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first communion for 19 young people at st johns the ii am service of won ad atr s ball in honour oflservink it the reception were lhp at sj johns united church the yoaag people wbo were con- mrs v mccumber mrs w on sunday december 17 wastfiraaed was held in the church ficbig mrs g farnell mrs j one of great significance ferjbxll iboowine the serrtce those i evans and mrs c schenk nineteen young people who were confirmed and recercedi g g air hrst commuuoo emu heck ihese safety tips for a firesafe christmas atiou which follows several weeks of special instruction in matters of faith and doctrine icrks the point at which the communicant makes for hnn1 speaal precautions against elf the tows which were made ookl bead the list of ev for him at baptism t sensible family s prepara i dons for chnstmas fire chief le the service on sunday each erwu levis warned today that candidate for confirmatjon was happy chnstmas can change presented to the minister andjm few seconds into family to the congrcgaton by a sponf trascdy in homes where such ao-ir- elder the young people precautions are neglected he confirmed and their sponsoring urged the public to exercise elders were special care in the setting dd and decoration grace brd mr hector bird farnedi edward bird henry brceschocten hamilton 51 ike broomhead mr r broomhead david hall mr s- hal betty hamilton mr h of chnstmas trees and drew attention to tho following points only check lights fresh green trees ic bought and they hob othy to mrs w i t j 0 sr ssnssiss 7- tt bare one or lo inches cut dia m- j eans juay nichols mr l w kmradc bill neil mr g j rmta bob runham mr i2u jevs i bunham glenda scarrow hr i zst7 j layman allan stottard dr abotc tte leve ot k mccauley linda stouard mrs r mckeown chns todd mr jtodd carol walsh mr e- forgnne hugh williams electrical lighting strings mr r mcmcncmj i dwbm checked for frayed cards or short circuits- only bev robert scnvens eon- csaapproied lightingsets and ducted the service of confirmonly nonflanunabledocoraiions atioa assisted by mr s wright should be nscd declare the clerk of session tree a nosmoking area and bn 2 mr 5 senvens with the semng of the sacrament were messrs j j on chnstmas day do not al addy h bird k mccanleyl lav gift wrappings to accumu- d hastings s- wngtuwr mcj late onder the tree dispose of keown a frouse d tjtimr wrappin as soon as gifts re v mccumber and c mcnamara opened even a moist tree will a reception arranged by mr i a frt by burning w kmradf mr b- forgrare ramgs or similar material around ibe base hot hear fireplace t np the tree away from such co of heat as a fire place tv set or radiator be sure it does not block access to doors or windows in the event of fire switch off tree lights before leaving ho or going since christmas as tradiboa- ly a season of joy and hapnt- 5ness special consul jchould be given to the mo and man l safety rules we should t jear round dent get carefree and increase the pos- 1 lability of an unhappy acaden first decorate wisely do not use cotton paper or anv flammable material when mid tnm the family tre do no 1 place electric trains or olocr electnc powered devices arouca the tree metallic tinsel falung cross the track could create a short circuit and cause tb train transformer to barn t be sure that all toys are o nonflammable materials sons imported toys are made of n itroceuulose which looks like celluloid or plastic and this material burns win surprising ferodtj choose only electrical hrrs nd tree lighting sets which are i laboratory approved ido not use lighted candles near the tree or in windows keep curtains or any other flammable materia at window polled back at least six inches ifrom any electnc candles or t wreaths on chnstmas day keep a f earton handy and dispose of tall ft wrappings promptly jdont let them pile op around the tree near the fireplace or i any heating device- chief lewis points out thrt tests have proved that the sal est tree is a tree with its butt set jn water however ii tree is dried out before it is set up it cannot regain its safe moisture level a dry tree can be ignited by a single match to burn violently to a charred state m a few seconds metallic trees conductors hven artificial trees can b serious fire haxards metallic trees are conductors of electri city do not decorate them with strings of lights but il luminate them with floodlights some plastic trees made from styrene materials are flamab- le unlike those made from polyvinylchlonde many ira ported plastic trees some times known as hong kong trees will burn violently all trees should be removed from the home as soon as pos able after christmas council briefs fourteen applications were received for the position of town engineer at council mon day night with one coming from as far away as edmonton they will be discussed in com raittec council accepted the resigns tion of louise snow who has been working in the fro of fice authorized the final pay ment of 342 to horton steel for work on the water tower agreed to erect a chain link fence on the property line of the sykes land on market st provding the cost is shared 50 per cent between the town and the owner throughout the christian world christinas is the holi day universally celebrated universally recognised probably no library in the world could house the volume of ma enal that is written about this great holiday in a sin gle season s so much has been written and will again be written this holiday season we must consider it remark able that the story of the nativity has continued a slinpla and unaffected narrative for god so loved the wocld he gave his only begotten son traditions and customs are subject to the changing times yet anud the laughter and festivities whatever carols are song however gifts are exchanged there remains forever unaffected the simple story of the birth at bethlehem this is the story of christmas an event which took place nearly 2000 years ago the birth of a redeemer and the promise of eternal salvation through centuries of translation of telling and retelling the meaning of christmas remains simple and universal t is the buthnght of every man the story of bethlehem by c hartal bradley no one knows for how many thousands