"From the Officer's Desk"
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Christmas is nearly upon us once again, the shops have had their Christmas decorations and displays on show for some time now and there have been more and more Christmas advertisements appearing in our newspapers and on television. The Christmas period seems to come earlier and earlier each year! I love the Christmas period, not because of the gifts or even the opportunity to meet with distant family members. No , I love Christmas because Christmas is the time when God loved us so much that He gave His Only Son to be our Savior. Wrapped up in a little child is the very Son of God Himself, the one who would eventually die on the cross - personally for us. The manger is indeed overshadowed by the cross, we cannot, and must not, separate Christ's birth from His Death. He was born, in a sense, to die. All of His ministry and teaching, also His miracles, were all geared towards His death at Calvary. How our world today need to hear the truth that Christ was born to die for them as individuals, That He cares for their situation and wants to be part of their life. The following story that I read just recently has spoken to me:

"The land of Persia was once ruled by a wise and beloved Shah who cared greatly for his people and desired only what was best for them. One day he disguised himself as a poor man and went to visit the public baths. The water for the baths was heated by a furnace in the cellar. The Shah made his way to that dark place, to sit with the man who tendered the fire. The two men shared the coarse food and the Shah befriended him in his loneliness. Day after day the ruler went to visit the man. The worker became attached to this stranger because he "came to where he was." One day the Shah revealed his true identity and he expected the man to ask him for a gift. Instead, he looked long into his leader's face and , with a love and wonder in his voice , said
"You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to eat my coarse food and care about what happens to me. On others you bestow rich gifts, but to me you have given yourself!"

As we think of what our Lord has done for us, especially at Christmas time, we can echo that fire tender's sentiments. Oh, what a step our Lord took - form Heaven to Earth, from the worship of angels to the mocking of cruel men, from glory to humiliation! The apostle Paul summaries it well for us when he writes in Philippians chapter 2, these words,
"You attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but mad himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!"

As we celebrate Christmas once again, let us be determined each to take the Gospel message to at least one person who hasn't heard the real message of Christmas and let us give them a Christmas to remember.

In one part of the USA, St. Michael's had always been a very wealthy church. Its 300 members usually gave a combined annual offering of over one mllion dollars- because they could afford to. Over the year, however, the neighbourhood around the beautiful old church began to change. Immigrants flocked to the area, changing the complexion of the community. Steel bars replaced welcome signs in store windows. Homeless poeple could be found wandering the sidewalks and streets. The changes made some of the members of St. Michael's very uncomfortable. they usually tried to avoid that part of town except on sundays. One sunday, shortly after a young associate priest had joined the church staff, the church members were gathered after the morning service for coffee. In the spring months they loved to gather in the flower garden outside the church, among its gazebos, fountains and vine covered arches. As the elegantly dressed worshipers sipped coffee and chatted in the garden, a homeless man shuffled in off the street.He entered through the garden gate without looking at anyone. But all eyes were certainly on him. He quietly walked over to the table where a spread of expensive pastries were displayed on silver trays. He picked up one of the pastries and bit into it, keeping his eyes closed. then he reached for a second pastry and placed it into his coat pocket. Moving slowly and trying not to be noticed, he placed another into the same pocket. The garden buzzed with whispers. Finally one of the woman walked over to the new priest and said, "well, do something!" Still feeling a little awkward in his new position, the young priest handed his coffee cup to the woman, walked over to the table, where the empty pastry boxes had been stored. Then he picked up one of the silver trays loaded with pastries and emptied them into a box. He did the same with a second tray of expensive goodies. Then he closed the lids on the boxes and held them out to the homeless man. "We're here every Sunday," the priest said. The man smiled at the priest, cradled the boxes in his arms, and shuffled quietly out of the garden and down the street. The priest returned to his coffee cup, smiled at the woman holding it, and said, "That's what you ment when you said ,("Do something, wasn't it?")"

What would you have done if you' been the priest? That's an important quetion for all of us. Jesus looks at the homeless and weak of this world and says to each of us, "Well, do something!" Certainly if Jesus were here in the flesh, you can be sure he woud have done something very much like that young priest did.

But wait! Jesus is here in the flesh. That's what the church is all about.

We are the body of Christ- the hands and feet of Jesus in todays world (1 Corinthians 12).