Third Sunday in Advent: JOY!

Bring a torch! Un flambeau!
Christ is born! Tell the folk of the village. C’est Jésus, bonnes gens du hameau.

Summary of the Most Common Fears (from SelfHelpCollective.com)

1. Fear of flying
2. Fear of public speaking
3. Fear of heights
4. Fear of the dark
5. Fear of intimacy
6. Fear of death, dying
7. Fear of failure
8. Fear of rejection
9. Fear of spiders
10. Fear of commitment
11. Fear of flowers
12. Fear of driving
13. Fear of dogs
14. Fear of dentists
15. Fear of snakes
16. Fear of needles
17. Fear of being alone
18. Fear of water
19. Fear of god
20. Fear of abandonment
21. Fear of long words
22. Fear of clowns
23. Fear of falling
24. Fear of change
25. Fear of germs
26. Fear of music
27. Fear of doctors
28. Fear of crowds
29. Fear of being touched
30. Fear of open spaces
31. Fear of engulfment
32. Fear of girls
33. Fear of thunder

This is a rather comprehensive list, is it not?  I can “understand” all except one; see if you can guess which one strikes zero fear in my heart.  This list doesn’t include “heavenly hosts, appearing out of nowhere, singing loudly and shining a bright light.”

The Christmas story pumps life and faith and hope and love and JOY! into our needy souls in many ways. One of the most significant is that receiving and believing this story in all its promise and richness has the potential to alleviate, even destroy, the fears which so easily beset us. The Lord understands our fears: notice that the key witnesses to Christ’s birth were “prepared” by the angels of the Lord with these calming words:

• To Joseph in Matthew 1 – “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife…”
• To Mary in Luke 1 – “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”
• To the shepherds in Luke 2 – “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy…”

News & Announcements:

• Prayer gathering this Wednesday@ church @ 7:00.
• Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer Dec. – Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU) Located on 5 West, this 56-bed unit serves cardiac and pulmonary patients. It is the post Critical Care Unit, particularly for post cardiac surgery patients.
• Attention Jr. High youth and their parents!  We have spots reserved for you and your friends at the Jan. 20-22 ICE CAMP Weekend Retreat at Miracle Camp.  We would love for any Jr. high students and their friends to join us!  More details coming soon!  Email Cary with questions.
• Be blessed in serving dinner @ Home Sweet Home Mission on December 22. We have been asked to provide eight servers as HSHM provides a Christmas dinner to their clients. Ask Cary for details.
• Summer in the USA! Lord-willing, we will once again host Basque students next summer. It’s time to start planning and praying, praying and planning. If you want to play a part, please let Bob V. know.
• Christmas Eve Service @ 5:30You. Pursued. By God.(a service of and for the entire family)

Second Sunday in Advent: LOVE

What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a wise man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give him: give my heart.

And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 11:19

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezek. 36:26

In the Bleak Midwinter of Planet Earth, Eternal Spring emerged through iron-hard earth, stony ice, snow on snow on snow. The frosty wind made moan… as did the virgin mother-to-be. Then, a new sound: the cry of The Baby pierced the darkness and signaled that the spell was broken. The Deep Magic of The Rebellion was to be overwhelmed by The Deeper Magic of The Incarnation.

Behold, the winter is past… (Song of Sol. 2:11)

Although in the extreme cold or heat or wind or rain, such an opinion seems folly, I really do like living in a temperate climate in which we have distinct seasons. Each season has its own qualities, its own beauties, its own harshness. Such keeps me looking ahead.

Our lives reflect or even embody the four seasons. We speak of the seasons of life wherein the vitality (or lack thereof) in the aging process moves from spring through summer then autumn into winter.  Or we can view our spiritual lives – our  soul’s health –  as reflective of the seasons.  The seasonal metaphor works, so powerfully portrayed in Christina Rosetti’s poem we sing today.

Rosetti asserts that the Mighty Christ arrives in the bleak midwinter into a world which can neither contain nor control him, yet the King’s heaven-and-earth shattering entrance is humble and vulnerable and so like the man he was to become. She needs to respond. So do we.

