Here are some reasons it is okay to celebrate Christmas: 1. The day itself is not really the day Christ was born. Nobody actually has the exact day down, but most believe it was not during this time of year at all. Probably it took place in the spring, not on a “cold winter's night that was so deep.” 2. Diversity over the years has taken away much of the “Romish” flavor to the holiday. Our Catholic friends do as they wish on the night before and the day of Christmas, that is granted. But we do not have a state church. There are so many other ways Christmas is celebrated that no one really thinks about it the way the Puritans did so many years ago. The problem is not so acute because of so many years of varied expressions. At least this is true in our part of the world. 3. God can be honored in gift-giving and generosity as well as in singing carols and telling the story. They’re both important if done in the right spirit. We don't have to make something spiritual out of giving gifts. You may make a birthday cake to Jesus if you wish, but you don't have to. We do need to be Christian, however, about everything we do. Emphasizing the giving part of the day can heal lots of wounds, open calcified hearts, stir up gratefulness, and just be plain fun. God's not against fun is He? 4. There may be better things to be different about. In other words, we might show our radical difference better in the way we treat other shoppers, the kindness we show to retail clerks, the warmth of our hearts, the largeness of our generosity, the thankfulness we express and really feel. 5. There are admittedly some great opportunities to make Christ known during Christmas. With all that is bad about it, we can still make our point. And we will have some sympathy for our message. For years I've led Christmas Eve services, short ones of only 45 minutes, but packed with meaning. The building will be full and all kinds of our friends and family will hear the truth as clearly as we are willing to express it.

Jim Elliff

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Grains, Eggs		Desserts	40	Servings

INGREDIENTS

1	lb	Phyllo dough sheets
3/4	c	Unsalted butter; melted
1/2	c	Chopped pistachio nuts, opt.
2		Egg whites
1/2	c	Caster sugar
2	c	Coarsely ground walnuts
2	c	Coarsely ground almonds
1	ts	Rose water
2	c	Granulated sugar
1 1/2	c	Water
1	ts	Lemon juice
1	ts	Orange flower water
1	ts	Rose water

INSTRUCTIONS

NUT FILLING
ALTAR SYRUP
Stack 10 sheets phyllo on a flat surface, keeping remainder covered
with a dry, then a damp tea towel.
Brush top sheet of stack with butter, lift sheet and replace on stack
buttered side down.  Brush top with butter, lift top two sheets and turn
over on stack.  Repeat until all 10 sheets are buttered, lifting an extra
sheet each time.  Top and bottom of finished stack should remain
unbuttered.
With kitchen scissors cut buttered stack of phyllo into approximately
10 cm (4 inches) squares.  Stack and cover.  Prepare remainder of phyllo.
Depending on size of phyllo sheets, you may have fewer than 10 left at the
end.  Halve sheets if necessary to give 10 layers.
Beat egg whites until stiff and beat sugar in gradually.  Fold in nuts
and rose water.
Butter top of phyllo square and place a tablespoonful of nut mixture in
the centre.  Gently squeeze into a lily shape, with four corners of square
as petals and filling in centre.
Place in a buttered 25 x 33 cm (10 x 13 inch) baking dish. Repeat with
remaining ingredients, placing finished pastries close together in dish.
Bake in moderate oven for 30 minutes, reduce to slow and cook for
further 15 minutes.
Meanwhile dissolve sugar in water over heat, add lemon juice and orange
water and bring to the boil.  Boil for 15 minutes, stir in rose water and
cool.
Spoon cool thick syrup over hot pastries.  Leave until cool and
sprinkle pistachio nuts in centres of pastries if desired.
Note: If you are not used to working with phyllo pastry, then it is
advisable to fill and shape the first lot of buttered squares before going
onto the nest lot.  The butter firms fairly quickly and it could be
difficult to shape the pastries if the buttered sheets are left for a time.
* From: The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallos. * ISBN: 1 86302
069 1. * Typed for you by Karen Mintzias
Posted to MM-Recipes Digest V4 #213 by Lea Faulkner <[email protected]> on Aug
14, 1997

A Message from our Provider:

“Jesus: If only you knew . . .”

It is a most lamentable thing to see how most people spend their time and their energy for trifles, while God is cast aside. He who is all seems to them as nothing, and that which is nothing seems to them as good as all. It is lamentable indeed, knowing that God has set mankind in such a race where heaven or hell is their certain end, that they should sit down and loiter, or run after the childish toys of the world, forgetting the prize they should run for. Were it but possible for one of us to see this business as the all-seeing God does, and see what most men and women in the world are interested in and what they are doing every day, it would be the saddest sight imaginable. Oh, how we should marvel at their madness and lament their self-delusion! If God had never told them what they were sent into the world to do, or what was before them in another world, then there would have been some excuse. But it is His sealed word, and they profess to believe it.

Richard Baxter