Table of Contents

• Advent Calendar                                                                         Social Justice Team
• Most Unexpected Ways                                                         Margaret Graves
• In A Little While                                                                             Mera Corlett
• Seek                                                                                                     Bobbie Thomason
• How Do You Spend Your Time?                                             Brittani Bair
• You Can’t Always Get What You Want                             Sara Jo Hooper
• The Word And The World                                                         John Arnett
• Debt Free Living                                                                             Lee Whitlock
• Loss And Gain                                                                                 David Cook
• What Then Did You Expect to See?                                     John Birkimer
• Trust and Faith                                                                                Jason Crosby
• Love and Faith                                                                                Greg Robertson and Brian Williams
• The New Baby                                                                                 Carolyn Posey
• A Little Help                                                                                     Carroll Grossman
• Like God                                                                                             Chuck Leach
• Creating a Moment                                                                     Dorothy Spurr
• More Than Simple                                                                         John Arnett
• God Loves Everyone                                                                     Sharleen Birkimer
• Assurance                                                                                           Alice Adams
• Lamentation                                                                                     Brittani Bair
• Bread                                                                                                     Peggy Schmidt
• Angel Band                                                                                         John Arnett
• Faithfulness                                                                                        Martha Lytle
• Walking To School                                                                         Quinn Chipley

These Advent calendar activities may be used as examples of how we can all find ways to be more cognizant of the needs around us. In varied ways, these simple daily reminders might help us to become more patient, repentant, creative, and faithful. Use this calendar as a family or individually to enrich your lives and others during this wonderful season of love, peace, hope, and joy.

Presented by the Social Justice Team

Date                 Activity

1     Make eye contact and smile at those you meet today

2     Bring flowers to someone

3     Let your teacher know you appreciate him/her.

4     Donate coats, hats, and gloves to a local charity.

5     Eat lunch with someone you don’t know well.

6     Send someone an anonymous small gift

7     Run an errand for someone

8     Let someone go before you in the check-out lane.

9     Let another car merge into traffic

10     Send a home-made Christmas card to a shut-in

11     Collect canned goods for UCHM

12     Ask someone about their culture

13     Give away your parking space

14     Drop off books or magazines at a hospital or nursing home

15     Hold the door open for someone you don’t know

16     Call or visit someone who is sick

17     Give toys to children in a shelter

18     Purchase an extra bag of pet food and take it to an animal shelter

19     Send a thank you note to someone who has helped you.

20     Bake cookies and give to a neighbor

21     Shovel snow for a neighbor

22     Give a genuine compliment to someone

23     Be respectful of others

24     Be creative

25     Say please and thank you

26     Hug your family members

27     Make hot cocoa to share

28     Cook a meal and deliver it to someone

29     Take pictures of family and friends

30     Talk through a disagreement instead of arguing

31     Make 3 New Year resolutions that will help others.

Margaret Graves

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:5-7 NRSV

Participating in worship on Children's Sabbath at our church I was struck with how we are blessed by the number of children that we have in our midst. That day the choir loft was filled with boys and girls. As part of the service some of the children shared poems that they had been working on in Sunday School based on the style used by Margaret Wise Brown in her book The Most Important Thing. In these poems the boys and girls listed what is important to them about church. These are some of the lines from the poems and the names of the children that read them:

Lue The Dah Thaw:
The most important thing about church is that God is there.

Moo Hku:
The important thing about church is God always forgives you.

Hser Eh Say Ku:
The most important thing about church is people coming together.

Day Day Htoo Po:
The most important thing about church is having Sunday School to learn about God.

Jenny K’Paw:
The most important thing about church is that we learn more about God and we sing.

I was awed by the ability of the children to name some of the same things that we as adults would mention if listing the things that matter the most to us. In years past several of us have worried that we did not have young families in our church that could be nurtured and would in turn give our community hope for the future.

God works in most unexpected ways. We have amongst us now many new families with young children, teenagers, parents, and grandparents. We have been given the opportunity to learn from each other, including the children, and to work together as we walk in the Way of Jesus.

Mera Corlett

Haggai 2:6-8

John 16:18

Bobbie Thomason

Jeremiah 29:13

Mendelssohn’s oratorio, Elijah, has been one of my favorite musical compositions for a long time. Throughout my life I have had both intellectual and emotional doubts involving God, theology, religion, faith, and my part in it all vs. God’s part. So many times my ideas and thoughts have been a gigantic struggle to know what it all means. From my youth until the present day, I have taken comfort from the aria from Elijah, "If With All Your Hearts." No matter how dark the night, the words, "If with all your hearts you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me," have calmed my troubled heart and restless mind. Relying on these words takes great patience because, being an impatient person, I like quick results and answers; but quickness doesn’t often occur when dealing with the important issues of life – it takes a lifetime to learn to live with the questions and still have faith. I still have to listen to Elijah every once in a while to be reminded of God’s time and truth. Remember God’s promise, so appropriate for expressing the hope of Advent, "If with all your hearts you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me. Thus saith our God."

Brittani Bair

Galatians 6:9-10

Patience is often not one of my virtues. Teenagers are frequently seen as group that shares this trait of being impatient. Perhaps this is why I am drawn to youth ministry.

I have found however, that many kids in our CHBC youth group are very patient people. Our children and youth often spend up to two hours on a bus round trip to attend church events like lock-ins, outings, camps, VBS, Academic Academy and other activities. Every Wednesday, our drivers take routes over an hour each way to transport our youth to and from homework help and youth activities.

