—Lancaster. farming, Saturday,December 22, 1973
10
St. Luke Chapters I and II
And the angel Gabriel was sent from God
unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a
virgin espoused to a man whose name was
Joseph, of the house of David, and the
virgin’s name was Mary
i And the angel came m unto her, and said,
Hail, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is
with thee, blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him she was troubled
at his saying, and cast in her mind what
manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not
Mary; for thou hast found favour with God.
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy
womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call his name Jesus
He shall be great, and shall be called the
Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father
David and he shall reign over the house of
Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there
shall be no end
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall
this be 7
And the angel answered and said unto
her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the power of the Highest shall over
shadow thee, therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God
And it came to pass in those days, that
there went out a decree from Caesar-
Augustus, that all the world should be
taxed
And all went to be taxed, every one into
his own city
And Joseph also went up from Galilee,
out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto
the city of David which is called
Bethlehem, (because he was of the house
and lineage of David) to be taxed with
The Christmas Story
f
tin
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Mary his espoused wife, being great with
child.
And she brought forth her firstborn son,
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and
laid him in a manger; because there was
no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping
watch over their flocks by night
And 10, the angel of the Lord came upon
them,and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them; and they were sore afraid
And the angel said unto them, Fear not,
for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy, which shall be to all people
For unto you is born this day in the city of
David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye
shall find the babe wrapped mi swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of the heavenly host praising
God, and saying, G'ory to God in the
highest, ana on earth peace, good will
toward men
And it came to pass, as the angels were
gone away from them into heaven, the
shepherds said one to another, Let us now
go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing
which is come to pass, which the Lord hath
made known unto us
And they came with haste, and found
Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a
manger
And when they had seen it, they made
known abroad saying which was told them
concerning this child
And all they that heard it wondered at
those things which were told them by the
shepherds.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying
and praising God for all the things that
they had heard and seen, as it was told
unto them
PLAINVIEW, NEBR., NEWS; "We've
seen reports where reportedly the U. S.
Postal System is cutting its costs. But at
whose expense? It certainly doesn’t appear
that its service has gotten any better-m
fact some of the letters we've read have
indicated that it has been much slower
How many people have been in
convenienced by the slowness of mail?
How many people have missed out on
orders because of delay of mail? That's an
indirect expense to that business then.
How many people have had to pay
penalties for late arriving remittances? So
far, it would look like the centralization of
mail to the big centers, taking away the
mail from the smaller, more efficient of
fices, hasn’t helped much.”
XXX
NOW IS
THE TIME . . .
Max Smith
County Agr. Agent
Telephone 394-6851
TO MAKE FARM PONDS
SAFE
Ice skating time is at band
when many folks will be at
tracted to the farm ponds when
they freeze. Pond owners are
reminded of the need of rescue
equipment at the side of the pond
in order to make prompt rescue.
Wooden ladders, boards planks,
rope with inflated inner-tube, or
other items that can be thrown or
pushed out on the ice to the
person in trouble are needed.
Don’t plan on walking out and
giving a personal hand to the
person in the ice-cold water - the
result may be both of you in the
water. Be prepared (or any
emergency during the ice skating
period.
TO SUBSTITUTE GRAINS
Various grains besides corn
may be used in many livestock
rations. Barley is commonly used
in place of part of the corn in
many dairy, hog, and beef
rations. In beef rations barley is
worth approximately 90 percent
of the value of corn. In hog
rations barley is 86 percent as
valuable as corn. Wheat may be
used in place of com but in dairy
and beef rations, not more than 25
per cent of the ration should be
ground wheat. In swine rations
up to 50 percent of the ration may
be made up of ground wheat.
Grain sorghums may also be
used to replace part of the com in
most rations. Producers are
urged to check the prices of these
other grains and use them when
they are as cheap or cheaper than
com.
CHRISTMAS
PRESENT
Lesson for December 23,1973
■ackcround Scripture: John 115,
14-19
E. Stanley Jones told a story of
a little child, the son of mission
aries, who was in school in the
United States A few days before
the Christmas recess, the princi
pal had the boy in his office and
asked him; “Son, what would you
rather have most
of all for Christ
mas’” The boy
looked at the pic
ture of his father
framed on his
desk and said: “I
want my father to
step out of that
frame'”
* The Elusive God
The little boy
unknowingly expressed one of the
deep desires of all men concern
ing God the desire for some tan
gible, concrete image of the Di
vine Yet, for centuries it seemed
a hopeless dream Men had vi
sions of God, heard voices and
received messages They felt his
presence and listened as others
described their encounters with
him. Yet, despite all this, he
seemed an elusive God.
One religion defined God this
way, another described his some
what differently The various re
ligions of mankind were like the
four blind men grasping different
parts of the elephant and des
cribing him accordingly. Still, des
pite all the theologizing, dream
ing, and studying, men were still
asking “What is God really
like 7 " y
TO PRACTICE FARM AND
HOME SAFETY
The holiday season presents
many fire hazards in the home
because of numerous decorations
and extra power needs. The very
things that make the Christmas
season enjoyable can turn the
period into a time of tragedy if
fire safety precautions are not
observed. Fire never takes a
holiday. Keep all evergreens as
fresh and as moist as possible.
Beware of smoking or open
flames near any holiday
decorations. At this time of the
year most barns are full of
livestock and "winter feed sup
plies. All fire hazards should be
eliminated and the fire ex
tinguishers should be checked for
immediate action.
TO HAVE A JOYOUS
HOLIDAY SEASON
In behalf of all the Penn State
Extension Workers I want to take
this opportunity of extending to
all of our readers the very best
for this holiday season. This is a
time for family fellowship and
enjoyment and we have many
things for which to be thankful.
We wish everyone a very happy
Christmas Day and a successful
New Year.
Editor’s Quote Book
Life is made up of jobs,
sniffles and smiles, with snif
fles. predominating.
— O. Henry
Did God prefer to remain ob
scure? Did he not want men to
know what he was like? John
and other New Testament writers
indicate strongly that it was God’s
will for man to understand his
nature. Thus,' in the birth of
Jesus Christ, he expressed him
self so that man’s impossible
dream might come true; God re
vealed himself in Jesus Christ.
Different New Testament writ
ers use different words to express
this one central thought:
John- “No one has ever seen
God the only Son .. he has
made him known” (1:18).
Paul- “In him all the fullness
of God was pleased to dwell"
(Colossians 1:19).
Hebrews: “In manv and various
ways God sooke of old to our
fathers by the prophets; but in
these last days he has spoken to
us by a Son .. He reflects the
glory of God and bears the stamp
of his nature” (1:1-3).
The communicative God
But the first chapter of John
probably puts it best of all: “And
the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us ” (1:14). As in the
story by E Stanley Jones, man’s
greatest desire was for that elus
ive God to step out of his
“frame,” so to speak, and make
himself sufficiently known.
That’s what God did in Jesus
Christ: in that one single life he
told man all that he could know
and would ever need to know
about God When the “Word be
came flesh” and the unknowable
became knowable and the obscure
became clear and men saw the
fullness of God revealed for once
and for all, then it was that God
gave mankind his greatest of all
Christmas presents
(losed on outlines copyrighted by the
Division of Christian Education, National
Council of tho Churches of Christ in tho U.S A
Released by Community Press Service)