From the Pastor. The Rev. Dr. Keith C. Alderman
Free Christmas Gifts!!!
In a tough economic season, everyone can use some free Christmas gifts. This Season:
Mend a quarrel. ✰ Seek out a Forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion, and replace it with trust. ✰ Write a love letter. ✰ Give a soft answer. ✰ Encourage a child. ✰ Show your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Find the time. ✰ ✰ Forgo a grudge. ✰ Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong. Try to understand. Give up envy. ✰ Examine your demands on others. Think of someone else first. ✰ Appreciate. ✰ Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh. Laugh a little more. Take up arms against malice. say “no” to complacency. express your gratitude. ✰ Say a prayer. ✰ Welcome a stranger. ✰ Gladden the heart of a child. ✰ Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. ✰ Speak your love out loud. ✰ Speak it again. ✰ Speak it once again. ✰✰✰✰✰✰
These are gifts which can be given at any time, and can do much to bring peace to
yourself, your family, and the world.
Merry Christmas!
Rev. Keith
From the Associate Pastor Jonathan Elsensohn A few years ago, I missed several winters in a row. After seminary I relocated and found myself first in Hawaii then in Memphis, TN for a total of three consecutive winters. There is an oddness to seasonal change in Hawaii, where each day is much the same as the ones before and after it. Instead of the weather, it is easier (and tastier) to tell the seasons by what fruit is ripe on the trees. In Memphis, the winter is more recognizable, though there is little snow: merely dull grey skies, sullen slush, and temperatures that hover just this side of freezing. I’m a winter person, happiest when I can be out on either my snowshoes or backcountry skiis, trekking through a familiar landscape changed by the addition of a few feet of snow. So, my sojourn in southern climes was difficult, especially around Christmas. Christmas for me was the light of candles seen through frosted windows, not two for one specials on mai-tais. When I was finally able to make it back to New England, I treasured that “real” Christmas. Whether it was something iconic, like trudging through the woods to find a Christmas tree, or simple, like helping my mother do some last minute straightening up around the house, I finally felt home. For many of us, home is the heart of the Christmas season, the place from which we celebrate both the moments of haste and hurry as well as the times of stillness and anticipation. I’m looking forward to spending this Christmas invited into your home here at Pilgrim Congregational Church. Are you “coming home” for Christmas? In addition to the Hanging of the Evergreens (12/1, and be sure to stay for the Dish to Pass afterwards) and the Christmas Cantata (12/22), I do hope you will be able to join us for worship on the 15th, when the children of Pilgrim Church will perform their Christmas pageant. Come see an old, old story made new once again (and maybe stick around to pick up a few cookies). Blessings,
-Jon
Moderator’s Moment: (December) Pilgrim Church and Discipleship
This is my last thread on Discipleship before I go on to a new format for my Moderators
Moments. Change is good…
What is Christian Discipleship? My non-Webster abridged/non-Wikipedia definition is…
How we, as Christians, behave in this: “priorities totally messed up”, “lies are more exciting
than the truth”, “tromp on nature and Gods creation”, world, a world that never fails to remind
us everyday how not to be light, how not to be love and how not to demonstrate Christ like
discipleship. The same world that gives us every excuse to do anything we want but spend
time with our God and our church family. Yes, Satan knows how to kill discipleship! Don’t
blatantly confront God in the world like a Marathon Bomber (that just brings out the best in
people for a little while), it’s better to just crowd God out so there is no more time or room for
him anymore. Make God an old video game, make him boring.
It’s December again, and past “Moments” have been about light, love and discipleship. I could
write about other things I suppose, but I chose this because most of all I needed a way to remind
myself what my church life is all about.
To start, I am not perfect, and this world is not perfect at all, but God has promised to work with
his church (yes that is us, Pilgrim Congregational Church) if we “are” his disciples. There isn’t
a page in the Bible that disputes this fact. Working at being his disciples comes with a reward
too. The reward is that we will continue to be blessed and we will grow. Not for the sake of
growing, but growing so that more people will have the opportunity to be with God in a loving
church family and do the things that fulfill them spiritually. Disputing popular belief: It is
absolutely not a sin for a church to have fun growing! It is only important that all this activity
brings us closer to God and closer to each other.
