On the Fifth Day of Christmas!
I want to wish all of you a continued Merry Christmas. Our family returned from my hometown yesterday where we spent some holiday time with my family. We had a great time but are glad to be home. I trust all of you are having a good Christmas-New Year break and keep in mind, just in case you are planning on taking your tree and lights down, that the Christmas Season is not over! According to the Christian Year we are to celebrate Advent, our preparation and anticipation for the coming of Christ, for the four Sundays (or in our case Saturdays) prior to Christmas Day. THEN, the Christmas Season begins and lasts for two more weeks! I was long confused about the
12 Days of Christmas.
There are many of us travelling this week and we all have our holiday obligations but I do want to encourage you to join us for our worship gathering tomorrow night. It will be the last one for this calendar year. All of the candles in the Advent/Christmas wreath will be lit for this special evening.
Also, all of you are invited to our home immediately after our worship time tomorrow night. It is a family fun night. There will be snacks, board games, and lot's of fun conversation.
Santa Claus is ubiquitous. We all know the story. It begins right after, if not a few days before, Christmas. Santa is out there helping us make purchases, greeting us at the door of stores, talking to our children and encouraging us through commercials on TV. Store clerks wear Santa hats and images of Santa and his paraphernalia are all over the place.
For those of us who are Christians we are pained by the emphasis upon Santa Claus because it detracts from what we have referred to as "the reason for the season." The Commercial Claus also detracts from his heartily Christian precursor, Saint Nicholas of Myra.
The image below is another icon of St. Nicholas, similar to the one we viewed yesterday. As I mentioned a few weeks ago in our service icons are sometimes referred to as "windows into heaven." This means that they are symbols designed to remind us of Christ, inspire us to worship and develop within us those Christlike virtues.
In worship tomorrow night we will hear a story or two about St. Nicholas, our fellow brother and Christ and inspiring example, of a life lived in service to Jesus through those around him. Let these odd and other-worldly pictures of a person we have never met, from a country most of us have never visited inspire us to deepen our common faith in Jesus through service to those who need him most.
Finally, whenever you see a picture of the red-cheeked Santa with a Coke in his hand or hocking electronics let it remind you instead of the virtues of Jesus that his forebear, the real St. Nick, inspire you to a life better lived.
For some more thoughts on the big guy in red from a friendly blogger, who just happens to be married to my sister-in-law, click on the title above.
Who Is This Man?
One of the main sins for those of us who blog is:
infrequent posting. Due to travelling last week and feeling a bit under the weather I have been off my game. However, I hope to be back on track soon. In fact, I am actually constructing a new personal blog in a secret location that I will link up to our church's blog. Hopefully I will unveil it before the new year.
Christmas Eve Candle HousesThis Christmas Eve Night there will be two very special candle light services. One will be at 6:00 PM and the other at 8:00 PM. Christmas Eve is the night that we will be lighting the Christ Candle and we will do so at each of our Christmas Eve gatherings.
6:00 Candle House at the Reich's8:00 Candle House at the Brown'sCheck your e-mail or call for directions.
Special Video of our Children's ServiceThanks Heath for putting this together! We understand if your boys are center stage!
http//:nattyman.blogspot.com
Open House At The Hill's!
When: This Sunday Night from 5:00 until 9:00
Where: 12306 E. Lincoln Ct.
What: Food, Your Friends, and all the really cool people
Actually, there will be a few of us there who aren't so cool but everyone is welcome. Come and meet some new friends and some old friends as well.
Advent: The Night of Joy..."a night of wonder"
Our celebration of Advent will continue this weekend as we observe the
Night of Joy. The Kids of Wheatland are going to share some special music and some of the
Nameless Faces guys are going to be helping out with worship.
Like last week the set up for Saturday night will be different than usual. As we light the Candle of Joy we are re-entering the drama of awaiting the coming of the Messiah. We join in with the chorus of faith (Heb 12:1) in looking for Christ's coming in our lives.
Praying People
Part of our life as a family and as a church is to be in regular prayer for one another. There are all kinds of prayer needs among the various people in our little community. There are some that are known and others that are not. Let me encourage you to pray for both.
Here are some big ones to be praying for this week:
Keep Margie Ramos, Irene Hoyer's mom, in your prayers as she continues her recovery from her heart attack and undergoes continued tests.
Pray for Jenny and the test results that she will be hearing about soon.
Pray for Alice and the tests that she is going to undergo later this week.
Also, pray for Rachel and her visit with the eye specialist later this month. And don't forget to pray for Melanie Cloud as she recovers from an infection that was the result of an abscessed tooth.
Heavenly Father, watch with us over your children, and grant
that we may be restored to that perfect health which it is
yours alone to give; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord have mercy. +
