Cherish Christ Jesus & “our fondest earthly hopes”

Cherish Christ Jesus & our” fondest earthly hopes”
CedarS Camps Metaphysical Application Ideas for
the Christian Science Bible Lesson on:
"Christ Jesus"
for December 23, 2012
by Rick Stewart, C.S. , Dresden, Germany
(+49 351 312 4736)  rickstewartcs@aol.com

Christmas?  How do we best observe and celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus?  For me that is simply a deep, thorough, and inspiring study of the Bible Lesson, Christ Jesus.  I am having fun with all the festivities and celebrations that take place at this time of year here in Germany, but with a focus on the Gospel proclamation announced by the angels, “Peace on earth, good will to man.”

It is a time to remember those who suffer, grieve, mourn and hurt.  It is a time to deepen our commitment to living the life our Master, Christ Jesus, desired for us.   As the Gospel of John puts it, “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.  If any man serve me, let him follow me;”   To follow him and and to share his Light and Love with those who need it most.  As I rejoice in the promise that the angels of old proclaimed in the fields of Bethlehem I pray to know that those angelic messengers of God’s love remain at hand.

In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy writes about “our angelic messengers”  “My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried  its fondest earthly hopes.  With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys.” (p. 299).

What better place to put our trust for our “fondest earthly hopes” than in the Gospel message that Jesus' birth and life offers us?   Does that celebration, that hope, that trust, have to be celebrated only on December 25?  I think our Master, Christ Jesus, would hope that his teachings bring inspiration and the Light of God’s love to our everyday.

A friend in the United States recently wrote me about his concerns that somehow the specialness of the Christmas season was being diluted  in the United States by decisions about where and how we can celebrate Christmas. And he even bemoaned the fact that you hear more, “Happy Holiday” greetings than “Merry Christmas!”  He asked me how Christmas is celebrated in Germany?  That is a very long answer including, Christmas Markets, Advent Wreaths, The four Sundays leading up to Weinachten,  Niklaus Day, and churches that are much fuller on the Sundays before Weinachten (Christmas Eve.)  It truly is a special time here.  But in the midst of all that celebration, it can still be difficult to find the true spirit of Christmas.

That is exactly where you can make a difference.  This week’s Bible Lesson on the subject, Christ Jesus, can bring you an inspiration that will actually let the Christ come to light in your daily life.  And your prayers and inspiration can bring that message of “Peace on Earth.  Good will to man,” to all those who need it most.

Golden Text: Psalms 45:7    “…God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
The Golden Text offers the core, or the central theme for the Bible Lesson.  This Psalm is identified as a Wedding Song, or a Psalm of Love.  It includes references to the promised Messiah, in the following verse a portion of which is our Golden Text,,  “ 7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”  King James Version

For several days I have looked at that entire Psalm.  I have read it in about 20 different Bible translations.  I realized I was stumbling over the phrase, “anointed thee…above thy fellows.”  Now I am not unwilling to see that Jesus was truly anointed in his mission.  I am not unwilling to know that his fulfillment of the promise of a Messiah, a Christ is complete.  But I was struggling with “above thy fellows.”  Jesus himself told us that he was here as one who serveth.  Then I had a simple image.  When one falls into a well you need help to get out.  You do not need someone to jump in with you and cheer you on.  You need someone to stay up “above” and help you from above.  In love, in compassion, right with you, but not having let go of his stance on the upper ground.  As my mom used to often say, “Jesus never left heaven for earth.”  His unity with the Father, (“I and my Father are one.") did not separate him from us as God’s Son and our Saviour.  Jesus fulfillment of the coming of a promised Messiah, Christ, did not separate him from us.  Instead he remains there to save us.

Responsive Reading:    Isaiah 52:7, Isaiah 7: 11,14 and Matthew 1: 18-21
From Isaiah and Matthew we hear the wonderful promise of the Messiah and then the promise of Immanuel’s birth to a virgin.  Joseph receives the assurances to take Mary as his wife and that the child is of the Holy Ghost.  And Joseph is told that his name shall be called Jesus.  Thus Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Immanuel.

