Chaplain’s Christmas Message

From November 11th to almost Christmas Day, time has gone zooming along. The opportunity to have taken time out with the citizens of Abbotsford and area to recall the sacrifice of all who have served Canada in war and in peace, well that is a privilege for all of us who are members of the Legion

Now we come to time to celebrate a holy moment and a shared holiday.

In World War One, on a December 24-25 at least in one year (1914), hostilities ceased between the trenches in France, the sound of German carols being sung were met with the response of Canadians singing along in English and French. The soldiers from both sides met in no man’s land, exchanged some cake from care packages that came from faraway homes, smoked a fag, and felt at peace for a wee short time.  That kind of acceptance, fellowship, serenity can and does still take place in our hurting world.  Our modern task is to make this gesture last globally for all people.  This is something we start and can do right here at home.

Thanks need to be expressed to all the veterans, members and associates of Branch 15.  The variety of voluntary giving of talent and time makes the Legion a living entity.  Little things do count.  Pick up the ‘phone and call an old Legion friend.  By doing so you enrich that person, your own self, and make this Branch richer in human spirit.  Thank you one and all for what you do.

Christmas is a Christian holy time that has morphed into a holiday season for most Canadians.  Workers used to get Christmas eve and day off, perhaps even Boxing day.  Now most people have a week or more of freed up time for enjoying family and leisure.  Yet it is important to know that the underpinning of this time is the celebration of a child said to be born in a manger, the Christ Child who is heralded in Christian holy books with sounds of great joy and calls for peace and goodwill on Earth to all people.  That is the Christian message of God’s love.

May the message of Christmas motivate all of us to seek ways to make peace, not war.  May we be stimulated to accept others who may seem different from us, rather than sit and complain about those strangers.  May we initiate a smile toward one another, and not a frown.  May we do this every day in 2016.

God bless you and yours this holy season. Merry Christmas, and may the blessings be with you and yours throughout the New Year.

Padre Art Turnbull