Ripe for Righteousness

The Sunday between Christmas and New Years. Christmas is over, but not the season. New Years begins in the middle of the week. This Sunday's sermon was about Simeon, and God's promised fulfilled but not yet full grown. To the message Ripe for Righteousness, click here.

Christmas Essentials

Christmas came too suddenly this year - a celebration sliding through all the meticulous preparations balanced between family and two churches.Time restraints kept decorating at a minimum. Because I couldn't find the ceramic advent wreath, a make-shift wreath was created from four votive lights, a central white candle ringed with a pretty beaded affair I found for 70% off on the Thanksgiving clearance shelf at Garden Ridge in Omaha.
Because it was easily accessible, the white Christmas tree got hauled to the parsonage and set up before the tree at home. The parsonage also got it's front door wreath, but in stages: first the live evergreens, then the decorative berry picks, the garland and bow, the lights, and finally the C cell batteries to light the lights. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it was much too cold to hang the large wreath between the shutters on the front of the house. The only one I could hastily find for the front door was the ratty faded old garland wreath with it's ribbon undone and it's drooping poinsettias. Our tree at home was put up with the help of Drew and his friends in three stages on three separate days. Finally, on Christmas Eve it was completely trimmed, although we elected not to string tinsel this year.
In the process, of assembling our last minute Christmas tree, my favorite wreath was found: the one made last year with the white wheat and star-studded organza ribbon, with the gentle family surrounded by the wings of a guardian angel suspended at its heart.
And the last absolutely must have, find, and hang are the family Christmas stockings: John's, Drew's, and mine. At one time there were six stockings that hung from our mantle, or on the wall when we lived in parsonages that didn't have mantle. These are family history in red flannel, embroidered terry cloth, and jingle bells. My grandmother made them for all of us grand children. As we married, she made them for our spouses, and for every one of her great grandchildren until she died. As each of our children have married and established their own homes, they have taken their special ornaments and stockings with them. Now I make them for my family's spouses and children, and will probably make them for their children's children.
I never realized until this year how important, emotionally and spiritually these four symbols of Christmas have become to me. The advent wreath was introduced in Sunday School. I was fascinated by the candles, their colors, and their meaning. Every year I did what I could to set up an advent wreath. The advent candles welcome Christ to our Christmas. As a child and all the Christmases I was home, my dad and I always shopped for the tree together. Having the tree up and decorated with family memories is a welcomes my dad's memory to treasure. And even though the walkway was too snowed in to use the front door, a wreath welcomes all who enter our home with the beauty, peace, truth and love of God symbolized by the nativity of Christ. And the stockings are not about gifts received in them, but Grandma's love that made and gave them - a model of love that prepared me for the love of Jesus.
Most of our decorations and lights remained in the tubs this year - safely kept for another year when perhaps I'll get a head start on Christmas: like putting up lights, outdoor creche and wreath in October before the snow is a foot deep and the temperatures plummet to below zero. The bare essentials were enough this year: the tree, the front door wreath, and advent candles on the table.
I know that Christmas is not about things, no matter how nostalgic or lovely they may be. But sometimes things remind us of the love wrapped around and in them. Cloth is cloth, threads woven together. But the Lord thought it important enough to include the detail in Luke's account of the nativity, ""nd she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swadling cloths, and laid Him in a manger." Luke 2:7

Christmas Message

My best hopes were to include in my blog a video clip of Christmas Eve worship at Early Church, but the file was too big. So if you would like to read the sermon, click here.

Two Guests at our Ducky Christmas

Merry Christmas!