Section 1 – The visit of the Magi, the wise men from the east.
How many Christmases have we all read this wonderful account of wise men from the East coming in search of the newborn, “King of the Jews.”  The presents they brought, “gold, frankincense and myrrh” are valuable gifts fit for a king.  Although in nativity scenes and reenactments we often see these wise men visit the stable, we are told that they in fact came into “the house.”  Matthew 2:11” And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and wor¬shipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”  And they sure were, “wise.”  They were not fooled by Herod’s professed devotion and desire to also come and worship the newborn.  When it came time to say good bye they took another route home. (B-2) Matthew 2:12 “  And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”

Has the time come to an end when we need “wise men” to worship the Christ?  I love what Mary Baker Eddy says in Science and Health along these lines,(S-1) 482:19 “Jesus was the highest human concept of the perfect man. He was inseparable from  Christ, the Messiah, — the divine idea of God outside the flesh. This enabled Jesus to demonstrate his control over matter. Angels announced to the Wisemen of  old this dual appearing, and angels whisper it, through faith, to the hungering heart in every age. “  What a wonderful promise that there continues a great need for those who wisely discern the uniqueness of both Jesus and the eternal Christ or Messiah, which he embodied.
Citation (S-2, 95:23) states:  “Led by a solitary star amid  the darkness, the Magi of old foretold the Messiahship of Truth. Is the wise man of to-day believed, when he beholds the light which heralds Christ’s eternal dawn and describes its effulgence?"

One of those “wise men” who followed the eternal Christ was the Reverend Phillips Brooks.  Phillips Brooks was one of the most famous preachers of his time.  He was also the author of the beloved hymn and Christmas Carol, “O little town of Bethlehem.” (Hymn 222 in the Christian Science Hymnal)  He was originally from Boston.  Descended from a line of Congregational clergymen, he served his ministry in the Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.

"In 1869 Brooks answered repeated requests and returned to his native Boston to serve as Rector of Trinity Church.   In 1891 he was elected Bishop of his church in Massachusetts. 

During his time in Philadelphia he took a year’s vacation studying and traveling in the east and the holy land.  He writes:

“After an early dinner, we took our horses and rode to Bethlehem,” so he wrote home in Christmas week of 1865. “It was only about two hours when we came to the town, situated on an eastern ridge of a range of hills, surrounded by its terraced gardens. It is a good-looking town, better built than any other we have seen in Palestine. . . . Before dark, we rode out of town to the field where they say the shepherds saw the star. It is a fenced piece of ground with a cave in it (all the Holy Places are caves here), in which, strangely enough, they put the shepherds. The story is absurd, but somewhere in those fields we rode through the shepherds must have been. . . . As we passed, the shepherds were still “keeping watch over their flocks or leading them home to fold.”
Click here for link

On the front piece of the book, MARY BAKER EDDY Christian Healer, is the following quote by Phillips Brooks: “God has not given us vast learning to solve all the problems, Or unfailing wisdom to direct all the wanderings of our brothers’ lives; but He has given to everyone of us the power to be spiritual, and by our spirituality to lift and enlarge and enlighten the lives we touch.” Following this quote is Mary Baker Eddy’s response: “The secret of my life is in the above.”

Section 2 – Jesus always serves God.
The second chapter of the Gospel of Luke contains the story of Simeon recognizing in the infant Jesus “the Lord’s Christ.”  (B-4, Luke 2)  And also the story when as a 12 year old Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem. A chapter full of content, right?

I find it interesting that Simeon was led to go to the Temple that day by the Holy Ghost.  Isn’t that an important message to us that we remain open to going where the Spirit leads?

Just a little example and the blessing it brought me.  In January 1986 I was in Boston for some lecture preparatory work.  I was not yet elected to the Board of Lectureship.  There was actually a group of about 12 of us.  We were asked to basically lay low to avoid curiosity. And we were specifically asked to not attend The Mother Church in order to protect our mission so to speak, since we were not yet elected to the Board. 

But Sunday morning I awoke with an incredible hunger of the Spirit for church.  I prayed, looked in the Yellow Pages, with the question, “Where should I go to church?”  I remembered that Mrs. Eddy had spoken at Tremont Temple, a Baptist church.  So I looked up the address and began the walk.  Along the way I glimpsed an interesting round building and watched as several people went inside.  As I drew closer I saw the sign, “Church of All Nations.”  Now that sounded interesting.  I entered and was studying the bulletin board, when a clergyman in colorful robes walked by and greeted me.  He told me that the main church service was later, but that I was welcome to join a Sunday School class that was already in session.  I took him up on the offer.

