CHRISTMAS IN THE BATTLE CREEK CHURCH SCHOOL.
By Maud Spaulding
CHRIST said that those who believed on him should do the same works that he did, and even greater works, because he went to the Father. We have also been told by the Spirit of Prophecy that God would use the children to carry the message in these last days. The children of the Battle Creek church school have been taught these things, and I feel sure that Christ and the angels have been made to rejoice by the eagerness that most of the children show in getting a preparation for this work.
When the subject of our Christmas exercises came up, and the children were shown that even in these they could be doing good by showing others what Jesus had been teaching them, and by teaching others some of the differences between Jesus’ school and other schools, they entered into the plans with a joyful spirit. They took up things which they were unaccustomed to, and were led to forget themselves in the thought of helping others; and they also learned that when we needed help, we could go to Jesus, and pray for assistance. The program for Christmas exercises consisted of three parts, the more prominent features of which may be mentioned. The first part took up Christ’s early life; and after several exercises bearing on his childhood, a number of the older boys gave a dialogue while working at the carpenter’s bench, which showed how we may work for and with Him there. The second part was on Christ’s ministry; in this the primary grades displayed some of the things they had learned about caring for the sick or some poor soul in need of help. Our motto for the third part was, “As He was, so are we in this world,” and the message of the recitations and other parts rendered was that of Christlikeness in all our daily relations.
Music, both vocal and instrumental, was made a prominent part of the program, as befitted a school which is training children to stand upon the sea of glass. Teachers and pupils worked together in endeavoring to make the occasion pleasing to both the23eyes and the ears of the parents and friends who filled the chapel, and its effects upon themselves may be measured by the quaint remark of one of the little boys during the course of the evening: “Seems to me this is the best Christmas present I ’bout ever had.” He had proved the promise, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”