From the Pastor’s Heart         

 From the Heart

  December 2007

And Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths… (Luke 2.7a)

I know we are an Easter People – reborn and energized by the Resurrection Story – but there is no denying a place in our hearts for the compelling birth narrative of Jesus.  Who can resist the invitation to linger near the manger where he lay?  Who can say they are untouched by the majesty and the humility of the moment God became incarnate?  We would be totally uncaring and unfeeling to suggest that Christmas is just another holiday like Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July.  I guess we have to admit we are also a Christmas People.

The manger and the cross represent the two poles of Jesus’ life.  He began life in a manger because there was no room for him at the Inn that night.  He accepted his place on the cross because there was no room for him in the hearts of the people that day.  He was welcomed by only a few on his birth date and he was mourned by only a few on his death date.  His life began in the humble anonymity of a stable – a cave in a hillside at Bethlehem.  At the end, his body lay lifeless in a stranger’s tomb – a cave in a hillside at Jerusalem.

In between the manger and the cross – in between those two caves – Jesus, whom John described in his gospel as “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth,” shook the very foundations of the earth.  He brought to the world an understanding of God that was so illuminating, so brilliant that only two sets of people grasped what he was saying.  He was understood by the simple, for they had an awareness that they didn’t know anything; and, he was understood by the wise, for they had an awareness that they didn’t know everything.  In both cases, only those with humble hearts can approach Jesus, hear his voice, and accept his invitation. 

When parents bring their new baby to Sunday worship so everyone can rejoice with them and the blessing they have been given, we often say, “Oh, doesn’t the baby have the mother’s eyes…or nose…or mouth.”  In Jesus’ case, this was the only time in history that it could be said that the mother looked like the child.  After all, was she not created in his image?  What it must have been like as Mary gazed upon the face of Jesus – she was seeing the face of God, the face of perfection amidst the imperfection of an unkempt livestock pen.

            Even as we linger at the manger once again this year, contemplating the glory of God all wrapped up in a little baby boy, we know that we cannot stay here forever.  Jesus moved out into the world in ministry and in sacrifice – and so must we.  We are a people of the manger and of the empty tomb and our faith calls us to humbly live our lives in full awareness of the two.  That calling is an invitation to come and worship…and then to go forth praising and glorifying God before all nations.

            There is much to do.  We cannot be like the people staying at the Inn – oblivious to the needs of others as we are mesmerized by our own good fortune.  No, we are kin to the Shepherds and the Wise Men – aware that a great thing has happened and that we have the privilege of sharing the Good News with the world.  Indeed, what a mighty God we serve!

            This year, let’s allow God’s blessings to flow into our lives, impacting our heads and our hearts, making this the best Christmas ever as we continue to minister in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 The incarnate Son of God had to enter His own world not through the front entrance but from the back door. He was born in a manger, a cave, actually under the earth. There, He shook the earth to its foundations. He was born in a cave; therefore, all who come to Him must stoop, thus signifying their humility. The proud ones refuse to stoop, and, therefore, pass by and miss God. However, those who know how to humble their ego do stoop and enter, and suddenly find themselves not in a cave but in a new universe, where the Child sits in His mother's lap and His frail Child's fingers rule the whole world.

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"The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth." These words from the first chapter of St. John's Gospel describe the Nativity of Christ in its eternal and mystical meaning. The Word that was with God and was God and "all things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." The Logos, which is the Greek original for the Word, represents the essence, the reason, the wisdom, the creative power and strength, the Word through which God created the world out of nothing. When God says, "Let there be," another book, the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, speaks about it. This Word, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, today lies as a small defenseless child in the manger from which the animals eat, in the cave where the animals stay during stormy weather. The Word became Flesh, and this was possible only because humanity prepared for Him one of our kind, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. She became a link between God and man, between heaven and earth, between the Old and the New Testament. That is why the Church pays her such high homage, because it was from her that the Word received flesh, through her that the Word became Flesh.

And Bethlehem became a place where heaven and earth met; God and man met here face to face. The One whose generation was rooted in the eternal unity of the Holy Trinity found for Himself genealogy in time, in history, so that having been born in Bethlehem, He would be born in the human heart. As is said in St. John's Gospel: "All who received Him, He gave power to become children of God." God revealed Himself in Flesh; therefore, this event is called the Incarnation.

Andrei Rublev, the iconographer of Holy Russia, painted by his heavenly brush the icon of the Holy Trinity which contemporary theologian and thinker Father Paul Florensky, who died the death of a martyr, once said represents proof of God's existence. The three angels, the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, sit around a heavenly altar, fully immersed in a silent council concerning the pre-eternal sacrifice of Divine Love for the salvation of the world. The Lamb of God lies in a chalice on the altar. The Trinitarian decision is expressed in St. John's Gospel: "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son so that all who believe in Him would not perish but would have eternal life." This is the pre-history of Christ's Nativity, the Incarnation of the Son of God as it happened in history. This is where the heavenly threads reach from the manger in Bethlehem to the eternal Kingdom of the Holy Trinity.

"He came to His own home, and His own people received Him not." For Him "there was no place at the inn" of Bethlehem, where, doubtless, there was enough room for the Roman soldiers, the enslavers of His people, Israel. There was room for those who were dressed in rich garments, for those who had enough money in their pockets to bribe the innkeeper. When the scrolls of the history of the world will be rolled up, the last words will be this sad line: "There was no place for Him at the inn."

When a child is born, they like to say that he resembles his mother. Here, for the first and only time in history, one can say that the mother resembled the child, in Whose image she was created. It happened only once in history, when there was no need to look up at heavens when the Child rested in her arms, the Virgin Mary gazed down at heaven. In the filthiest place on earth, in a stable, a perfect beauty He was born, the One who will later be led like a sheep for slaughter, was born among the sheep. The One who later called Himself the Bread of Life came from heaven‹to a place where animals came to eat.