I was welcomed by a group of ten or so.  A young minister was conducting the adult class.  We had a delightful discussion of one of Jesus’ parables.  I had been asked to read the parable and received several comments, “You sure know how to read the Bible.”  (A gift from regular study of the Bible Lesson!)  Our discussion had been so inspiring.  It was one of the most delightful discussions of Scripture I had ever had.  And one of the Sunday School class, an older gentlemen, had been really inspiring.  I sensed he was truly a spiritually-minded person.  After the class he called me over and said he would like me to meet a young couple honeymooning from Zimbabwe.  It was his nephew and the nephew’s new wife.  The man making the introductions I knew simply as, Abel.  As he introduced me I suddenly remembered that someone in the class had called him “Bishop.”  I thought, “Abel,” “Zimbabwe”, “Bishop.”  And with goose bumps of joy I turned and asked, “Abel, you wouldn’t be Bishop Abel Muzorewa?”

“Yes, I am.”  I cannot tell you how thrilled I was.  Abel and I had a long talk.  I shared with him that at that very moment I had been working on a lecture about brotherhood, “Christianity’s Promise:  True Brotherhood.”  Suddenly I felt as if I had glimpsed just a little of the worldwide reach of our prayers, and the unity of the activity of the Christ.  Abel, a Methodist Bishop, had been the first Prime Minister during the transition of Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Muzorewa

I often ask myself, “Am I praying about church attendance?”  Prayer can actually bring us into the very presence of the Christ expressed.  It was such an inspiring time with Abel.  He even invited me to come back the next week for the church service.  It would be in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.  And Abel explained that Dr. King had often visited the church when he lived in Boston.  So through prayer I had a church home for two weeks.  And felt just like family.

Imagine if you had been debating about whether to go to church (or Temple) on a particular Sabbath.  Finally you were led to go and who should happen to be there?  A twelve-year old Jesus!  That story is also in this section as Jesus visits the Temple in Jerusalem.  “And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.”  (B-4, Luke 2:46)  When his mom finally found him remember what he told her?  “And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (B-4, Luke 2: 49)

Isn’t it a joy to know that we, too, can discover the Christ waiting for us in church when we pray about where we are going?   And when we expect to find what we need in church?  As our Leader writes  “The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his own statements: “I am the way, the truth, and the life;”  “I and my Father are one.” This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him.” (S-9, 26:10–14)  The Christ awaits us in church year-round, not just on Christmas!

Section 3 – Faith in Jesus’ teaching and source heals.
In this section of the Lesson (B-5, Matt. 13) we read of Jesus’ preaching, a preaching with authority, a teaching with spiritual import.  He shares the parable of the mustard seed.    His teaching draws a multitude so large that he has to enter into a ship so all can hear “faith as a grain of mustard seed.”  Mustard seeds are only 1-2 mm.  But that is enough!  He speaks of faith and later in the section he states where the faith must be placed “Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.” (B-7, John 12: 44) 

In Citation 14 of the Lesson Mary Baker Eddy echoes Jesus’ words about knowing who sent the Master:  “In an age of ecclesiastical despotism, Jesus introduced the teaching and practice of Christianity, affording the proof of Christianity’s truth and love; but to reach his example and to test its unerring Science according to his rule, healing sickness, sin, and death, a better understanding of God as divine Principle, Love, rather than personality or the man Jesus, is required.”  (S-14, 473:18)

Mrs. Eddy glimpsed the importance of knowing where our faith is placed…  When Mary Baker Eddy first discovered, Christian Science, and was beginning to preach in Boston it was not a time when women were generally accepted as teachers.  But Mrs. Eddy had herself been healed through the understanding of the Gospel of Christ and she knew she must share what she had glimpsed.  So she did.  The early days of her preaching she often faced resistance and she persevered.  Her faith and understanding were producing wonderful results like the following:

“Bertha Reinke was a young German woman who came to the United States to study medicine in search of a cure for her physical problems. She went to hear a “lady preacher” merely “out of curiosity, because it was unheard of in her country for women to preach. She had never heard of Christian Science and had not known of its focus on healing.” She tells of her experience as follows: “Escorted by a gentleman, the ‘Lady Preacher’ appeared on the stage. For a few moments she gazed silently over the audience. I felt an atmosphere such as I had not known before. She spoke with a gentle, low, but very clear voice. As I was not accustomed to hear an address in English …  the words themselves were not understood.  But as I listened, I experienced an inexpressible feeling of relief and the pains and misery… had fallen away.… Not knowing to whom I had been listening, I asked an usher for the name of the Lady Preacher. In utter astonishment he looked at me and answered, ‘Why, that was Mrs. Eddy!’ — Mrs. Eddy!? I had never heard the name before–I left the hall free and well” (Christian Healer 128–129).

