May. the light
of Christmas
shine on
you and
your loved

appreciate an
your loyalty!

divocle of Ghrisinnns

By Pastor DIRK ZINNER
Seventh-day Adventist
Church _

THE MIRACLE OF
CHRISTMAS

. Christmas! What a word
to.conjure up happy mem-
ories! A season laden with
the spirit of good will, when
quarrels and animosities are

laid aside, and presents and

* good wishes are exchanged.

To many it is merely a season
of holly ‘and mistletoe, of
joyful festivity when some
folks meet to celebrate the
miracle of Christmas.

Nearly 2,000-years ago,”

upon the starlit hills of Beth-
lehem, angels brought good
tidings of great joy as they

In the spirit ae this holy season our
wish is one for joy. With appreciation.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

e “ie

Aero Taxi & Castlegar Taxi
We li be CLOSED Christinas Day.

to give our statt g well-deserved hunday.

Dashing Through The Snow

We wish you-the merriest of Christmas’s and would like to thank all of our
patrons of 1980 for their business. And we hope our Tires & Service will

help you dash, safely the snow this holiday season. oF

fOkCrne s STORES

EIGHTY-ONE STORES IN WESTEAN CANADA.

Castlegar

‘announced’ the birth of the
Christ Child to a few shep-
herds (Luke 2:9-16). I believe

they sensed and experienced’

a closer meaning of Christ-
mas than most of us do today.
If Christmas were only a
saturation of- Christmas
carols, I'd be disappointed.
If Christmas were only

-the glitter of pine trees

scintillating with many-
colored lights, I'd be dis-
appointed. ,

If Christmas were only
poinsettias, holly, mistletoe
and snow, I'd also be dis-
appointed. a

If Christmas were just
jingling bells and shopping
crowds, again I'd be dis-
appointed.

If Christmas were just
the excitement of receiving
and sending greeting cards
and letters, or of feasting
with loved ones — with
pudding; fruit cake, cookies
and all the other goodies —
Td be very disappointed.

Because, all Christmas
would be is that it would be
like having a big birthday
party and not knowing what
the party is all about or who
the party is for.

To me, as a Seventh-
day Adventist Christian,
Christmas needs to offer
more than just a good time
and days off work. The true
spirit of Christmas needs to
point me to Christ.

As.a Seventh-day Ad-
ventist, I recognize that Dec.
24 or Dec. 25 was not the
birth day of Christ — more

- likely it was in the spring of

the year.

- As a Seventh-day Ad-
ventist I recognize that
Christmas, as much of our

society knows it and cel-
ebrates it today, has possibly
more traditions originating
from ancient paganigm and
modern worldliness than
Scriptural accuracies,

Therefore, Christmas
provides. me an opportunity.
to try in my ‘simple way to
help myself and others un-
derstand that such things as
mistletoe, Christmas trees,
Santa Claus and even. the
very day of Dec. 25 clearly
trace their roots, not to
Christ's teaching nor to prac-
tices of the early Christian
church, but rather to tradi-
tions having their origin in
ancient Egyptian and Bab-
ylonian mythology and pag-
anism.

Thus, Christmas pro-
vides for me further oppor-
tunities to get to know and
tell the true story of Christ's
birth along with the hope
which that event brought not
only to the shepherds or wise
men of 2,000 years ago, but
also to anybody who will
listen and accept Christ's
message of hope. and peace
today.

The time of Christmas,
therefore, provides for me
special opportunities as I
fellowship with Christians to

reflect and rejoice on the sig- .

nificance of Christ's birth —
His first Advent as well as
focus on the hope of His
soon-coming second Advent.

“For unto us a child is
born. ,.and the government
shall be upon His shoulder;
and His name shall be called
Wonderful Counsellor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6.

The season of joy

By REV. ROY HUBBEARD .

Pentecostal Tabernacle
“The Season of Joy”
Christmas: the mere

word brings-about a certain
excitement. When- the first
Christmas carols are sung it
is hard not to sense a certain
thrill that wells up inside.
And why not, for it is the cel-
ebration of the birthday of a
most important event. _

Now, I know that some
rigid, legalistic literalists will
declare that we should not
celebrate the birth of Jesus
because He was not born on
Dec. 25 but was probably
born in the spring, They are
probably right, but even they
cannot fix the date of Jesus’
birth accurately.

What difference does it
make when He came? The
important thing is that Jesus,
the spotless Son of God did
come for you and me. That is
worth celebrating. His whole
purpose in coming was to
declare to us the kingdom of
God, to manifest the Father
through Himself by His life
and His ministry and to give
His life as a payment for our
sins that all who trust in Him
might be saved.

That is something to”

sing about and the angels did

_dust that at Jesus’ birth. That

is why the disciples ‘prayed
after Jesus had died, rose
again and then ascended into
heaven, “that signs and won-
ders ‘may be done by the

name of thy holy child:

Jesus.” They recognized that
the name of the ‘holy child
Jesus spoke of the coming of
our Lord and Savior, as a
baby.

His birth pointed for-
ward to the victory that
Jesus would accomplish for
usasamanand which He has
completed for us for all time
and eternity. It is no wonder
that the angel of the Lord
announced the birth of Jesus
with, “behold, I bring. you

. good tidings of great joy,

which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord.”
What a message of joy.
Jesus has come to make. a
way for all to come boldly
before the Father with lives

cleansed and pure. Well may -

we sing, “Joy to the world!
The Lord is come; Let earth
receive her King; Let every
heart . prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature
sing.”

So, “rejoice with «joy
unspeakable and full of
glory.”