After the Moderators Moment you will find, as always, a whole bunch of activities and
announcements that demonstrates exactly our church in Light, Love and Discipleship. These
things continue to define us as long as we are a church. Obviously though, what defines us
even more, is what happens during these activities. What we are doing here is nothing less
than discipleship, pure and simple, and as disciples and as a church we need get serious and
be fantastic at it!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Disciples of Christ! May this time remind us that “he
lives in our hearts” because we actually do believe!
Faithfully,
Janel Milner
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Upcoming Events
Dish to Pass
The Christian Education Committee will be
hosting a Dish to Pass on Sunday, December
1st following the Hanging of the Greens
Service. Bring your favorite dish and share a
meal in community during the sacred holiday
season.
Youth Group Meeting
Sunday, December 8th at 11:30 in the upstairs
conference room. All high school students are
welcome to attend.
Living Nativity Trip
Sunday, December 8th
Watch and Listen for details in the weekly
service order and announcements.
Christmas Pageant
Sunday, December 15, 2013
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” will be
performed by the children of Pilgrim
Congregational Church.
Office Hours – Pastor Jon is in
on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
and can be reached through
the office at 978-534-5164.
Christian Education Committee Meeting Sunday, January 19th at 11:00 a.m. in the upstairs conference room. Sunday School Teacher Meeting Next meeting January 26th at 11:00 a.m. in the upstairs conference room.
Colette Vallee
for the beautiful Fall themed
Sunday School bulletin board.
Stephanie Palis,
Emily Davis and
Brittany Dauphinais for organizing the closets and costumes in
the Sunday School area.
Substitutes / Superintendents Needed Prayerfully consider volunteering as a Substitute/Superintendent for our Sunday School. We are asking for a commitment of one weekend a month of being on duty upstairs during Sunday School. Duties include substituting if necessary, distributing and collecting attendance, counting donations and miscellaneous duties.
DECEMBER
12/1 Ruth Bergman Beth Ortega
12/2 Helen Beauregard
12/3 Shane Nadeau Deb Walker Shaqim Walker
12/4 Tina Pilgrim
12/8 Sandra Grady Lisa Dauphinais
12/10 Jamie Cormier
12/11 Sally Hens Charles A. Milhans, Jr.
12/12 Donald Hicks, Jr. Brad Roy Colette Vallee
12/13 Debbie Dewhurst
12/14 Katie Maillet
12/16 Brian Kenney
12/17 Roland S. Hammons
12/18 Carol J. Claflin (Sr.) Lauren Dewey
12/19 Tim Nicastro
12/20 Aaron Clifford
12/21 Penny Faul
12/25 Dan Nicastro
12/30 Barbara Parker
COFFEE HOUR
The Christian Education
Committee will be in
charge of Coffee Hour
during the month of
December. Remember the Dish to Pass
Brunch after service on Dec. 1st – Friendship
Sunday/Hanging of the Evergreens Service.
DEACON OF THE WEEK -
DECEMBER
Dec. 1st – Pastor Jon is assisting Rev. Keith
Dec. 8th
– Rod Schaffter. Communion
Servers: Evelyn Jiménez, Bonnie Hathaway,
Shaqim Walker, Dave Kelly, Bonnie Clifton
Dec. 15th – Karen McNall
Dec. 22nd
– Mary Mullahy
Christmas Eve – Mike Palis. Deb Walker,
Joe Banda and Mary will be helping with
other duties.
Dec. 29th – Bonnie Clifton and Jon
Elsensohn
FOOD PANTRY
Our Food Pantry has done a brisk business
in November. Thank you for your
donations. For the month of December, we
are suggesting you bring in cans of tuna and
cereal.
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FRIENDSHIP SUNDAY/HANGING OF
THE EVERGREENS SERVICE
Sunday, December 1, has been selected as
Friendship Sunday. What better time of the
year than the Advent season to invite a
friend to experience the anticipation and
beauty that we at Pilgrim behold on the
Sunday designated as “The Hanging of the
Greens Service”. Please plan now to invite a colleague, a neighbor, a friend, or a relative to be embraced by the spiritual family here at Pilgrim. We have post cards available for all who would like to send out invitations. Invite as many as you would like to this inspirational service.
PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS IN THE “MESSENGER” Pilgrim Congregational Church invites members and friends to advertise your business in our monthly newsletter. The cost is $25.00 per calendar quarter. Simply submit a business card or equivalent-size notice to the church office, along with payment, for however many quarters you’d like the ad to run. This is a wonderful opportunity to promote your business while contributing financially to the church’s operations. We thank the following for advertising in the “Messenger”:
HANNAFORD/SCRIPS FUNDRAISER
Upcoming order dates are Dec. 8th and Jan. 12th. Order forms are on the
Opportunity Table. Complete them and give them to Mary, or drop them in the
Vice Moderator’s mailbox in the church office with a check made payable to
Pilgrim Church.
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BAPTISMS
Congratulations to Andrew
and Mireille Permatteo who
were baptized on Sunday,
Nov. 10th. Andrew and Mireille are the
children of Jason and Denise Permatte, and
are six years old. Welcome to our church
family!
CENTERING PRAYER FOR ADVENT
When We Return to the Source –
Healing Prayer for Advent
Advent is a time when we prepare our
hearts and minds and souls to receive the gift that God has given to us in our
Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas.
For some, the Christmas season is one filled with joy. Others find this season
difficult. While the commercial world marches toward December 25, many find
this time of year to be one in which feelings of loneliness and loss can take
center stage.
This year, on Tuesday evenings during
the Advent Season (December 3, 10, and
17 at 7:30 PM) we will offer “Centering
Prayer for Advent.” We will discuss ideas found in the book Centering Prayer and
the Healing of the Unconscious by Murchadh Ó Madagáin. We will also use
the work of Fr. Thomas Keating as a guide to Centering Prayer. Centering
Prayer can become a powerful tool for people of faith to gain insights into
themselves and God which can be helpful to them and to bring healing to their
hearts and minds and souls. Remember December 3, 10, and 17 at 7:30 PM. We
look forward to seeing you. – Rev. Keith
DEACONS
CHRISTMAS
CARDS TREE
Deacons will be in
the Narthex and
Fellowship Hall so you can purchase a Christmas
card from them to be hung on the trees. Names of
those sending greetings to fellow church members
will be printed in the bulletin each week through
December 29. Money is used to purchase gift cards
at holidays for those in need and other means of
support within the church community.
CHRISTMAS EVE
CANDLELIGHT
SERVICE
Please join us at 7:30
p.m. on Christmas Eve
(Tuesday, Dec. 24th
) as
we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. This
is a family service and we urge all families to
worship with us. Communion will be served.
Dec. 1 – 9:30 A.M. Hanging of the Evergreens Service/Friendship Sunday Dec. 3 – 7:30 P.M. Healing Prayer for Advent
Dec. 7 – 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Christmas Fair Dec. 8 – 2nd Sunday of Advent Christmas Craft Fair continues 6-8 P.M. Living Nativity, Westminster Dec. 10 – 7:30 P.M. Healing
Prayer for Advent Dec. 15 – 3rd Sunday of Advent 9:30 a.m. Pageant Christmas Cookie Walk after service Dec. 17 – 6:30 P.M. Council 7:30 P.M. Healing Prayer for Advent
Dec. 22 – 4th Sunday of Advent 9:30 A.M. Cantata Dec. 24th – Christmas Eve 7:30 P.M. Christmas Eve Candlelight Service Dec. 25th – Merry Christmas!
'GOT SPPRAK
SPPRAK stands for SPECIAL PEOPLE
PERFORMING RANDOM ACTS of
KINDNESS. There are so many special
people in Pilgrim Church and Leominster who
daily do nice things for others without
expecting acknowledgement. Honor these
special people by writing their random act of
kindness on a sticky note and posting it on
the SPPRAK board in Fellowship Hall. In the
next few weeks, it would be wonderful to fill
the SPPRAK board with many random acts of
kindness.
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Annual Christmas Craft Fair
Saturday, December 7, 2013
10:00AM - 4:00PM
After church on Sunday,
December 8
The Pilgrim Church elves have been busy
preparing items for the fair. Please leave all
items on the stage between Sunday, December
1 and Friday, December 6.
Before you shop any other place, invite your
friends and relatives to browse the
decorations, ornaments, food, jewelry, gifts,
knitted items, and raffle for a wooden train.
