TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1563

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3,1983 THE MTCHTGAN DAILY PAfl3~! ~T.WVU~PJ

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UNICEF Greeting Cards

PREACH TO TOTAL PERSON:
Luther's Sermons Tell Nativity Pageant

Select, Pamper That Tree
With Tender Loving Care

By TONY STONEBURNER
What piece of Christmas writ
ing is worthy of annual livin
room re-hearing? Spare yourse
the hearty-hollow charity of TN
Charles Dickens, and the booming
empty nostalgia of hi-fi by Dyla
Thomas.
Try the perennially new "Mar
tin Luther Christmas Book
translated and introduced by Ro
land H. Bainton, author of "Her
I Stand."
Don't be put off by the fa
that the book is a collection c
sermons. Sermons can be maste
pieces of the imagination at th
same time that they are faithfi
presentations of the glad tiding
of great joy for all people; the
can delight at the same time tha
they instruct.
Speak to Total Person
Perhaps because they wer
preached to representativesc
every social class (prince an
knights, fellow professors and stu
dents, merchants and craftsme:
servants and peasants), the sex
mons of Luther speak to the t
tal person and the whole comma
nity.
Biblical and doctrinal, they ax
simple and profound, realistic an
lyrical, colloquial and eloquen
homely and sublime, earthy an
reverent, humorous and indignan
polemical and tender, sarcast
and solemn.
They proceed in an easy man
ner, closely following the nativit
narratives in Luke and MattheN
Luther sticks to the text. Eac
verse receives as much expositi
as is required to make it intellet
tually clear and existentially di
cisive. If the meaning of a ver
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is quite apparent, Luther merely
quotes, paraphrases, or summarizes
it.
Clarifies Obscurity
But if it offers some complex-
ity or obscurity, he clarifies it by
analyzing it etymologically (Gab-
riel means "power"; Mary means
"bitter myrrh"), linguistically
("Hail Mary, full of grace" is not
good German; "Dear Mary" is),
literarily (the geneology of Jesus
in Matthew is artistically divided
into three equal sections), or with
the help of supplementary histori-
cal information.
Luther doesn't draw on the
Christmas legends except to cor-
rect them (Mary may have ridden
to Bethlehem on a donkey; scrip-
ture doesn't say; she probably
walked; "the mother of God, on
foot, in midwinter trudged her
weight across the fields."). He
freely admits that there are de-
tails which we can't discover in
the text,
Down-to-Earth
He doesn't hesitate to speculate,
especially about the feeling and
thought of persons in the story.
He guesses that Mary may have
been an orphan and that she may
have been about fourteen years1
when Jesus was born. Legends
tended toward the miraculous and
the pretty. Luther tends toward
the down-to-earth common life
of sixteenth century Germany.

Every now and then a verse
invites Luther to iterate motifs
or themes central to his theology.
Examples include the hidden God
("God allows the godly to be
powerless and oppressed so that
everyone thinks they are done for,
yet even in that very moment God
is most powerfully present, though
hidden and concealed."); justifi-
cation by faith alone ("Had she
not believed, she could not have-
conceived.").
Other themes are the two king-
doms and obedience to the state
("The birth of Christ was timed
to coincide with the census be-
cause God wanted to teach us the
duty of obedience even to a heath-
en government."), and the stabil-
ity of vocation ("They did what
shepherds should do. They stayed
in their station and. did the work
of their calling.").
These themes bring out his wit
at the expense of those aspects of
Roman Catholicism - scholasti-
cism, relics, pilgrimages, monasti-
cism-and of the so-called radical
left-wing reformation (direct in-
spiration of the Holy Spirit, com-
munism of goods, anarchism)
which he thought at odds with
the gospel.
Swaddling Clothes?
Sometimes the joke is so far-
fetched as to be absurd. In dis-
cussing covering for the newborn
infant, Luther exclaims, "And
now think what she could use

for swaddling clothes-some gar-
ment she could spare, perhaps her
veil - certainly not Joseph's
breeches which are now on exhi-
bition at Aachen."
Frequently Luther applies the
meaning of a verse to the mem-
bers of the congregation. Scrip-
ture says that Mary went to see
Elizabeth "in haste." All women
would do well to walk in public
"in haste" rather than to loiter
and gossip. To those who with
sentimental self-deception claim
that they would have given Jesus
hospitality, Luther says, "Yes, you
would! ... Why don't you do it
now? You have Christ in your
neighbor."
But. Luther doesn't explain
scripture primarily to have a van-
tage point from which to criti-
cize conduct. He is fundamentally
the spokesman who announces the
divine action in Jesus for our
sakes. The divine action in Jesus
for our sakes is groundswell; in
comparison, our behavior is mere
wave-spray.
God in the tiny child on the lap
of the young girl manifests His
love for us and evokes our confi-
dence and trust in Him. Such
faith gives us freedom and joy.
The very boldness and exuberance
of the sermon style spontaneous-
ly expresses this freedom and joy.
Our means of life is refreshed by
these, at each re-hearing.