God had a delightful Christmas surprise in store for me this year. It came wrapped up in two members of a family who have been very good to our Drew in Omaha. When Drew's friend Louis couldn't come last weekend, his younger brother Zach came instead.Somehow the idea came about to invite the family to our home for Christmas. Neither Louis nor their mother was able to come but Zach and his sister Abigail (Abby) stayed over Christmas eve then shared Christmas day with us. Our married children and grand children live too far away to come home for Christmas - an absence that leaves a notable void in the heart of Christmas lovin' grandma. Having our two young guests was a joy for me as I have missed the noisome presence of children and youth, their music, their wonder and their take on the world expanding before their eyes!
After Christmas Eve service, we came home, cranked up Mannheim Steamroller's Extrodin Aire and finished trimming the tree. Behind each ornament is a Christmas and a story. Years of our family history hangs delicately on branches illumined with electric candles and bubble lights. Our Family Portfolio of Ornaments includes clothes pin reindeer, an acrylic Cinderella's Castle from Orlando, a variety of churches, sail boats, a tri-plane, a polar bear seated at the computer (with a coke bottle precariously perched by the key board), Renaissance angels, horses, Lucy and the Wardrobe from Chronicles of Narnia, a waltzing couple (from our attempt at ballroom dance), a fleet of assorted vehicles similar to those John hopes to restore, several mini models of the Enterprise, it's bridge, and even Kirk himself seated in the captain's chair. You get the picture. So many memories, there is very little room for any actual Christmas tree balls.
This morning, after a flurry of wrapping presents that had to wait til the last minute, with fresh lemon and poppy seed muffins set on the coffee table, gifts were opened with corresponding "oohs", "ahs", and "Thank yous".
Drew's request for Christmas dinner was served about 2:30 PM: Duck! Not one duck, but two with brown and wild rice stuffing and dripping with orange sauce. Home baked bread on the wood cutting board, whipped garlic potatoes, midget carrots, petite white corn, and Anna's special fresh cranberry sauce nestled in a ring of smooth cottage cheese completed the menu. After commemorative photos, and a heartfelt blessing to the Lord whom we celebrate this day, youthful zest, lively conversation, and a deep sense of satisfaction spread out like the linen across our table. Our house was full again at Christmas. My heart is full with thanksgiving. Thank you Lord!

Commencement

A long long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I received my bachelor's degree from the University of Gimme-My- Diploma-And-Turn-Me-Loose. In that regard, little has changed from that Renaissance age to the present. Our youngest daughter's graduation just nine days ago was equal in pomp, circumstance, and impressive orchestration. I think it had more color though: Red and white is a little more punchy than Kelly green. None the less it was a glorious, happy occasion, and a such joy to see our daughter beam with the satisfaction of her well earned achievement.
I am deeply appreciative to my parents for the great gift of my college education and those four years devoted to diligent study and exploring early adulthood. But our daughter has my deepest admiration because she earned her degree bit by bit, overcoming many obstacles, on her own, and never lost her vision or her verve. Among the hundreds of graduates, with thousands of stories, she stands head and shoulders above them all. Graduation caps off to you! We love you and are so proud of you (in that order).

All Dolled Up

From the time I was a small child I loved to make doll clothes: miniature child crafted versions of the beautiful gowns and dresses my mother made for her bridal customers. When our oldest daughter was about five or six, I had found in a Goodwill store a beautiful blond doll in need of a Christmas wardrobe. The intention was to present the doll and complete with new clothes for Christmas. I was in graduate school with no time sandwiched between studies, finals, and a growing family. Year after year, the lovely doll waited patiently to be a little girl's delight. By the time our youngest daughter was old enough to enjoy the doll, I was balancing family with pastoral responsibilities of three churches.
Finally, this year, I was determined to retrieve the doll (from a box not yet unpacked from our move nearly three years ago) drag up the Singer, dig out some remnants, and resume my doll clothes making: not of our daughter, but for our four year old granddaughter, for Christmas.
I thought the doll to be eighteen inches, and selected the holiday dress and a bolero jacket from the patterns I had collected for just such an occasion. My first clue that I was mistaken was when the jacket sleeves were 3/4 " too long (proportionately on this doll, almost down to her knees!). So I did what any 21st century grandma would do, I looked for the make of the doll (sometimes on the back, but on this doll, on her bottom) and googled her origins. She's the Kimberly Doll made by Tomy around 1970. Originally she was dressed as a cheerleader, or a ice skater. Today, her collectors clothes sell for antiques. She is 17 1/2 " more or less - just enough to swim in 18" Doll clothes.
Half and inch shorter than standard means that you're not going to find shoes for this baby doll in your local WalMart! Another google search found German velveteen sandals and fancy French satin ribboned slippers just under the price of shipping! I could find shoes for myself at WalMart cheaper than for this doll! But, considering she's in her thirties, she needs trendy shoes. After shoe shopping for Kimberly, I began to reconsider surrendering this antique intended for her mother's childhood to our granddaughter. But Grandma's soft heart won out. The night gown and bathrobe turned out too cute. I Fed Exed Kimberly and her starter wardrobe in the family's Christmas package this afternoon.
Merry Christmas Sweet Heart!
(click on pictures to enlarge for details)

