Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-12-20
Four Minute Talks
BY WILLIAM H. BAWDEN
CHRISTMAS.

CHRISTMAS.
Who wants to talk about any thinh
else but Christmas at Christmas
time? Even the Senate adjourns and
takes a Christmas vacation from It's
talkfest, about the League of Nations
and other things. And everybody else
is buying or selling or making Christ
mas gifts, with tongues awagging as
fingers are afiying. And then the
soft flakes of snow descend and cover
everything with their gentle mantle OF
white. With Christmas in the air,
why talk about anything else?
But talking about Christmas means
far more than c~hattering about the
thing. you are planning to give and
the things you expect to receive, the
money you have invested n the
money you hope to make. In fact,
hat part of 1t has nothing at all to
do with Christmas, strange as That
may seem, excep for the fact that
we have seized on Christmastide to
do just those things. You would
never guess from reading tho account
of the first Christmas h a 1t was
the time for an exchange of gifts.
True, the magi brought their tribute
gifts to the king, which was quite
the proper thing to do when pre-
senting oneself before royalty. But
nobody else at that time thought o.
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manned for a later age to graft on
the Christmas celebration, was long
a pagan custom among those peoples
who had never heard of the Christ
child king and happened to fall dur-
ing the mid-winter season. SO do
not congratulate yourself on your OBJ
of Christmas If 1t begins n
ends with the making and the receiv-
ing of gifts, and all is related there
tn That ia miro ~napaOiSm- however.
delightful it may be.
Talking about Christmas should
a review of h origin of that
popular Christian celebration. Well
may we familiariZe ourselves with the
details OF the story. Well may we re-
enact some of the story before the
minds of our youth. We'll may we
emulate the angels and sing u
Christmas carols, proclaiming good
will to men and peace on earth. Then
there are left the deeper things still
untouched without which any cele-
bration of Christmas misses some
thing really worth while. What is
the meaning of all this? Shall men
be wayfarers through the centuries,
listening merely to the minor chords
Of life, struck with dismay and de-
spair as they see falling aroun them
in ruins what "a taken long centu-
ries to build up7 Or shall they be en-
abled to perceive the hand of God in
history, and be assured of his pres
ence among men, and of his desire to
bless them in every way possible?
Shall they perceive unfolding before
their eyes the great purposes of Gods
salvation for the world, eliminating
through long centuries in the birth of
the Christ as king? Shall they OBJ
serve the meaning of the living Christ
in the history of the Christian centu-
ries, and finally come to a full belief
In the final triumph of right over
wrong, of good over evil. of peace
and prosperity over war and destruc-
ton?
Talking about Christmas, and
bringing gifts to the king. what about
recalling what ne himself later said:
'Inasmuch as we have done 1t unto
one of the least of these, We have
lone 1t unto me-" He Is nc longer
among men in the flesh, and we can
not bring unto him presents, as did
the wise men of old. But there are
many needy ones everywhere to be
found and to these we may bring our
tribute for the king, In the full as
surance hat in SO doing we are really
presenting it unto him. Every year
for some years past the New York
Times has daily published before
Christmas a list of the one hundred
neediest cases suggested to 1t by the
charitable organizations IN the city.
and many are h thousands of dol
lars contributed each Christmas to
some one particular case. as the reel,
tai of the Individual need has tugged
at the heart strings. If you cannot
find anybody in this city to whom
you may personally minister, look
over thai LIST and make you dOna-
ton accordingly.