Christmas Address On Door Duty Ray Porrelli, Edwin Robertson

Our Christmas Rotary lunch in the Stewartfield Farm began with tucking into turkey and all the trimmings followed by the Christmas address and the fun tie competition. This year’s winner of the tie competition was Rotarian Jim Anderson however his Christmas jumper might have influenced the decision. The Christmas address was delivered in a very entertaining way by Alan McMaster, Pastor of Lindsayfield Church, contrasting the intermix of faith and commercialism and explaining the origin and history of Santa Claus. Alan talked about the speed and distance Santa would cover in one night visit all 2.1 billion children in the world. In the USA one sixth of sales of goods are recorded over the Christmas period. The Christmas tree originated in Germany and only became popular after Queen Victoria married Albert. Defining the real meaning of Christmas Alan went on to say that since King Herod died in the year 4 BC, Jesus must have been born before then but the date was not recorded and it was Pope Julius 1st who chose 25th December as the date of Christmas. Quoting from Matthew chapter 2 vs 1-12 where the Magi brought gifts as being the origin of giving and receiving gifts at Christmas and in conclusion referring to the state of the world today and spoke of man’s inhumanity to man and the need to return to the real meaning of Christmas. A very sincere vote of thanks was given by Past President of East Kilbride Rotary club the Reverend David Taylor.