by Nancy Thinnes

"Click, click, click." The communications room of the Times bustled as the busy teletypes transmitted the Christmas Eve news from all over t h e world. Joe, the Times' telegraph editor, saw all the news that came in. "Tension in the Middle East increases as Israeli and Egyptian troops skirmish at border . . . click, click, click . . . woman found murdered, decapitated . . . click, click, click. .

The news came in, and Christmas Eve ticked away. "Steel strike continues as labor and management battle it out . . . click, click, click . . . teenage gang robs, beats store owner . . . click, click, click." The day wore on, and finally the din of the communications room diminished as the giant newspaper plant prepared to close for Christmas. The clicking became more intermittent as the teletype slowed, then stopped. Joe glanced at the last news as he rushed it in to the news room: "Race riots continue in South . . . Communist leaders claim weapon that could destroy U.S. . . . and AP's final holiday message, "Merry Christmas. Peace on earth, good will to men."

Joe laughed dryly to himself as he stepped out from the Times building into the frosty twilight. Years in the newspaper business had made him cynical. "Peace on earth." The words kept running through his mind as he lit a cigarette and hurried toward the taxi stand. "Peace on earth ‑ what a laugh," he thought. Joe saw all the ugliness, the cruelty, and the selfishness of men. He heard about their wars, their striving, and their bitterness. Joe knew there would never be any peace on earth.

He strode past the life‑size creche in front of the church on the corner, but something made him pause and go back to look at it. There were the words again, over the manger: "Peace on earth, good will to men." The figure of the slumbering Baby certainly looked peaceful, but that was two thousand years ago in quiet, sleepy little Bethlehem. Then there was no Communist threat, no Middle East crisis, no Little Rock riots.

The wind whistled, and Joe shivered. "Oh nuts, what's the matter with me?" he grunted disgustedly. But as he turned to go, the words once more gripped him, and he looked again at the Child. "Peace on Earth." What was the answer?

Then Joe noticed something he had not seen before. Under the first inscription was another verse: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you." "Not as the world giveth!" This was the answer! Suddenly it was so clear to Joe that he wondered why he had not seen it before. He had not found peace because he had been seeking it in the world. But the world had not given it to him, and it never could.

He looked at the Baby, and he knew. This Savior had come to give a new kind of peace, not as the world giveth, but a personal peace, an inner peace, that can come only from knowing Christ. Joe smiled and walked on. "Peace on earth," he whispered. "There is peace on earth."