Show 4 lea Kathleen Norris Says The Debt We Owe Glue to Christmas Bell Syndicate Features 4 STIA b 7 S Si Si i i I e. e r I. I 1 vv- vv r II this could be brought home to our children this incalculable debt that they ow oto to Jesus Christ birthday tic we celebrate on Christmas it might solve solid some of the great problems that uc we mothers face By KATHLEEN NORRIS seems to me mel methis methis l C CHRISTMAS this year quite different V from all the other Christmases Christ- Christ Christmases Christmases mases I ever have known It has always meant holly and the tree presents and roaring open fires and all the family ga gathered for the feast It has always always always al al- al- al ways meant special music and special services at church and and and- of later years especially much serious wondering thought of the little baby whose life was to be bethe bethe bethe the most important ever lived by man I have marvelled anew every year over the facts of His l life e the poverty and obscurity the complete unimportance of all His associates even of His persecutors the strange teaching that was received by a few I poor peasants and the death of a common criminal that they made I Him die Strange teachings indeed It contradicted contradicted contradicted con con- ever everything thing that men had ever believed It discounted force and hate It voiced the thc incredible doctrine that love was the only power pow pow- er and that love fulfilled all aU the laws Jaws of heaven and earth The They didn't believe believe believe be be- lieve Him Him and they killed Him and His Dis forlorn obscure followers faced the great warring world of that day and of the thc new worlds and the expanded expanded expanded ex ex- days to come with just a few quoted precepts as their heritage And that heritage grew grew and spread and thundered down the ages and reached unknown countries and unborn unborn unborn un un- un- un born peoples oh ohIo yes polluted and twisted and misinterpreted and betrayed betrayed betrayed be be- sometimes it is true but still the doctrine of forgiveness and brotherhood Human weakness delayed delayed delayed de de- de- de it but nothing could kill it because it is the truth So much we all know so much we all feel at Christmas time Sudden New Light But like a window opening to sudden new light it has come to me mein mein mein in these terrible years of war that we owe Christianity a tremendous debt over and above the spiritual value it gives us That Christianity and the passionate love it awakened in mens men's hearts is the actual ark of civilization and that it ought to be fostered as a sacred possession by everyone who hopes for a new world believer or non The great Hebrew religion from which the life of Christ was derived did more than build temples It built libraries hospices colleges it laid down a public and a domestic law Jaw What other element clement ever did These things do not exist in orienta oriental oriental ori ori- enta countries where the great masses masses of the people even today live and die dic in obscure superstitions as to evil eyes ees caste black magic They do o not build cities railways bridges roads The orient is almost without these things a's as it is without modern conveniences sewers telephones telephones telephones tele tele- phones paving schools hospitals li li- li I have seen swarming dark communities hundreds of them in India and China into which no one of these things ever had been introduced introduced introduced intro intro- where the compounds are icy puddles for eight months a year and even such simple luxuries as a gas stove or bureau a change of shoes or a potato had actually never been seen Extraordinary as it would be to state that the miraculous life of Jesus Christ had anything to do with Europe's scientific and material progress and the unbelievable growth of our own world yet the fact remains that the believing nations nations nations na na- na- na the Europe of yesterday and THE TIlE FOUNDATION European civili civilization was teas erected erected erected erect erect- ed upon the ethical foundation o of oj f Christianity All the great accomplishments accomplishments accomplishments ac ac- of the Middle Ages were achieved by men inert who tulto believed in the religion o of f Christ Even today practically all those splendid and noble institutions that distinguish our civili civilization from that of oj the ancient eastern cultures have come conic down to us its from front centuries that were activated by a lively Christian faith Hospitals Hospitals hospitals Hos Hos- schools homes for Jor the aged codes o of f law protecting individual individual individual in in- rights freedom of speech equality o of f women all these and much more has leas been the outgrowth o of f the great religion founded over Aver 1900 years ago It seems scents ironic when most of the Christian nations o of oj f the world are engaged in the greatest war warin warin warin in history to say that Christianity Christian Christian- ity has inspired all that is great and good on this earth Yet l' l et in a sense the tide very fact that there is isa a war icar being waged that there I are so many ninny millions of people willing to fight and suffer stiffer and die f for or the principals o of f justice and I freedom f that are the tide very essence I o of f the religion o of f Christ is the best testimonial to living ever I power o of oj f that great faith I the western hemisphere of today are the nations that cling to Him profess fidelity to Him no matter how far they fall away from the humility and charity that He preached Inspired Medieval Marvels It began of course with ith the brotherhood of the early church with the sharing of bread and wine It went on to those early documents to that wealth of priceless paintings to the great cathedrals that simple men built for love of Him Even today today today to to- day our painters do not rival those early expressions of love and devotion devotion devotion de de- de- de to the Madonna and her baby even today our architects marvel at the beauty of Chartres Cathedral and Canterbury and Rheims Faith built all these faith inspired the great musical compositions compositions compositions and the chorals and requiems and afterward the secular world took hold of these patterns and gave us all we know of modern art and music It ma may be that after the war we sha shall ha have c to begin all aU over again ina ini in ina i a stable with a baby begin with forgiveness and brotherhood be begin in into to realize that not only do His churches carry His name down the ages to us today but that every other good and wise thing we have our our hospitals and libraries our Red Cross and amid our schools our laws our talk at dinner tables our plans Jans for a better future all stem stein from that t one life If this could be brought home to our children this incalculable debt that they owe to Jesus Christ whose birthday we celebrate on Christmas it might solve some of the great problems we mothers face Civilization Civilization tion will increase only when we get back as close as we can to the law that tells us that by this shall we webe webe webe be known as Christs Christ's followers that we love one another That love fulfills fulfills ful CuI fills the law That His burden is easy That He is the way and the truth and the light That we have only to seek to find Him |