A Christmas Corrective

Just before Christmas a blog titled ‘The Greatest Gift’ was posted on two UK Roman Catholic websites.  It stated that some religions shun present giving at Christmas time, citing Christian Science as an example of this and claiming that this was Mary Baker Eddy’s position, making her un-Christian. The following response was completed in a few hours and posted in its entirety the following day, in time for it to be read before Christmas:  

“Thank you for the wonderful work of the Irish Chaplaincy UK. As a Christian Scientist, I agree with you that the words from the Messiah “For unto us a child is born” is the greatest Christmas gift of all. It’s perhaps worth clarifying that gift giving has always been a loved part of Christmas celebrations for Christian Scientists. Mary Baker Eddy delighted in the joy of Christmas and wrote in 1900: “Parents call home their loved ones, the Yule-fires burn, the festive boards are spread, the gifts glow in the dark green branches of the Christmas-tree.…” But at the same time, like you and most other Christians, she cherished the deeper meaning of Christmas. “Again loved Christmas is here,” she wrote, “full of divine benedictions and crowned with the dearest memories in human history — the earthly advent and nativity of our Lord…” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 256). I wish you and all at the Irish Chaplaincy a blessed and peaceful Christmas.