“SWhat shall we do unto
the Christ Child that “has
been born?” This question is
asked at this time of the year.

and it demands an answer ~

from everyone who hears it.
The whole Christmas story is
centered around what certain
pesple did to the Christ Child
Who was born in Bethlehem.
Herod was king at the
time of the birth of the Lord
Jesus. He heard from Wise
Men that had come from the
east that thé king of the Jews,
had been born. He inquired of
the religious leaders in Jer-
usalem and they. pointed
Herod and the Wise Men to
the little town of Bethlehem,

very wicked, sensual, self-
centered man. He knew that
if this new king would remain
alive it might.cost’ him his
very throne. He would have
to go and worship this new
king, and this Herod would

am going to kill:this
Christ child — the babe that
is born in fulfillment of God's
Holy Word — I shall'destroy
Him!" With this; Herod turns
the cruelty and hatred of his
heart to the children of Beth-
lehem. Trying to destroy the
King of the Jews (Who is the
King of Kings and Lord of
lords), he destroyed many
innocent people. But, the
Christ Child he did not aes:
troy!

Throughout the centur-
jes many have tried to do
witat Herod sought to do. It
is true that they have des-
troyed many men, women

and children and what they .

stood for. Whole nations have
come ‘tumbling down, but

* they have never destroyed .

the Lord Jesus ‘Christ, He
will live on forever.

The innkeeper is another
man who rejected the Christ
Child, Joseph must have

"pleaded enrnestly with him
for a room: “My wife is going
to have a child, please help
us!” The. innkeeper did: not
make room for Him: “Joseph,
I feel for you in your plight,

>but others have been here

before’ you. I run’ a busi-
ness...”

So’ many people today
are like “the innkeeper. So
many things have come be-,
fore; there is noroom ip their
homes, in their plans, in-their
businesses, in their pleasures.
and even .in their religion.
‘And, there is noroom in their
hearts and in their lives.

“Wise Men, -what will
you do with this newborn
king?" ‘They had seen the
star and they knew that the
king who was foretold for
many ‘centuries was born.
Ancient history tells us that
in the Middle East, the Far ~
East, Greece and . Rome,
extra-Biblical records ex-
pected ‘a-Child to be born of

the Jews Who would become
the king of the world,

What did these men do
with the light that-God had
given to them with. this
supernatural star? They fol-
lowed the star. They found
the Child, They brought Him
gifts, the best they had, and
they fell down and wor:
shipped Him,

The shepherds, too,
were guided by angels to he
Christ Child. They, too, came
and worshipped Jesus — and
went and spread the Good
News.

Friend, what will you do
with this newborn King? Let
us together, with Mary and
Joseph, the wise men, the
angels and the ‘shepherds,
seed Him — find Him —
,adore Him — praise Him and

worship. Him and then tell .|

others of our great Friend. ©

‘Would you embrace Him °

and claim Him as your
Savior, Master and King?

Christmas
in the air

S now may sift, icycles hang from
E aves .. . but nothing cools the

A rdor of scurrying.
. 8 hoppers bent
O n their mission.

~N osing through stores, or bent

© ver a box of cards, looking

F or-the right gift or card. for those on their

L ist of loved

- Ones... The

V ery air tingles with
E xcitement, expectation
A nd activity.

No one is exempt; even the pet

D og or cat can sense the
Goodwill and goodies in

O ver abundance readied for
O vereating in the festive
D ays ahead. The tree piled
W ith packages that set-the
Imagination aglow! -

L oveliest family-time of the
L ight, love and good cheer.

deep

year, filled with
. N:
— Lucy Ellen Eaton

A future Christmas

By CALVIN SOOKACHOFF
Blueberry Creek Elementary
A CHRISTMAS OF
THE FUTURE

was.a week before
chaste at the:North Pole
and letters -“To Santa”
poured in by the minute.

“My, it looks like there
are more letters now than
there has ever been before!”
exclaimed Santa.

Then Santa walked into
his most important room. It
was filled with weather, tel-
ecommunication, and pres-
ent-arranging computers.
(Santa has come a long way
since he started his job). He
put all the letters in a special
slot of a computer. The com-
puter would wrap all the

presents and get them ready

‘for packing. Santa packs a
week ahead of time so he
doesn’t wait until the last
minute. -

Days had passed and
now it was two hours before
Santa. makes ‘his’ famous
world-wide flight. Santa
flicked a switch and the pres-
ents were loaded onto his
sleigh by a long conveyor
belt. Mechanical robots were
scooting to ready the sleigh,
(The elves were no longer
needed when the robots were
made.) .

Then Santa checked to
see if the toy-making had
stopped. He saw that the
large mathines were still
manufacturing toys by the
minute. Santa hit “a switch
and all of* the machines

stopped. “All this automation
saves a lot of work,” he said,
Santa put on his bright

red suit and had the robots’

adjust the rockets on his sled.
Santa thought reindeer were
too inconvenient...

Santa kissed his wife and
hopped into his rocket sled.
There wasa lot of controls on
the control panel. He pressed
a red button, ROAR! Santa
shot up into the clouds in the
sled to deliver Presents, to
the world.

He was back in a mere
six hours, while with rein-
deer it took 11 hours. When
hé landed, Mrs. Santa

. greeted him while robots put
the sled away. Santa went to
sleep for a good long rest. :

That was a story of

“Christmas: in-the- fut

be blessed with -
the love.
and tranquility’
that abound
throughout this
holiday season.

Season's Greetings from

JONES BOYS | MARINE .

Kaslo

If you are in the area over the holidays, take a minute
~1o drop in and ‘sea’ what's new for 1981.

by ing you happy joys and
a memorable Christmas.

ea

Thank You for your patronage and making our
Is? year in business a successful one.

CA LEGAR AUTO BODY (1979) Ltd.

2230.6th Ave.

t