News & Announcements:

• Prayer gathering this Wednesday@ church @ 7:00.
• Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer Dec. – Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU) Located on 5 West, this 56-bed unit serves cardiac and pulmonary patients. It is the post Critical Care Unit, particularly for post cardiac surgery patients.
• Attention Jr. High youth and their parents!  We have spots reserved for you and your friends at the Jan. 20-22 ICE CAMP Weekend Retreat at Miracle Camp.  We would love for any Jr. high students and their friends to join us!  More details coming soon!  Email Cary with questions.
• Calling young(er) couples (under 40 – no offense)!  Hire a babysitter and join us for a potluck holiday meal at The Jake on Friday, Dec. 9th at 6:30pm!  Bring a dish to pass and enjoy fellowship with other couples!  RSVP to Cary.
• Be blessed in serving dinner @ Home Sweet Home Mission on December 22. We have been asked to provide eight servers as HSHM provides a Christmas dinner to their clients. Ask Cary for details.
• Summer in the USA! Lord-willing, we will once again host Basque students next summer. It’s time to start planning and praying, praying and planning. If you want to play a part, please let Bob V. know.

First Sunday in Advent: HOPE

Es ist ein Ros entsprungen

Lyrics: unknown German, 16th century
Music: Michael Praetorius, 1609
English translation: Theodore Baker, 1894

German original
Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen,aus einer Wurzel zart,wie uns die Alten sungen,von Jesse war die ArtUnd hat ein Blümlein brachtmitten im kalten Winter,wohl zu der halben Nacht.Das Röslein, das ich meine,davon Jesaia sagt,ist Maria die reinedie uns das Blümlein bracht.Aus Gottes ew’gem Rathat sie ein Kind geborenund blieb ein reine Magd.or: Welches uns selig macht.Das Blümelein, so kleine,das duftet uns so süß,mit seinem hellen Scheinevertreibt’s die Finsternis.Wahr Mensch und wahrer Gott,hilft uns aus allem Leide,rettet von Sünd und Tod.

English version
Lo, how a rose e’er blooming,From tender stem hath sprung.Of Jesse’s lineage coming,As men of old have sung;It came, a flow’ret bright,Amid the cold of winter,When half spent was the night.Isaiah ’twas foretold it,The Rose I have in mind,With Mary we behold it,The virgin mother kind;To show God’s love aright,She bore to men a Savior,When halfspent was the night.O Flower, whose fragrance tenderWith sweetness fills the air,Dispel with glorious splendourThe darkness everywhere;True man, yet very God,From Sin and death now save us,And share our every load.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. (Isa. 11:1-2)

Do you remember the first time you heard an amazing tune?

Sue will tell you that I can’t remember where I put my wallet but I can remember a minute detail of events more than 50 years ago. Tis true. (She also says I’ve never forgotten a meal; she’s wrong about that one, for there was that one time back in ’65…)

Some sensory experiences stick with us, to be sure. As I write this, I recall vividly where I was when and whom I was with when I first heard these songs:

1. “Heard it Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye (driving by the Walnut High School football field with my friend Marc Brown)
2. “Can’t Turn You Loose” by the Chambers Brothers (headed north on Knoxville Avenue in Peoria, just past Vonachen’s Junction)
3. “Layla” by Eric Clapton (walking in dorm hallway, first floor, Dolan Hall, IWU)
4. “Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming” (sitting outside music room as Mrs. Jeanette Johnson introduced it to our 5th grade music class by playing it and singing it in lovely fashion; I was in trouble, thus my banishment; due to my banishment, I had no distractions and was utterly drawn in by the “unusual” lyrics and melody.  We sang it for the Christmas program. I behaved.)

We’re blessed to both hear and sing this old German Christmas hymn today. Please take it in with both your ears and your imagination. Consider the visual imagery of the lyrics. And be transported by the music…“Isaiah Twas Foretold It” – 700 yrs. Before Christ

News & Announcements:

• Prayer gathering this Wednesday@ church @ 7:00.
• Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer Nov. – Emergency Department (ED)The Current ED at the Medical Center has 18 beds, four of which are dedicated to cardiac emergencies and traumas. Approximately 90 patients per day.
• Tonight!!!  Our delightful “Deck the Halls”evening: decorating the church, Christmas music, and pizza@ 5:00
• Attention Jr. High youth and their parents!  We have spots reserved for you and your friends at the Jan. 20-22 ICE CAMP Weekend Retreat at Miracle Camp.  We would love for any Jr. high students and their friends to join us!  More details coming soon!  Email Cary with questions.
• Calling young(er) couples (under 40 – no offense)!  Hire a babysitter and join us for a potluck holiday meal at The Jake on Friday, Dec. 9th at 6:30pm!  Bring a dish to pass and enjoy fellowship with other couples!  RSVP to Cary.
• Be blessed in serving dinner @ Home Sweet Home Mission on December 22. We have been asked to provide eight servers as HSHM provides a Christmas dinner to their clients. Ask Cary for details.