Youth, George Bernard Shaw opined, is too good a thing to be wasted on young people! But old age can be good, too. Sociologist David Moberg tells about some of the ways the church can transform those final years into golden years for the increasing number of elderly retired people in our congregations. If you are tempted to pass this one by because you are still young, resist the temptation—you won’t stay that way very long. Besides, this article will unfold for you a new, exciting, and unbelievably worthwhile ministry to the elderly in our midst.

Like Christmas, Thanksgiving is so frequently filled with seasonal pleasures of turkey dinners, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and the joy of visiting friends and relatives that we forget entirely how our Thanksgiving holiday came into being. It was in the fall of 1621 that our Pilgrim fathers set aside a day of thanksgiving to God for his great goodness to them through the first year in their new home in the New England wilderness. Richard Dinwiddie offers a recipe for a truly blessed Thanksgiving. Then, together with his wife, Ruth, he once again guides us to the best Christmas records with which we can grace our holiday season.

Also in this issue, Mark Senter describes a number of films we may wish to introduce to our local church. Theodore Baehr explores generally the potential of video communication for the gospel, and Carol Thiessen reviews the new Video Tape/Disc Guide to Religious Programs.

Events in Central America continue to boggle the imagination. There is a titanic struggle for good and evil, and the outcome hangs in the balance. While from distant North America it often seems impossible to determine who is good and who is evil, CHRISTIANITY TODAY news reporters from that troubled area throw some light on the conflict. But one thing shines clearly through the darkness: the Spirit of God, too, is at work to bring salvation and peace to weary and desperate hearts.

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