Many years ago a Presbyterian minister went into a primary school in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a week before Christmas to take a religious education class. He asked the children a topical question; ''What were the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus?'' After thinking for some time a little girl sitting at the back of the class raised her hand. "Yes, what were they?" asked the minister. "Sir, they brought Frank, sense and mirth", she replied. I'm sure we all chuckle at her silly answer. Of course we know the answer she should have given is ''gold, frankincense and myrrh''. The little girl got it all mixed up. But let's think about what she said because we might discover that there are a few practical lessons arising from her answer that we need to learn over this Christmas period.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The little girl said: "They brought Frank." As it turned out, Frank was the name of her younger brother. She had heard his name mentioned many times in her home. She really meant it when she said she wanted to bring her brother to Jesus. Christmas is a special time of year when we can bring members of our family, our friends and our neighbours to Jesus. We can do this by inviting them to a carol service in a church. Better still, we can bring them to the service in our car and sit with them during the carol service. Frank can also represent the lonely and marginalised in our community. We can invite such people to our home for a meal or cook something and take it round to their home so that they can experience some Christmas cheer. Christmas is not just about us enjoying ourselves. It is a great time of year for us to reach out to needy people in the community.
The little girl said: "They brought sense." Let's call this common sense. Sadly, many people lack common sense, particularly at this time of year. Many problems arise because people don't exercise common sense. They over-eat, over-drink and over-spend, and go to all kinds of excesses. Christmas would be much happier for everyone if people were sensible in the way they went about celebrating the festive season. When the credit card statement arrives in the letter-box in January the lack of common sense is exposed. We all need to apply common sense to every area of our lives, in the the views we hold, the attitudes we show, and the decisions we make.
The little girl said: "They brought mirth." I don't suppose she knew what the word 'mirth' meant. The dictionary defines it as 'merriment, hilarity, jollity, joyfulness'. Christmas is a time of great joy. It's a time of festivity, celebration and fun. We all love attending end of year Christmas lunches or dinners with our work colleagues, attending parties with our friends, having a visit from Santa, and giving and receiving presents. We always associate Christmas with joy because in the story of the shepherds the angel brought a message of joy that came to all people which was that Jesus was born in a manger. This is the greatest joy of all and it is this that lies at the heart of the Christmas season. Someone once said: "Perhaps we should say gold, frankincense and more, for that is what the wise men offered Jesus." At this time of year, and all the year through, we should resolve to give Jesus more, confident that in exchange one day we will receive the greatest gift of all, our Lord Immanuel. I trust that you will have a useful, sensible and happy Christmas.
Our guest editorial writer is the Reverend David Campbell, Minister of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Forrest