Here’s what Mrs. Eddy says in a letter to one of her students:
“The healing will grow more easy and be more immediate as you realize that God, Good, is all and Good is Love. You must gain Love, and lose the false sense called love. You must feel the Love that never faileth — that perfect sense of divine power that makes healing no longer power but grace” ("Christian Science Sentinel", April 10, 2006, p. 9).

Section 4 – “Thy faith hath made thee whole.”
One of the remarkable aspects of Jesus healing work was his ability to restore the faculties of sight and hearing.  And it was also one of his clear demonstrations that he was here as fulfillment of the promised coming of the Messiah.  As Bible citation, “Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?  And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.” (B-8, Isa. 29:17, 18)  [We at the CedarS of Lebanon feel that our summer fruitage is a fulfillment of this biblical prophecy as you can read at http://www.cedarscamps.org/information/fruitage/  We are hoping to have a staff member write up a quick healing of blindness that he experienced through prayer at CedarS.]

In Bible citation B-9 we read of the healing of blind Bartimaeus.  I love the fact that through this healing Jesus demonstrates two key points.  One Bartimaeus was not a beggar, someone without sight and therefore needing to beg for a living.  And, two, that it was “thy faith,” Bartimaeus' faith, which had been effective.

“And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” (B-9, Mark 10: 51-52)

I love that as Bartimaeus reached out to Jesus he was bold!  He did not let the “shushes” of decorum silence his plea for help from the Christ.  He demanded, he sought, he reached out and he would not be stilled.  But Jesus did not simply heal him with a swipe of his hand, like a magician with his wand.  Jesus engaged Bartimaeus and he encouraged him by letting him know, “Go thy way, thy faith hath made the whole.”  Bartimaeus‘ faith!

I had this demonstrated to me by the faith of a young woman in Costa Rica.  I had arrived late one night for a lecture in the next days.  I was in the Holiday Inn.  I got a call from someone who attended the local Christian Science Society.  She herself was new to Christian Science.  She explained that she had met a young woman who was desperate for healing.  This young woman had discovered a lump in her breast.  And a doctor had told her it was cancer.  She was in Costa Rica for an adventure vacation and her travelling companion had been raised in Christian Science.  So they had contacted the local Society.  And this lady had told her, “There is a healer coming.  He will be there tomorrow.  You can go see him.”  That was me.

When she first told me of this pending appointment, I was very close to denying the Christ and saying, “”Well, I don’t know.  A healer?”  I had never described myself in that way.  It seemed a daunting phrase.  It seemed different than Christian Science Practitioner.  But I began to see and accept.  I had what you might call a little symbolic blindness to heal.  The young woman showed up at 9 a.m.  I had arrived at midnight the night before.  We talked briefly and I agreed to pray for her.  We also agreed to meet at the local Reading Room later.  She showed up for the appointment and we had a nice chat.  She showed up for the lecture the next day.  And she announced to me , “I am healed.”  It was a moving moment.  But I remember being completely honest in saying and knowing just like our Master, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.”  I had not brought some external holiness to move on the waters of thought.  The Christ was active in the whole affair.  Her boyfriend was raised in Science, but not really practicing.  The member of the Society new to Science and sharing.  And the young woman open, receptive and with full faith in the healing power of the Christ. And the visiting Christian Science Practitioner, or rather, “healer".  We had all been in the midst of the Christ at work.   She had accepted and responded to the Christ through her own faith.  (I have since learned to trust the “faith” of those asking for healing!)

Citation S-19 in Science and Health shows to me the authority that comes from the Christ, Truth.  “Mind is the master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on  man. 
  Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God’s government.” (S-19, 393:8–18, 25)

Section 5 – The eternal Christ, and eternal Life.
Did you notice that this section opens with a verse from the Book of Job and then concludes with verses from Titus and Galatians in the New Testament?  The Christ is not limited to a mortal life span.  It did not begin with the birth of Jesus and it did not end in what appeared to be the death of Jesus.  Jesus rose after the crucifixion, but the eternal Christ that Jesus so embodied has never varied in its full expression.  The eternal Christ is evident in Job’s words:”I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:” (B-10, Job 19:25)  Job glimpsed his Redeemer, his Savior, just as Paul, the author of Titus and Galatians did.