Free cookies and cocoa for shoppers.
In conjunction with the Winter Stroll, the
Rainbow Ringers Hand Bell Choir will hold
an open rehearsal at 2:30 and 3:30 p.m.
NEEDED: COOKIES to serve to fair
attendees and BAKED GOODS for the food
table. Please sign up on the Opportunity Table
or call Karen McNall 978 537-6351. Pick up
available.
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ANNUAL COOKIE WALK
Sunday, December 15, 2013 in Fellowship Hall after church service
Cookies: $3.00 a Baker's Dozen. Bring your own container if possible
NEEDED: COOKIES - make a batch of your favorite Christmas cookies and bring in a container on Sunday morning. Please sign up on the Opportunity Table or call Karen McNall 978 537-6351 7
When We Return to the Source – Healing Prayer for Advent Advent is a time when we prepare our hearts and minds and souls to receive the gift that God has given to us in our Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas. For some, the Christmas season is one filled with joy. Others find this season difficult. While the commercial world marches toward December 25, many find this time of year to be one in which feelings of loneliness and loss
can take center stage. This year, on Tuesday evenings during the Advent Season (December 3, 10, and 17 at 7:30 PM) we will offer “Centering Prayer for Advent.” We will discuss ideas found in the book Centering Prayer and the Healing of the Unconscious by Murchadh Ó Madagáin. We will also use the work of Fr. Thomas Keating as a guide to Centering Prayer. Centering Prayer can become a powerful tool for people of faith to gain insights into themselves and God which can be helpful to them and to bring healing to their hearts and minds and souls. Remember December 3, 10, and 17 at 7:30 PM. We
look forward to seeing you.
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WOMEN’S BOOK BASH
Due to the many wonderful opportunities available to us this month, the Women’s Book
Bash will take a break in the month of December. Our next meeting will be Sunday, January 12, 2014 at the home of Karen McNall, 267 Willard Street, Leominster. We
convene at 6:30 p.m. and end about 8:30 p.m. All women of the church are cordially invited to attend.
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
An unforgettable novel about finding a lost piece of yourself in someone else.
Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A
Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale
revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray,
honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of
those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul to Paris
to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.
From a review of the book:
After two stellar novels set (mostly) in Kabul, Afghanistan, Hosseini’s third tacks among Afghanistan,
California, France and Greece to explore the effect of the Afghan diaspora on identity.
It begins powerfully in 1952. Saboor is a dirt-poor day laborer in a village two days walk from Kabul. His first
wife died giving birth to their daughter Pari, who’s now 4 and has been raised lovingly by her brother, 10-year-
old Abdullah; two peas in a pod, but “leftovers” in the eyes of Parwana, Saboor’s second wife. Saboor’s
brother-in-law Nabi is a cook/chauffeur for a wealthy, childless couple in Kabul; he helps arrange the sale of
Pari to the couple, breaking Abdullah’s heart. The drama does nothing to prepare us for the coming leaps in
time and place. Nabi’s own story comes next in a posthumous tell-all letter (creaky device) to Markos, the
Greek plastic surgeon who occupies the Kabul house from 2002 onwards. Nabi confesses his guilt in facilitating
the sale of Pari and describes the adoptive couple: his boss Suleiman, a gay man secretly in love with him, and
his wife, Nila, a half-French poet who high-tails it to France with Pari after Suleiman has a stroke. There follow
the stories of mother and daughter in Paris, Markos’ childhood in Greece (an irrelevance), the return to Kabul of
expat cousins from California and the Afghan warlord who stole the old village. Missing is the viselike tension
of the earlier novels. It’s true that betrayal is a constant theme, as it was in The Kite Runner, but it doesn’t work
as a glue. And identity? Hosseini struggles to convince us that Pari becomes a well-integrated Frenchwoman.
The stories spill from Hosseini’s bountiful imagination, but they compete against each other, denying the novel
a catalyst; the result is a bloated, unwieldy work.
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Happy birthday, Jesus!
Each Christmas, a
family celebrated by holding a
birthday party for Jesus. To
remind themselves of Jesus’
presence, they placed a chair of
honor for him at their dinner
table.
The highlight of the
party was singing “Happy
Birthday” to Jesus and then
blowing out the candles on a
special cake.
