Norwich bulletin., 1912-12-26
Christmas in the Norwich Churches
Special Services and Musical Programmes Drew Large Congr gations to the Episcopal and Catholic Churches For the Observance of the Festival Junior Choir St. Patrick Church-Rev. Richard R. Graham's Sermon

At Christ Episcopal church the rec ed his helpful Christmas sermon from the text, Thy shall call his name I'm manuel, which being interpreted is God with us." found in Matthew, 1: 23. He said:
 Christmas is emphatically the chil- dren's day. so much so that when our own youth is past, and if there are no children around us to lend their brightness, this holy season may come to us with a message of sadness rath- CT than of joy, and no matter how we try to enter into the spirit of Christ mas yet. Over all things breeding sleeps: the quiet seems of something lost"
 And this is partly right and largely inevitable. Since the Christ child is the cental figure in our celebrations, since 1t is, nominally at least, in His honor that we hold our services since it is the outcome of the spirit He l brought into the world that leads us l to exchange our gifts and greetings We ! must feel a new reverence for child 1 hood. Seeing the Christ child, and see- ' ing In Him the revelation of God, we ] learn as we could learn in no other way i the sancity of childhood; we know that l every birth, no matter how lowly, is indeed priceless gift from the good i God.
 But though Christmas appeals most | directly to the child and to those who ! have retained the childlike spirit yet | down through the ages it has come { with message of joy to all mankind ] Year by year Christendom has felt g 1 tn aal- 1 ebrated the birth of the wondrous Child; each age each country felt tha1 l 1t was justified in appropriating to it. {, self the blessings that birth was be. i lieved to bring to all the world. Therefore if the message of Christ.
 mas has become dulled in our ears be. cause those ears have grown dull oi l hearing, this is a proof that we hav'
 not been ready to listen to the deeper | meanings of this holy Birth.
 Yes, Christmas may lose something ! of its gladness as the years of ouI
 lives pass by; the idea of merrimen
 will not be the foremost one; but a.
 our needs are greater as the years ad 1 vance, so a greater satisfaction fo those needs may be found in the deep
 CT meaning of the Christmas joy. We believe that the hope Of tn pTOpHSl Wueu u0 SpOho Ol ILl6 UlIlu O the child who was to be called Elm
 manuel was fulfilled when the Chris
 was born in Bethlehem; that then in
 deed God took up His dwelling wit
 men in sense that He never had don
 before.
 While the bright hopes of childhood
 the confident strength of youth, or tn
 more or less successful achievement
 of manhood sustained us we felt tha
 we could, as 1t were, stand upon ou
 own feet, that our own strength wa
 sufficient for us; but when somethin
 of the hope and high courage of If
 has been taken from us, then we nee
 to be assured that beneath us are tn
 everlasting arms. and that these arm:
 being everlasting, can sustain us 8
 all times, and under all conditions. The everlasting arms that are be
 meath us are also beneath and sustain
 ing the entire universe, and so W } know that they are indeed strong. Bu I are they the arms of a loving an
 sympathetic friend; can we. with an
 truth, feel that they are our Fath
 CTS arms?
 The story of the coming of the So
 of God Is the supreme answer to thi
 question, the only answer that ca , satisfy the deepest longings of ou hearts.
 Yes, the story of the nativity, wit [ all its strange and lowly circumstance tells us of the presence of a loving an
 sympathetic Father. And is not thi a message which has even more mean , ing for the old than for the young; fc } those who feel something of the sol