The Value of a Token

Remember your token.

The Value of a Token.  The following incident appeared in a New York daily: Bent with age but bright-eyed and alert, James Swift, eighty-four years old, was committed at his own request to the almshouse yesterday by Magistrate Krotel, sitting in Yorkville Court.

     "I'm goin' to start for California just as soon as I come out of the almshouse," Swift told the magistrate. The old man displayed a silver watch with copper chain, which he said, was a perpetual pass over the Union Pacific Railroad. It had been given him as a token that he was one of the men engaged in the construction of the road, the presentation being made on the occasion of the driving of the last spike in May, 1866. All he had to do, he said, when he wanted to ride over the road was to show the timepiece to the conductor.

In much the same way are the traditions of Christmas like tokens. All we need do is unpack the examples of mirth, good cheer, delight, childhood wonder, and stories of miracles and promises made to us by God and then, suddenly, we pass over the next hard patch in the middle of the road. We wish for you dear visitor, that Christmas becomes a reminder of good things once had and good things yet to come.

• Christmas, the gift that keeps giving...
• What God Wants for Christmas
• The Wish Book: A Sermon for Christmas Eve