In This Issue
Editorials in this issue (page 476) include:
• Christmas Counterpoint – They don’t get much attention but John the
Baptist, Herod and the call to regeneration are very much part of the
Christmas celebration. “Emphasis on shunning evil and repentance may
seem counter to the Christmas message of peace and happiness, but this
is what makes the peace and happiness possible.”
• Part of a series on Religious Feelings focuses on Peace – the elusive but
constant promise of Christmas
• A reprint of a 1955 Thanksgiving editorial, The Increase of the Earth, by
the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson. “The average man can enjoy more goods
and services than were ever available in the past. And yet men are no
happier, no more contented, no kinder to one another, no less selfish,
no more free from fear and mistrust.” Why? Because we have not first
praised the Lord.
In a Christmas sermon, Nothing is Impossible for God, the Rt. Rev. Brian
W. Keith says the fact that nothing is impossible for God “is a vital message.
It and all the wondrous events of Christmas inspire confidence in us.” We just
need to accept the Lord’s power on His terms, not ours – “to ask the Lord that
His power might create life within us is to ask that His vision of good might be
born within us.” (Page 485)
The Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss Jr. writes about Timeless Messages in the Word.
He offers several examples about teachings within a specific context that still
have application in our own lives: “So we see one thread of many in the Word
where truths are given within a particular context. They’re true in that context
as literally spoken, yet also deliver one of the most powerful ‘timeless’ truths
we have about human interaction.” (Page 490)
October 31 st was the 500 th anniversary of the Reformation, when Martin
Luther famously used his Ninety-Five Theses to challenge teachings of the
Catholic Church, such as the selling of indulgences. The Rev. Dr. Andrew M.
T. Dibb traces the history and the impact of the Reformation– on the Catholic
and Protestant churches, the Last Judgment, and the New Church. “When he
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