In the correlative citations from Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes in citation S-21, “Jesus aided in reconciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the divine Principle of Jesus’ teachings, and this truer sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter, sin, and death by the law of Spirit, — the law of divine Love.

  “Jesus urged the commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” which may be rendered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life, —  even God, good.” (S-21, 19:6, 29–1)

I love the promise that through the Christ, Truth that Jesus lived, taught, and embodied in an incomparable example, we too can choose Life as fact.  We can choose who we listen to and accept as the source of Life.

I still often hear the powerful words of declaration of a young four-year-old friend, Mimi.  I was 15.  It was when Mimi was in the middle of a wonderful demonstration of Life.  She had stepped off steps in our pool and did not know how to swim.  She appeared unconscious when I reached her…  I carried her to our upper patio praying as I walked.  Without a single call for help my mom noticed us there immediately.  We had a house full of company.  Mom realized she needed to take Mimi out of the stirring mortal atmosphere, and she asked my dad to drive her and Mimi to a nearby practitioner’s house.  As they drove and prayed Mimi momentarily regained consciousness.  She declared, “Glatha I’m listening to God.”  And she seemed to drift away, and then she declared, “Glatha, I’m not listening to error.”  This mental stand of a four-year-old to listen to God, Life and not to listen to error, remains so powerful to me.  And in just a short while the practitioner called with the simple declaration “all is well.”  When Mimi got back to our house she simply said, “Ricky, you have to teach me to swim cause last time I sank.”  The healing was holy.  Mimi was back in the water that very day with no fear.  And she later had a very successful career as a competitive swimmer.

The Christ was alive to Job, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” (B-10)  The Christ was alive to Paul, ”Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” (B-11)  The Christ was alive to Mrs. Eddy, “Jesus aided in reconciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the divine Principle of Jesus’ teachings, and this truer sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter, sin, and death by the law of Spirit, — the law of divine Love.“ (S-21, 19:6)

Isn’t this a celebration of Christmas worth repeating?  The healing Christ at hand, healing and comforting!

Section 6 – The works shall declare the Christ, present now and forever.
[This section’s Bible citations call for us to end our doubt and any guarded, uneasy commitment to the Christ.]
“How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.” (B-13, John 10:24-25)

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.“ (B-15, Mark 16: 15, 17, 18)

“For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace:” (B-16, Isa. 55:12)

A beautiful Christmas carol that inspires us at Christmas time comes from the pen of American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.”  It evidently was an upward battle for Longfellow to find the certainty, the assurance that Christmas was indeed worth celebrating.  In 1861 he lost his wife, Fanny, in a tragic accident.  The first Christmas after Fanny's death, Longfellow wrote, "How inexpressibly sad are all holidays."  A year after the incident, he wrote, "I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace."  Longfellow's journal entry for December 25th 1862 reads: "'A merry Christmas' say the children, but that is no more for me." "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance"(Psalm 42:5).  Almost a year later, Longfellow received word that his oldest son Charles, a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac, had been severely wounded.  The Christmas of 1863 was silent in Longfellow's journal. . Finally, on Christmas Day of 1864, he wrote the words of the poem, "Christmas Bells.

"Christmas Bells"
"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: 
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

.Mary Baker Eddy embraced the call to follow our Master in word and deed.  She writes “The highest earthly representative of God, speaking of human ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time:  “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;” and “These signs shall follow them that believe.” (S-27, 52:23)

Is not this call to celebrate Christmas in obedience to the Master Christian, to follow in his steps and to share the coming of the Christ with all who will hear?  Mary Baker Eddy wrote in the “New York World” newspaper the following [reprinted in First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany, 259]:

[New York World]

"The Significance of Christmas"

"Certain occasions, considered either collectively or individually and observed properly, tend to give the activity of man infinite scope; but mere merry-making or needless gift-giving is not that in which human capacities find the most appropriate and proper exercise.  Christmas respects the Christ too much to submerge itself in merely temporary means and ends. It represents the eternal informing Soul recognized only in harmony, in the beauty and bounty of Life everlasting, — in the truth that is Life, the Life that heals and saves mankind. An eternal Christmas would make matter an alien save as phenomenon, and matter would reverentially withdraw itself before Mind. The despotism of material sense or the flesh would flee before such reality, to make room for substance, and the shadow of frivolity and the inaccuracy of material sense would disappear.