December 2019
PREPARING FOR ADVENT
Daily devotion - this year our Plum Creek Facebook page will host an advent word for the day: unexpected, visit, time, root, grace, gather, bless, go, etc. Each post will include a comment. You are welcome to join in the online ‘conversation’, share, like, or simply enjoy.
Weekly Bible study – each Wednesday in Advent we will gather in fellowship hall for a study of the Gospel stories about Advent and the birth of Christ in a manger and in our hearts. Each of our studies will come with a drawing of a house created by artist/architect Kevin Burns who deeply loves the Gospels. His artwork of houses from our landscapes will be a background image for how Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John invite us into the welcome that is Advent.
If you think about homes decorated for Christmas around the world ‘each home is quite different – décor and ambience change. Some are cluttered; others are spare. Some are decorated within an inch of their lives; others are haphazard,’ and so the study begins. If you were creating a picture of Mark’s Advent house, how would you depict it?
Until I read this study, I would have said there was no Advent story in either Mark or John. Since looking at the study I see with new eyes: Jesus’ death and resurrection prepare the way for the advent of Christ in our lives.
We will begin at 6:30, share dessert and then engage in the study. Participant handouts will be available in church on December 1 or stop by the office for a copy. Digital copies are also available upon request.
The first study will be “Christmas at Mark’s house.”
The second study: “Christmas at Matthew’s house”
The third study: “Christmas at Luke’s and John’s houses”
Christmas Certainty
During our annual Living Nativity travelers and storytellers walked in the footsteps of Mary and Joseph to a stable in Bethlehem. We followed the Light of Christ seen in the star over a stable. We saw Mary and Joseph exhausted but enduring, the innkeeper uncertain where anyone would find a place to rest, shepherds who wondered, Angels proclaiming, Magi gazing toward the star with mystery and grace, and finally we met up with shepherds protecting the holy family. Come Lord Jesus we say and sing, but if you think through each character, each one had an element of uncertainty, including the travelers.
Mary – unsure of an angel’s promise, unsure of Joseph’s commitment, unsure of her child
Joseph – uncertain this would all work out, uncertain about following an angel’s cue
Innkeeper – uncertain who it was he sent to the stable and uncertain where everyone would sleep
Shepherds – uncertain characters by the populist, uncertain what was going on with the star and babe
Magi – uncertain about the mystery of a new born king, yet certain they should investigate
Angels – uncertain why God chose incarnation with humans in the first place
There is uncertainty in our Christmas story, and that is the point.
I am not a fan of journalist H.L. Menchen’s (1880-1956) writings, but I do like his typical postcard response to letters he received expressing annoyance over one of his articles:
Dear Sir or Madam:
You may be right.
Yours sincerely,
H.L. Menchken1
Brilliant response to uncertainty, a brilliant response to criticism. Imagine a parent saying to a teenager: “you may be right!” What a door opener that would be. These are words that could help soften a church experience. Divides exist and always will, offering a ‘you may be right’ to any two-sided discussion brings the light of Christ. Mary, you may be right! Joseph, you may be right! Shepherds, Magi, Angels: you may be right. Neighbor: you may be right.
Marilynne Robinson, an author I am very fond of, wrote: “There is something about certainty that makes Christianity un-Christian. . . I have cultivated uncertainty, which I consider a form of reverence.”
We are sure about the presence of Christ in our midst, Praise God, but there is so much uncertainty concerning some of the details of life. We are in good company with the characters in the Christmas story! They were uncertain too, they continued in uncertainty most of their lives. John the Baptist was uncertain about Jesus as the Messiah; he lived in that uncertainty until his final days. The disciples were obviously uncertain yet followed Jesus anyway. Mistakes were made, they continued in His story anyway.
In life and in death we belong to God, known in our Lord Jesus Christ; that is our certainty. Everything else may need a soft, “You may be right.” After all, “Fear not!” the angels assure us, God is in control, we are not. I find deep comfort in that certainty.
May the celebration of Jesus’ birthday bring you into a new year, uncertainties and all.
Jane
1 Christian Century, “Cultivating Uncertainty”, December 18, 2019 issue
GINGERBREAD HOUSE PARTY - Saturday December 7 - 10 am, Fellowship Hall
WHO - Anyone of any age or skill level
WHAT - A morning of fun and creativity making your own version of gingerbread houses with plenty of candy and decorations on hand!
Hanging of the greens is an act of worship that begins Advent. The liturgy for hanging of the greens is:
Let us prepare for God’s eternal Word, touched and seen in Jesus
by bringing things that we can touch and see as signs of God’s goodness and love.
1. The sign of wood, branches – cedar was regarded as a royal tree, signifying immortality and strength. Think of the cedars of Lebanon mentioned in the prophets and Psalms. The placement of symbols of the cedar in our tree and in the boughs is a sign of praising Jesus whose love forever rules the universe.
2. Holly and Ivy – a plant that shows both pain and love. Holly has a bitter bark and prickly leaves, yet it has a bright and lovely fruit, the red berries. The berries are a sign of beauty as well as the deep abiding beauty of our Lord’s blood. Holly and Ivy remind us of the bitter suffering Jesus endured and the beauty of his life for ours.
3. Evergreen wreath – evergreen trees remind us of enduring life and peace. The green pine needles that remain when other leaves fall show life’s undying hope, forever green and growing. Wreaths come in circles as a sign of no end, the circle has no beginning and no end and is ever green.
4. Christmas tree decorated with lights – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. What has come into being was life, and the life was the Light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overcome it.” From John 1:1-5
The Christmas tree, strong and proud, bears tiny lights that shine in the darkness reminding us of ‘Jesus Christ who gives life to the world and made the executioner’s cross into a tree of light.’
From Advent Christmas and Epiphany, Brian Wren. Brian Wren is Professor of Worship Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary. You will recognize his name in our Presbyterian Hymnal.
Children Tell the Christmas Story - Sunday, December 22, 10 AM during worship
Throughout Advent Sunday school has thought through Jesus’ birth, and wondered about the shepherds, the inn keeper, Jesus’ parent’s journey, the wisemen’s awe, and our response to Christ in our lives. Through interviews, role play, and creating their own video version of the Christmas story our children will lead the interpretation of the scripture this Sunday. To God be the Glory!