One Christmas, a
visitor asked the family’s 5-
year-old daughter, “Did you get everything you
wanted for Christmas?”
The girl paused and then answered, “No! It’s
not my birthday!”
***
God’s heart toward us
Bryon and Ruthie were unemployed one
December. Want-ing their seven children to have
gifts to open on Christmas morning, they took $20
and shopped diligently at the thrift store, finding
seven small items to place under a tiny tree they’d
found in a field. Feeling desperate about all their
other needs and guilty for praying for presents, the
couple asked God to bless their kids.
On Christmas Eve, a couple they barely
knew, friends of friends from church, called and
asked to stop by. They pulled up in a 15-passenger
van and asked if Bryon and Ruthie’s kids could help
carry in “a couple of things.” In fact, the rear seats
had been removed and the vehicle was filled with
packages and groceries. The next morning, the
family unwrapped goodies both practical and fun.
“We felt as if the Lord was saying, ‘This is
my heart toward you. I want to bless you,’” Bryon
writes. “It is the Lord’s heart to bless his children.”
—Adapted from Miracles: 32 True Stories,
Joanie Hileman
***
Special dates
• First Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2013
• Second Sunday of Advent, December 8, 2013
• Third Sunday of Advent, December 15, 2013
• First Day of Winter, December 21, 2013
• Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 22, 2013
• Christmas Eve, December 24, 2013
• Christmas Day, December 25, 2013
• New Year’s Eve/Watch Night, December 31, 2013
***
• “I have a better Caretaker than you and all the
angels. He it is who lies in a manger, but at the
same time sits at the right hand of God, the
almighty Father. Therefore be at rest.”
—Martin Luther
• “Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state
of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be
plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of
Christmas.”
—Calvin Coolidge
• “Life is like a camera: Focus on what’s important,
capture the good times, develop from the negatives,
and if things don’t work out, take another shot.”
—Source unknown
***
God among us
The claim that Christianity makes for
Christmas is that at a particular time and place God
came to be with us himself. When Quirinius was
governor of Syria, in a town called Bethlehem, a
child was born who, beyond the power of anyone to
account for, was the high and lofty One made low
and helpless. The One who inhabits eternity comes
to dwell in time. The One whom none can look
upon and live is delivered in a stable under the soft,
indifferent gaze of cattle. The Father of all mercies
puts himself at our mercy.
—Frederick Buechner
***
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A tale of the
candy cane
The account of the
candy cane’s origins
circulates every Christmas
season and is more likely
a fun story than historical
fact. No matter; tales often
contain truth. This tasty
treat can convey important
elements of our Christian
faith.
The stripes remind us of the heart of
Christmas, our Savior, Jesus: white for his purity;
red for his blood shed on the cross. The candy cane
resembles the curved staffs of the shepherds — the
first people to visit the Christ-Child and worship at
the manger. And when the cane is turned upside
down, it becomes a letter J, for “Jesus.”
Indeed, Jesus turns our lives upside down
and inverts our presumptions: A poor baby born in a
stable becomes King of kings and Lord of lords;
enemies aren’t for hating but loving; blessings
aren’t for hoarding but sharing; the world works for
war, but Jesus calls us to live in peace; receiving is
better than giving; sinners are made saints; and
death is conquered as God grants us eternal life.
Keeping Christmas
Are you willing to believe that love is the
strongest thing in the world — stronger than hate,
stronger than evil, stronger than death — and that
the blessed life which began in Bethlehem [two
thousand] years ago is the image and brightness of
the Eternal Love?
Then you can keep Christmas. And if you
can keep it for a day, why not always? But you can
never keep it alone.
—Henry Van Dyke
***
Live to give
In Acts 20:35, Paul quotes Jesus as saying,
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
(Interestingly, that’s the only recorded statement of
Jesus that’s not found in one of the four gospels.)
The blessings of giving are profound and
lasting. Poet Maya Angelou says, “I have found that
among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of
the giver.”
***
Lessons from the angels
To frightened shepherds on the first
Christmas Eve, a host of angels sang, “Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men” (Luke 2:14, KJV).
Nineteenth-century minister Charles
Kingsley explained how these key words tell the
meaning of Jesus’ birth and give meaning to our
lives.