"There was no place at the inn." But there was a place in the stable and in the manger. The inn is a place where public opinion reaches its stormy heights, the center of earthly moods, the meeting place for the people of the world, the popular ones, the achievers. The stable and the manger are the place for the despised, the rejected, the forgotten ones. If the world would truly expect the Birth of Christ, it would naturally look for Him at an inn. The stable and the manger would have been the last place they would look for Him. This is exactly why they don't find Him. The Divine is always there where only few hope to find Him.

The incarnate Son of God had to enter His own world not through the front entrance but from the back door. He was born in a manger, a cave, actually under the earth. There, He shook the earth to its foundations. He was born in a cave; therefore, all who come to Him must stoop, thus signifying their humility. The proud ones refuse to stoop, and, therefore, pass by and miss God. However, those who know how to humble their ego do stoop and enter, and suddenly find themselves not in a cave but in a new universe, where the Child sits in His mother's lap and His frail Child's fingers rule the whole world.

The Manger and the Cross are located at two poles of Christ's earthly life. He accepted the manger because there was no place for Him it the inn. He accepted the Cross because His people shouted, "He is not our king! We have no king but Caesar!" No one welcomed Him at His entry into the World, and He was rejected when leaving the world. At the beginning He lay in a manger owned by an anonymous man; at the end, in a stranger's tomb. From the very moment of His birth, He carried the Cross, the only Cross fit for a Child, the Cross of Poverty, Exile, Deprivation.

The representatives of only two classes of humanity found the newly-born Child: the simple and the wise. The first ones knew they didn't know anything, the second that they didn't know everything. Those who think that they know everything never see God. Even God doesn't have anything to say to the proud. Only a humble heart can find Him. "The Nativity of Christ our God has shown to the world the light of wisdom." Let this light of wisdom, which shown in the darkness of the night in Palestine and in the gloom of the cave of Bethlehem, shine in our hearts. "God is with us"!

George’s Mission Article

                            NEED A RIDE?

Would you like to attend Sunday morning worship, but do not have transportation? If so, please call the church office (533-4625) and someone will return your call to make arrangements to provide transportation to church.

Children's Time ~

                          December

If you are unable to serve as scheduled, please find a substitute and call the church office by                                                                                                                                                           

                                    Wednesday at 533-4625 or call Barb Warren at (507) 867-3006.

Lay Readers ~

                                     December

If you are unable to serve as scheduled, please find a substitute and call the church office by Wednesday at 533-4625 or call Wilma Menshik at 533-9591.  

PRAYER PAGE

ANNOUNCEMENT: 

     Poinsettias are being ordered to help decorate our church this holiday season.  The cost is $7.50 per plant or $8.50 for a plant with a bow.  Orders need to be in by Dec 10^th.  If you want to order please fill out the form found in your church bulletin on Sunday’s or call the office at 533-4625.

LYDIA CIRCLE:

     Lydia Circle will be having their Christmas Party on Monday, December 3^rd at 6:30 pm at the home of Dorothy Womeldorff.  There will be a light supper.  Please remember your grab bag gift of $5.00 and also a Women’s Shelter gift.  Hostesses are Dorothy, Deb, and Sharon.

ANNOUNCEMENT: 

     There will be practice for the Sunday School Christmas Program on Saturday, December 15^th from 9:30 am to noon at the church.  Volunteers are needed to help with this and also pans of rice krispie bars are needed.  There will also be practice following the worship service on Sunday the 16^th.

ANNOUNCEMENT: 

     The Sunday School Christmas Program will be on Sunday, December 16^th at 7:00 pm at SUMC.  All are welcome.  Please bring your family and friends to this special evening.

MISSION CHRISTMAS OFFERING:

     Our Mission Christmas Offering this year will again go to support our Missionaries, the Graners.  If you will not be in church on Sunday, December 23^rd, please give your Christmas offering on a Sunday you will be in church or send it to the church office.  Thank you.

THANK YOU:

     Thank you to all those who volunteered to help with the Salvation Army Bell Ringing. 

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:

     The Midwest Missions Distribution Center along with Austin UMC is in need of volunteers to help out on the next trip scheduled for January 21^st-25^th.  For more information please call Tanya Oberg at 288-7152.

 NEEDED:

     Animal costumes are needed for the upcoming Sunday School Christmas Program.  Any animal and any size can be used, the script will be written around whatever you bring in.  I “herd” it is going to be a fun party!!  Call Del at 533-4652 for more info.

THE FAMOUS COOKIE SALE:

    Every woman in our congregation is asked to bring 3 dozen Christmas Cookies on Saturday, December 8^th to the church.  At 1:00 pm the doors open to the community and the treats quickly disappear.  Be a part of this get-together by baking and by attending.

     Lucille (the pin lady) will have a table full of the hand crafted pins made by a former homeless lady.  She is so thankful for the help she received, she has been making pins and selling them for 20 years.  A total of $7.50 of the $15.00 price for the pins goes to the Emma Norton Home.  Support our Minneapolis based Methodist supported home for 40 women and also the town-homes for families.  Learn more at our Cookie Sale.

Marion’s Thank you letter for “feed the Needy”

UMW Quarterly Mtg notes from Barb.

Christmas Cookie Sale sheet

            Happy Birthday to the following church members and friends who celebrate

December birthdays!  Do YOU have a December birthday?  Is YOUR name on the list?  If not, please call or drop a note to the church office to let us know. We don't want to miss the opportunity to wish you a very Happy Birthday!!