Conference Communiqué: Dec 2, 2016
Staff Christmas Fellowship @ Charlotte School Gym
Michigan Conference: Week Ahead
- Sunday (10am): Lay Advisory Coordinating Com
- Sunday (10am): Women's Board
- Tuesday (9am): Executive Committee
North American Division News
- NAD creates special webpage re: recent GC/NAD mtgs - read more...
- Juan Carlos Viera, former Director-EGW Estate, passes - read more...
Ellen G. White on Christmas
"The holiday season is fast approaching with its interchange of gifts, and old and young are intently studying what they can bestow upon their friends as a token of affectionate remembrance. It is pleasant to receive a gift, however small, from those we love. It is an assurance that we are not forgotten, and seems to bind us to them a little closer.
Brethren and sisters, while you are devising gifts for one another, I would remind you of our heavenly Friend, lest you should be unmindful of His claims. Will He not be pleased if we show that we have not forgotten Him? Jesus, the Prince of Life, gave all to bring salvation within our reach. . . .
While urging upon all the duty of first bringing their offerings to God, I would not wholly condemn the practice of making Christmas and New Year's gifts to our friends. It is right to bestow upon one another tokens of love and remembrance if we do not in this forget God, our best friend. We should make our gifts such as will prove a real benefit to the receiver. I would recommend such books as will be an aid in understanding the Word of God, or that will increase our love for its precepts. Provide something to be read during these long winter evenings. . . .
We need to think more of God and less of ourselves. If we would but think of Him as often as we have evidence of His care for us, we would keep Him ever in our thoughts, and would delight to talk of Him and praise Him. We talk of temporal things because we have an interest in them."