Yes There is a Saviour
December 4th, 2009
Ken Forrest (Cathcart)
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, an eight year old child called Virginia who lived in New York, and whose friends had told her that Santa Claus didn’t exist, asked her father if this was correct. Scared to tell her the truth, he suggested she ask some one else. She wrote to the New York Sun, one of the leading newspapers which circulated at that time. She received a reply from the Editor who assured her that her friends were wrong, and that Santa Claus did exist. Simply because he could not be seen was no reason to doubt that he was real, that he brought love and joy to the hearts of all, and that he will always exist, continuing “…to make glad the heart of childhood.” Entitled “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus”, his reply was transposed into the editorial of the newspaper and became known to many people not just in New York, but in the rest of America, and beyond.
Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus and read the whole letter. As you do substitute the name Jesus for the name Santa Claus. And as you do, marvel at how well this fits into both the letter and the spirit of what is being said and how it is expressed. The letter assures young Virginia that Santa Claus “…exists as certainly as love…exist(s)…”, that “…the eternal light with which childhood fills the world would not exist if it were not for Santa Claus, and that Santa Claus not only exists, but…”…lives for ever..”
Perhaps this year, you will have to tell a child that Santa Claus does not exist. And perhaps, like young Virginia’s friends, the child will become little more cynical. Unlike her father, however you don’t need to be scared, because, you will be able to tell the child that Jesus Christ, whose birth we remember at this time of year, does exist, that He came to this earth because God loves us, that the eternal light which fills this world is His light, and that he will exist for ever. Virginia was told that simply because someone could not be seen did not mean that they did not exist. How much more does that apply to our Lord Jesus Christ, whose birth on earth, unlike the child-like myth of the annual visit of Santa Claus, did actually happen, whose life on earth was real and who sacrificed His life for us all.
As we celebrate His coming at this time of Advent, may we rejoice that there is a Saviour and he lives not only now, but that he lives for ever