• Glory. “That little babe, lying in the manger
among the cattle, was showing the very highest
glory of the great God who had made heaven and
earth. To stoop, to condescend, to have mercy, to
forgive — that is the highest glory of God.”
• Peace. “God is not selfish. He sacrificed
himself for us. Sacrifice yourselves then for each
other! Give up your own pride, your own
selfishness, your own interest for each other, and
you will be ... at peace.”
• Good will. “God loves you, and he wills to
raise you out of this selfish, quarrelsome life of sin,
into a loving, brotherly, peaceful life of
righteousness. That babe in the manger at
Bethlehem is a sign to you and me that God will
freely give us that spirit of love if we ask for it.”
***
Gifts for a King
Bring him thy precious things
And lay them at his feet;
The gold of love, the hope that springs
The unknown ways to meet.
Bring him thy lovely things;
The joy that conquers care,
The faith that trusts and sings,
The frankincense of prayer.
Bring him thy bitter things;
The myrrh of grief and fears,
The aching heart that stings
With pain of unshed tears.
These for thy gifts to him;
And for his gifts to thee,
The comfort of his steadfast love,
His tender sympathy.
—Annie Johnson Flint
***
Bible Quiz
According to
Scripture, what does
the name Jesus mean?
A. “God is with us.”
B. “Anointed One of
God”
C. “[The Lord] will
save his people from their sins.”
D. “Son of the Most High God”
Answer found elsewhere in this newsletter.
***
The Light of the world
Early Christians celebrated both Jesus’ birth
and baptism on Epiphany, January 6. Only in the
fourth century did Roman Christians appropriate a
pagan festival to celebrate what we now call
Christmas — a contraction of “Christ Mass.”
But the origin of when we celebrate Jesus’
birth doesn’t detract from the day’s holiness. In fact,
God has always transformed things of the world to
serve his purposes and show his glory.
The festival honoring the “Unconquered
Sun,” held on what was then considered the winter
solstice, was deemed the perfect time to praise the
“sun of righteousness” (see Malachi 4:2).
By claiming this day as our own, Christians
profess that earthly darkness — winter’s seasonal
darkness and the darkness in our hearts and lives —
is brightened not by a heavenly body that will one
day cease to shine but by Jesus, the real
unconquered and unconquerable Light of the world.
***
Incarnation
’Twas much,
that man was
made like God before,
But that God should
be like man,
much more.
—John Donne, from “Holy Sonnet 15”
***
Christian symbol
Poinsettias
This shrub, native to
Mexico,is at the heart of a
legend about a poor girl who
wanted to bring Baby Jesus a gift one Christmas
Eve. As she walked to church, she gathered a
bouquet of weeds — which Jesus miraculously
transformed into lovely red flowers. Thus the
poinsettia (named for Joel Poinsett, the U.S.
ambassador to Mexico who first brought the plant to
America) is known in Mexico as la flor de la
Nochebuena (flower of the Holy Night). The
poinsettia is also an ideal Christmas symbol because
its leaves turn red when deprived of sunlight and its
flowers (the red inner buds) bloom in December.
BIBLE QUIZ - Answer: C (See Matthew 1:21.)
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It’s a wonderful life
I love that movie. Jimmy Stewart represents all our dreams and Lionel Barrymore is a first class villain, the devil in the flesh. What’s more, I believe in its message, that we do not know how our lives touch others, nor can we see all the good we do. Is that all there is to wonderful life? Look deeper into the message and you see what’s wonderful. The Lord hears our prayers. He is always with us surrounding us with his grace and uplifting us in any situation, even if we don’t know it. Standing on that rock is what makes mine, and yours, a wonderful life.
— Mike Bell First United Methodist Church,
Willard, OH
Commit to resist commercialism
In response to God’s great Christmas gift, I will: Remember whose birthday is being celebrated. Earmark at least 25 percent of my Christmas budget for those who are truly in need of my gifts. Set aside time each day to read Scripture, pray, be still and prepare for
the coming of the Prince of Peace. Include the hungry, the stranger, the sick and the imprisoned in my Christmas celebration. Strive to be a peacemaker in my family, community and world. Take back my celebration of Christmas from the marketplace by resisting consumer pressures to spend beyond my means.
— St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Chardon, OH
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