A Letter to Pastoral Wives

What does Christmas really man?

Natividade de Quintino, Shepherdess Coordinator 

Dear pastoral wives, collaborators in ministry:

The month of December arrives. We can feel Christmas perfume in the air. The hustle and preparation for this special celebration begins. Messages by fax, phone, or card go to those we love. The whole Christian world, independent of country, culture, age, sex, or happiness, is made manifest. Even people at war rest to cel­ebrate this event. Yet for us as pastoral wives, what does Christmas really mean? Ellen White answers the question:

As the twenty-fifth of December is observed to commemorate the birth of Christ, as the children have been instructed by precept and example that this was indeed a day of gladness and rejoicing, you will find it a difficult matter to pass over this period without giving it some attention. It can be made to serve a very good purpose. The youth should be treated very carefully. They should not be left on Christmas to find their own amusement in vanity and pleasure seeking, in amusements which will be detrimental to their spirituality. Parents can control this matter by turning the minds and the offerings of their children to God and His cause and the salvation of souls.—Adventist Home, p. 47S

On exchanging gifts, as a demonstration of affection, she comments,

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 . . . It is right to bestow upon one another tokens of love and remem­brance if we do not in this forget God, our best friend. —Ibid.

This Christmas of 1994, when the sunset of one more year is almost finished, let each one of us, as pastoral wives, praise Jesus for the wonderful things He has done for us, our families, and our churches. May each ministerial family have a blessed Christmas, divine peace, and a happy New Year full of victories for the glory of God and His church. And may the ministry of every pastoral wife, for the King of the Universe, be especially valued.

Natividade de Quintino

Shepherdess Coordinator