Appeal December 2002: The first Christmas in the world

Hiroyuki Tanaka, Vice-president

I like the gospel: "the first Christmas in the world". In Bethlehem, as well as the parents, some sheepherders and the doctors from east celebrated Jesus Christ's birth 2000 years before. There were not decoration and treat. It wasn't brilliant. However, they celebrated his birth sincerely. At the night, their heart would have been surely filled in the pleasure and the warmness.
The time passed and the gospel and the belief were inherited. They spread. Hundreds of millions of people of all over the world are celebrating the Christmas. Only on this day, christians increase in Japan. On only one day, a lot of people remember Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful thing. (However, regrettably, there are people who don't know what the Christmas is.)
In 1920, in Toledo city in the State of Ohio in America, the first Y's Men's Club in the world was born. The number of the members was 17. Then, now, the number of Y's men in the world is about 30,000. In each place, they mainly support the activity of YMCA. Besides, they are doing various activities. The people who celebrate a Christmas increased while they conquered a lot of difficulty. I hope that the solidarity of Y's men becomes bigger in the same way. Merry Christmas!