat man with a beard in a red suit covering the world with flying animals and a sled full of toys. Most children, more competent than their parents with a computer, know the folly of most fairy tales. Most children can well understand why their parents are so deceived by the hoax of global warming when the Earth is getting colder, the scams of socialized health care, the debauchery inherit in telling them they love them while permitting the worse education system known to man, and enslavement by unending government debt and taxation.
Eleanor Roosevelt, on a trip to North Carolina, while I was still at the University, said, “during the poverty of the 1920s and 1930s we could have easily slipped into Marxism.” It would surprise her to know that with the increasing wealth of the nation this century, we are now ready to accept this most decadent form of government... A form of government already discredited everywhere it's been tried... A form of government in direct antithesis to the Christian way of life.
A light in the window at Christmas time originated in Ireland in a time of religious persecution there when the secular humanist, godless, communist form of government had taken over. This largely Catholic country would identify Catholic homes where Christian Christmas was being observed by a candle in the window. It is time this year for every Christian home to put a candle in the window to let people know you know the real meaning of Christmas.
