December 23 , 2006
Newsletter Archives

Christmas decorations have their sermon to preach if we have ears to hear. Barbara Keener Shenk wrote some of her thoughts about the simple candy cane in the form of a poem which is as follows:
“The candy maker’s work of art
Can teach the mind and touch the heart,
For Jesus Christ, he make a “J”
That’s like a staff for sheep who stray.
Like Christ, our Rock, the firmness stands
For promises and God’s commands.
The purest white for the virgin birth
Is streaked with red for His pain on earth.
The scouring stripes are close and thin;
The bright red one is for our sin.
This message is too good to keep,
The shepherd died to save His sheep.”
Perhaps this Christmas, some folk just might stop for a moment and take a second look at a candy cane and find a message that would touch their hearts in a more permanent way than the fleeting, transient nostalgia of Christmas.
At this time of year I think again of a card we received a few years ago. On the front were the remnants of a tree-a thorn bush, a symbol of the crucifixion. And the words on the card were: “He came to pay a debt He did not owe, because I owed a debt, I could not pay.” As the apostle Paul put it: “Christ died for our sins….1 Corinthians 15:3.

Russ Nesbit