From the Manse

Christmas Cards

There is a list of folks I know
All written in a book,
And every year at Christmas time
I go and take a look.
And that is when I realise that
These names are a part,
Not of the book they're written in
But of my very heart.

For each name stands for someone
Who has touched my life sometime,
And in that meeting they've become
The 'Rhythm of the Rhyme'.
I really feel I am composed
Of each remembered name,
My life is so much better
Than it was before you came.

So never think my Christmas cards
Are just a mere routine
Of names upon a list,
Forgotten in between.
For when I send a Christmas Card
That is addressed to you
It is because you're on that list
Of folks I'm indebted to.

And whether I've known you
For many years or few,
In some way you had a part
In shaping things I do.
So every year when Christmas comes
I just realise anew
The biggest gift that God can give
is knowing folks like you!
Anon



Christmas Greetings
The Christmas card was a Victorian invention. With the advent of cheaper printing and more reasonable postage costs, it became possible for people to send the compliments of the season to many of their friends. The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole who worked with Rowland Hill who had brought in the 'penny post ' and the 'penny black' stamp. There was no great religious theme to the first card designed by John Halcott Horsley. It had a family celebrating together on it.

Over the years Christmas card themes have varied . During war time patriotic topics prevailed and often, even at the height of the railway age in England, a stagecoach and horses cast a nostalgic view back to a time of snow bound lanes and Yule logs in grates.

The appearance of the robin in so many cards is supposed to recall a time when postmen wore red waistcoats. In addition religious cards with a biblical text and nativity scene were very popular.

There has been a decline in the number of cards sent in recent years and all of us sometimes wonder is it really meaningful to write  just once a year to some friends. Yet these greetings can mean so much.

Friendships from a long time ago remembered or families separated by many miles acknowledged. The short note or longer letter keeping people in touch along with a cheery card wishing "a merry Christmas and a happy New Year'

At the birth of Jesus there were no cards but many greetings.

The angel greets Mary with the news she is to bear the saviour of the world. Then the birth in Bethlehem where shepherds and the wise men greet this baby.

And in the birth of Jesus, God greets us.

We mean so much to him he sent his only Son to be born  in Bethlehem, to walk this earth, then to die and rise again.

This is God's Christmas Message for all human kind.
Rev Fraser Stewart