Christmas trees are like people.
Some are short and fat, some are
tall and thin, some are scraggy
and some are full-blown andc
voluptous, and these last are the4
most desired and the most ex-e
pensive.s
They must be treated tenderlyc
and decorated lavishly, and then
they will provide and aura ofc
beauty and joy for everyone. t
Choosing a Christmas tree does
not have to be the grueling process
that it becomes if one waits until1
the last few days before Christ-
mas. It can be slow and leisurely
and highly aesthetic, even fun.
Country Trees BestF
The best way to pick a Christ-1
mas tree is to take an excursiont
into the country to a nursery ort
farm that sells its trees, and
choose one while it is still grow-
ing. Too often, when trees areS
bound up with ropes (as is usualt
when they are brought into the1
city) one cannot judge the full-
ness of their branches and foliage.
The man at the farm will markg
the tree and perhaps even deliverC
it when it is cut.e
If, however, one must buy a treei
at the corner lot, it is best tos
judge rather than appearance, ife
the tree is not standing free.s
Scotch pine and English pine canc
be almost guaranteed to be finelyr
shaped and full, as their needles9
are long and project at rightc
angles to the branch. They tend,1

on the whole, to be shorter than
hemlock.
For all the general popularity
of hemlock, it has several disad-
vantages in comparison to Scotch
and English pine. The needles are
short, so that the tree tends to
be scraggly. It dries rapidly, with
curling of branches and shedding
of needles. Decoration tends to
overwhelm its limited foliage, so
that it looks artifically gaudy.
Pine Fullness
The fullness of Scotch or Eng-
lish pine, on the other hand, pre-
serves the essential appearance of
a tree, particularly if decorations
are subdued, with tiny blinking
lights and a bare minimum of
tinsel. These trees also do not dry
up nearly as rapidly as the hem-
locks.
After the holiday, there inevit-
ably comes that day when the
tree must be taken down. This,
however, can also be a beautiful
process.
A Christmas tree should die with
as much splendor as possible.
Consequently, it should be secur-
ed upright in a deep container,
perhaps an old garbage can. Long
strands of rolled paper should be
entwined in its branches. Then it
should be set gloriously afire in
darkest night. The flames may
rise more than a hundred feet.
The show of flying sparks is one
of the most magnificent sights of
any season.

I


STARLIGHT-That's the title of this 1963 UNICEF Christmas
card designed by Adolph Oehlen of Germany. Locally UNICEF
cards are available from the Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom. Contact Mrs. James Morgan, 1217 Bydding
Road, Ann Arbor.

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SANTA APPROVED

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Fountain Pens

Q Bulletin Boards
L-1 Desk Organizers.

Desk Sets

Mechanical Pencil -11Stationery
Pencil Sharpeners QBrief Cases
Memo Pads QiAttache Cases
Calendars LIPhoto Albums

LiQ Wallets
L Pocket
Key Ca
LIGlobes
Playing
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Q Michiga

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Organizers
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I Cards

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For Christmas Giving . .
We have just received a new shipment of
Shetland sweaters from Scotland for the Christmas
season. Made on hand frames and fully fashioned
from only the finest of Shetland yarns.
Lightly brushed to insure longer wear.
Available in over ten different shades
in both men's and women's sizes.
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$150
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Travel Clocks

-I Scrap BooksI
LI Telephone List Finders

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Souvenirs

MORRILL S

314 South State

Since 1908

Phone NO 5-9141

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QUARRY include:
CANOE
?fraihrr 41
ST. JOHNS BAY RUM
America's'only ST. JOHNS LIME
4711
all-purpose OLD SPICE
men's lotion YORK TOWN
ARDEN FOR MEN
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after shave LIFELITE
alter shower RAYBAN SUNGLASSES
after hours
ELECTRIC TOOTH BRUSH
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404 o u o m . .*2 .
$ o $e 3.50
? 6 ounce $6.50
""'"'"' Almost all items in
Al . is handsome
} 'Rdwoo sox$1 .00-$1 0.00 range.

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Bronzini Ties
.5.00 to $7.50
Others at
2,50

NEW STYLES FIRST AT WILD'S

Viyella Plaids
$18.95

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English Tabs
$5.00-$5.95


Lord Jeff-Sweaters
from $18.95
Ixihik p, hat the btst of Stketion

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