Thanksgiving on Target

I think our calendar flips from Thanksgiving Eve to Christmas Day. Never has Advent been in such a hurry! But the Saturday after Thanksgiving had to lumber because it was so full of food, family, and love. Our eldest son, his wife and our three grandsons came for the day. The highlight of the afternoon was going to a shooting range, aiming at a target with his 9 mm, and scoring a few bulls eyes. While visiting with them a couple of years ago, he taught me how to shoot a riffle. I felt like the main character in "Annie, Get Your Gun". The bulls eyes were a notable improvement. I have no desire to be a marksman or even own any kind of firearm, but I love learning new things that will enable me to relate and keep up with our grown children and our growing grandchildren.
While we waited for dinner to be ready, our three grandsons enjoyed Christmas a little early. The two older boys oohed over their new skate boards and their cool helmets, while the youngest took his aim at tin ducks "swimming across" the miniature carnival shooting gallery.
Then all enjoyed a roast beef dinner with whipped potatoes and all the trimmings.
I remembered Thanksgiving as a child at my grandparents. Every year it was predictably and wonderfully the same. Grandma would start preparing the feast three days ahead: making (and keeping for future reference) a careful list of everything she needed: pearl onions, dry bread crumbs, apples, celery, chestnuts, fresh vegetables, cornstarch, minced meat in a jar, pumpkin in a can, whole fesh cranberries, potatoes (white and sweet), and of course, the main attraction: the turkey, which would be no less than at least 22 pounds. Mom and Dad, Sis and I would be met at the door by Grandma in her bib apron, with her hair just a little frizzeled, and the wonderful aroma of roast turkey mingled with all the scents of a sumptuous feast. At last she would call us to the table festooned with her best linen and willow dishes, her silver and crystal. It was my job, from my earliest memories to say the blessing. When I was old enough to scrawl words on a 3x5 card I wrote down the grace I would say. Years later, when I inherited their hutch, those blessings were still tucked in the drawer where Grandma always kept them. Then Grandpa carved the Turkey, and the table would become an orderly flury of dishes and plates being passed from eager hand to eager hand to the melody of lively conversation, quips, one liners, and bits of little known facts long forgotten. Thanksgiving at my Grandparents was more than a holiday, it was an art form.
Maybe our Saturday after Thanksgiving Family Feast was not an art form, it wasn't even on the holiday itself, but it was nonetheless a pricelss memory. Our son was leaving for a two week stint in Afgahnistan the following Monday. To see my table full of food and surrounded by loved ones was the greatest joy of the day and to have him back home safe and sound two weeks later, an extended Thanksgiving.

Too Backlogged to Blog!

I'm way behind again. Too busy to blog much (too backlogged to blog!). Here are three sermons . The first (1) is last Sunday's sermon Dead and Alive. The next (2) was the sermon last week: Watch. And the third (3) was the sermon for Thanksgiving Eve: Show Me the Manna.
I can't seem to find my favorite image of the two angels either. It's on this computer somewhere. Maybe after Christmas I'll find it.
sermon 1 click here. For sermon 2 click here. For sermon 3 click HERE