NATCHEZ – Christmas 2001 for many Americans will focus on healing within their own boundaries – finding answers to questions about suicide airplane crashes and threats of bioterrorism.

For the Rev. Bart Walker at Parkway Baptist Church, the Christmas message has been a little different.

&uot;Our emphasis will be on our call to take the message of Christ’s life, death, burial and resurrection to all the nations,&uot; Walker said.

Mankind’s need brought Jesus to Earth, Walker said. &uot;To celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, we must magnify Jesus Christ and lift him up.&uot;

It is that message that Christians are told to send to everyone in the world.

&uot;When Joseph is being addressed by the angel in the first chapter of Matthew, that sums up the wonderful message,&uot; Walker said, referring to Matthew 1:21, which says, &uot;She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.&uot;

Jesus grew up in the shadow of the cross. &uot;He’s enacting that at his birth,&uot; Walker said. &uot;We must let people see that they truly need Jesus Christ.&uot;

In a world filled with pain and dissension, the message of the birth and death of Jesus is comforting, Walker said. &uot;His love for us is the only truly satisfying love in the universe. He loves us just as we are and brings us salvation, joy and peace and that wonderful prize of eternal life.&uot;

More than ever, the promise of eternal life touches hearts today, Walker said.

Though his message of going out into the world to spread the gospel is a reaching out beyond America’s borders, he, like ministers throughout the country, know the special needs of people struggling with the acts of Sept. 11.

&uot;We thought we were impenetrable, but we’re not,&uot; Walker said. &uot;Christmas gives us the opportunity to focus on that and on the message of love and peace.&uot;

The door is open to the rest of the world, and Walker thrills to the reality of some 5,000 missionaries supported by Southern Baptists. &uot;They are full-time missionaries, and they are all over the world,&uot; he said.

Sharing the traditional merriment of the Christmas season is important, too, Walker said. Exchanging gifts is a part of that.

&uot;But Jesus gets the best gift of all,&uot; he said. &uot;I tell my folks to hang the biggest stocking they can find for Jesus and to put themselves in it.&uot;

The Rev. Dennis Flach of New Covenant Presbyterian Church said giving one’s self to Jesus Christ indeed has implications in keeping with the season.

&uot;The moment of belief, of cracking the hard heart to trust Jesus Christ, is simply one more step in a long chain of grace events,&uot; Flach said in a prepared statement.

Central to those events are &uot; participating in worship, sharing of sacraments, engaging prayer, seeking the Lord while He may be found.&uot;

Jesus Christ is not available as a special item on a sale rack, Flach said. &uot;His availability to you is transformational.&uot;