CHRISTMAS (1934)

“CHRISTMAS” (1934)

By “Dr. Lascelles”

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Before I speak to you again you will be celebrating Christ’s birthday.  The story of the Nativity is thought by many people to be very beautiful and symbolic, with great poesy and power of description, but of course, in fact, not true, and you may share that opinion.  Yet, if dissection is made of that story and each part is taken and tested for its own truth, you find that many things that the present-day sceptic may not believe have been proven times out of number.

I am not concerned whether He was born of a virgin; that He was born in a stable is certainly correct.  But what must surprise people is that there is that child, born under very humble circumstances in a stable, driven from His native place, and yet shepherds and kings laid gifts there, by His manger. The birth of Christ was, as it were, a focal point for that reaction and the effect brought people to Him as a babe.

To Western civilization that is quite ridiculous, but remember, we are dealing with the East, and your boasted civilization has not carried you nearly as far on the planes of spiritual evolution as those Eastern people were in the days of the birth of Christ and are today.  If such a figure were to come on the earth again tomorrow, there would still be pilgrimages to that birthplace.  There would still be the guiding star.  There would still be the shepherds and the princes. There would still be the gifts, the history of 2000 years ago would repeat itself, and there would still be the sudden stop for a number of years and the babe unknown to the people of the West and yet watched by the people of the East.  There would still be another baptism, there would still be the anointed of the Christ, the new Jesus.  Nothing would be altered; everything would be repeated.

It is a wonderful day, Christmas!  Of course, there are people who say: “Oh, I wish it was over”.  Perhaps they wish it for more than one reason; maybe they are lonely, and Christmas means nothing to them.  Perhaps they don’t like being disturbed by the festivities and the work, and they look upon it all as something that is, well, very silly and a time when people overeat; a great stir and a bother for nothing, really.  Those who say: “Oh, I wish it was over – it is such a nuisance”, I wonder if they know what really happens at Christmas.  I wonder if they think that those on the earth are the holy ones that rejoice, if they realise that in the midst of every home there is such an outpouring of love and goodwill, that the Heavens are opened, and the way is given to those that love to pass through their homes.  I wonder if they know that the spirit of Christmas is in the hearts and the souls of all Christians, dead or alive, that the reflections of their trees are given to Heaven, around which play the children that are without friends.

I wonder what the world would be like without Christmas. I know what it would be if there was Christmas Day every day!  It would be a much better world, for the very festivity of Christmas is one of Christ’s gifts to humanity, and whatever activity there may be on the plane of the earth, there is still greater activity in the planes of Heaven. Quarrels are forgotten at Christmas; one can be charitable to one’s friends at Christmas.  One feels that one can unload oneself at Christmas. Packages are opened at Christmas; the material side of life closes down and the spiritual is more evident. No-one is lonely if they only know it at Christmas.

As you celebrate your Christmas on earth, so your Christ celebrates His birthday in Heaven, and I want you to be so happy this Christmas.  I want you, all of you, to remember those you love; if you haven’t kept their memory green, keep it green this Christmas.   Bring out all the old photos of those who have passed this Christmas and put them somewhere on the table with a little cross.  If you can remember their favourite flowers, put those there with them.  They would like to know that you remember them.  For those that are very close to you, just leave the chair and the plate and let them share in your joys.  Give them a toast.  The love that you have for each other is part of the love that they have for you.  Give them a toast.

Some of you have had children that have passed – well, put a Christmas tree somewhere and on it, a present.  It will still be there the following day and until you take it down, but they will have it too.  Then you can pass it on to some child that is not remembered.

Those of you who have no children, remember that this is the festival of the child, and that the spirit children are very near the earth during the festival.  I want you all to have a little Christmas tree and a few presents, and just put them “to my unseen children” in love for Christmas.  If you do that, and on Christmas night you turn the lights low, perhaps you will hear a rustle or the tinkle of a bell, as some child who has passed very recently and whose earth conditions are hanging to it, will cause a stir in the ether, and so stir the tree.

I want you, all of you, to have your Christmas on earth and in Heaven this year, and will you pray for me.  The earth-plane’s love is so great at this time of the year that we go down into the lower planes in rescue parties, and we taken the love that you have given us and use the power of that love to bring those that have fallen back.  Will you pray for me and all those that are with me, that this year I may bring more than ever before?  And will you pray for all those that you love that they may be happy -those that are in distant lands, those that are unseen, whether in the flesh or out of it.  Pray for them all, that this Christmas the power of your love may take them a further step forward into the Kingdom of Heaven.

And I wish you all the very happiest time, joy, peace and goodwill.

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