of years men havo lived in bethlehem was there a tiny trl angle of stone houses spreading eascily over a limestone hill six miles from jerusalem on the road to jerusalem when ho ses led the jews out of egypt an ancient people still only dimly known to archaeologists bad nimect it ephrata the jews when they came lo the rfomised land named it beth lenem or house of bread they did not apparently reflect long over the choice of name r appears to be a simple transition of old ephrata perhaps the name came on ginally from the richness of the cornfields on the field bl ow there was always bread in bethlehem it had not rhanged at all by the time of the book of ruin one of the literary gems of the old testament the book of ruth is a simple moral talc he story of a young widow who returned to bethlehem n order to be with her husband s people and who toiled amid the alien corn to support her mother in law curious life m bethleham we learn from the story of ruth was good and the complicated mores of the people it described ser ved to lay down a practical code of morals by which man could live with a man with a minimum of friction it seems curious now to think of the rich and important boaz marrying ruth in order to do his duty by his deceased brother but it was an ar rangement apparently which served well ruth was the great grandmo ther of david the greatest of the hebrew kings and nearly ptrops the greatest of the he brew poets it was from bethlehem the village of bis birth that daud went forth as a water boy on the dreadful day that saul and his i faced goliath and the philistine army goliath dared any man toi face bun and no man at first j dared david the youngest smallest and least impressive ot a largo and important family did dare bncause he had faith in the rightness of his cause and dp lieved that god would see him through the same sense of security and of the fitness of things which runs through the book of ruth seems to have infected david slmpl community perhaps he understood that tho simple community in beth lehem was better left undistur bed in any case after he be came king he did not m other kings had done glonfy his na tive village or endeavour to re built into a great city it is strange in fact that be- th el eh em never did become an important town from its hill it commands a great plain and a main road to a military tac tician it bristles with possibil ltics once indeed in a remote period never properly ldcnti fled the philistines did build fort there it docs not however icem to have lasted long the explanation seems lo be that it was set apart as far back as the book of ruth al least it had a spiritual sigm ficance and was not to be lam pcrcd with at the lime of christ s birth david or even ruth would have been quite at home in the vil iage poverty emphasized christ so the story goes was born in a manger located in a cave the new testament is not clear about the cave while in the nearby fields according to sl luke angels appeared in certain poor shepherds watch mg their flocks by night for reasons which are now difficult to follow the chroni clers of christ s birth soem to have gone out of their way to emphasize the poverty of tho situation the cave in the lime stone was no doubt simple en ough and no doubt it was used by the thrifty villagers as a nal ural stable but st luke appears to hav been misled about the poor shepherds historians are con vinced that then as now th fields were rich and grew corn it is entirely unlikely that the shepherds were watching their flocks just there more likely they were watch ing their flocks on the hill which slopes down behind the i illagc lo the plain poor pro- 1 hablv was intended to designate the fact that they were unim portant humble men of chnsts mission by making it clear thai it was to ordinal men that the angels chose to meal them selves thorn is loo a storj to the effct that christ in fad was a descendant of dad and of ruth if true it would establish an interesting continuity both in the historv of the bible and the hislorv of bethlehem the records do not how ever confirm or deny the story and since joseph and mary thorm y date tlai in wcr- driven to stay in a stable secens reasonable at least to conclude that neither had any close relatives in the vil lagc little more is heard of beth lehem until the year 127 when the emperor became interested in it he apparently believed that the village itself bad aorae strange mystical significance in any case he had a grove planted for the worship in which he believed christ was born the grove of adonis remain ed until the year 330 when con stantine determined to eras what he believed to be a sri ous blasphemy the grove was taken down and a church built on the site distinguish ng mark other christian churches and several monasteries followed un til now the distinguishing mark of the village is the abundance of christian institutions grid ually until now they are chris tian almost to a man the fmal chapter in the his tory of the village came with arrival of st jerome jerome was determined to translate the bible into latin hii stately rt lalln re flects the calm and quiet of the village and the continuity of style which rum through his classic translation parallels the continuity h must hae found in bethlehem sitting there in his bare stu dy he must have been able to feel the ati and new mospavre ouhm tcataaftcnls i probably no other vfljafw ta the world has been tb aeem of so much history and no other hat changed he world with so little change in ha own character over the scoreaof cen turies tis the season am- merry christmas webbs greenhouse town tine norval 86s4158 vol your holiday tie filled with cheery gladness william penson farm equipment georgetown lincoln motors and body repair 1 99 gulph si 8772s62 heres hoping your christmas day arrives just filled with all the happiness the season can bring 3w3 a vm ereet iticfifsaiynr bason f rt is wtttcieepesc ktataucto itat w oiank our tri for their wnd support during tho past year bucks fine foods jim buck pat vance mill street 877 2421 georgetown management and staff of united cooperatives of ontario georgetown milton erin ilorangevlue ill of us at w b hamilton construction umited bill hamilton 66 pnnc chrte drtvy ftmkhng ld8j7j40