You might think these teenagers would pour out of the vehicle grumbling impatiently about the long ride when they finally arrive at church, but this is not the case. The duration of the trip does not dampen their spirits. They arrive full of energy and excited to get inside our building.

Recently, I took three youth home on the church van after our youth work day. Two were destined for Payne Street, just a few blocks from church and the other was going to the south end. You would think our Payne street kids would be glad to be dropped off first, but alas they wanted to make the hour round trip with me and be dropped off last.

While I would expect them to value getting home and resting after raking leaves for three hours, instead they wanted to spend time riding with their friend and seeing the city.

We can tell so much about people and what they value from how they spend their time. How do you spend your time? What do you value most? Are you taking time for what really matters?

Sara Jo Hooper

The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9

For centuries the Children of Israel waited and hoped for the Messiah, the king who would return their nation to the glories of David’s kingdom. They dreamed of an earthly kingdom marked by material wealth, military power, the trappings of a great nation. Time and again they started over; exile, destruction of Solomon’s temple—nothing extinguished their hope of national greatness.

Finally, a child was born. But this was not a royal son; his parents were peasants from Nazareth; he was born in Bethlehem, not in Jerusalem. This was not the Messiah for whom they had waited for centuries. Jesus’ life and ministry was nothing like what they wanted from a Messiah. They rejected him.

Like the Hebrews, I can wait patiently when I have hope that everything will ultimately be all right. But I must never lose sight of the reality inimitably sung by the Rolling Stones, "You can’t always get what you want." My kidneys will never again be healthy, but dialysis promises a moderate level of normalcy in living my life. I will face serious challenges, including the temptation to give up in despair and bitterness. The Stones speak to that too, "But if you try sometimes, you might just get what you need." My focus now is to work to take advantage of this life-giving process to shape a full life that witnesses to God’s presence with me through whatever happens. My confidence is in God’s presence, not any specific outcome.

John Arnett

John 1:1

Advent is a time when we think of beginnings: a new baby, the beginning of a movement, the beginning of a new year just ahead. We also have a vision of the end of time and are told that Christ will come again and have faith that we are redeemed for an eternal life after death.

But eternity is not just an "after" event; it’s also a "before" event, and although the gospel writer speaks of a "beginning," one can also make the case for "time" having no beginning just as it has no end in our concept of "eternity." But if there’s no beginning, then how do we deal with creation and "things coming into being?" Some posit that the universe is cyclical, but the way the universe works is still a mystery. Regardless of how "things come into being" the "things" that we experience with our five senses co-exist with God and the Word. This spiritual world is what we celebrate during the Advent season for it was the coming of Christ into this particular period of time that shows us the loving and life-giving character of God.

Were it not for Christ’s coming to walk among us, we would be caught up in endless philosophical arguments about the moral ambiguities of life. Jesus, the being who combined both the spiritual and the physical most perfectly, "humbled himself" and became like us so that we could become like him.

God, thank you for sending Jesus to walk with us so that we know you’re continuing to work with us to encourage hope, peace, joy, and love to thrive in this world. Amen.

L. Lee Whitlock

Romans 3:23-24

Every seventh year on the Jewish calendar, Shemitah (Sabbatical), is holy. The word is literally "release." In the Sabbatical year all debts are forgiven. (Deuteronomy 15:1-2) In the Christian faith, we have a stronger understanding of forgiveness. We know that all have "fallen short" of the righteous life. The most common word for "sin" in the New Testament, used 151 times, is hamartia, an archer’s term that means "to miss the mark." We carry the burden of not always living up to the faith we profess, but what I expect to see, is that the coming of Christ releases me from the debt of my "fallenshortness." The daily Christmas gift is that I am justified by His grace. I am debt free.

Paul wrote Romans around the mid-50’s AD. Over two decades had passed since the resurrection. Churches were formed. Jesus’ message was spreading over the Roman Empire. The people had been enthusiastic about the message and the promise, but the promised second coming seemed to be delayed. Christians were beginning to wonder if it would ever happen. The message that Paul and other epistle writers emphasized was that God through Jesus was always with us. The Christmas event is here to remind us that even though we continue to miss the mark, we have forgiveness of debts. We rest in the knowledge that Jesus came to seek and to save and daily redeem those of us who asked for forgiveness. This is not wishful thinking. This is the Christmas promise.

David Cook

It had happened before, but that didn’t make it any easier. Six inches of muddy water from a torrential rainfall in early October swamped eight boxes of family memorabilia in our basement. I "forgot" to even think about the damage for a week. Then I began the task of separating sodden pictures, newspaper clippings and letters – pile by pile, box by box. I was overwhelmed.

Five hours into this work I came across a slip of paper. My mother had written this scripture:

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

The blessing was reassuring. It grounded me as I continued the work, which included incorporating a narrative Mother had written years ago, which I had found after the flood, as I labored to finish her biography.

The Holy Spirit is alive and well.

John Birkimer

Amos 8:4, 6 NABRE

So many times the prophets chastised the leaders and the wealthy of Israel and Judah for their lust for wealth and their contempt and lack of care for the poor. Later, during His ministry, Jesus would tell one young man to sell all his goods and follow Him, and when the young man failed to do so, He said "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (from Matthew 19:21-24 NABRE)

What did we expect to see? A land flowing with milk and honey? The lamb lying down with the lion? Swords beaten into plowshares? Or did we expect to see a government effectively working for all people, not just the wealthy?

Owners and CEOs ensuring their workers receive a living wage? Incomes of average workers rising at the same rate as their productivity? A Supreme Court protective of our right to have our voices heard equally in the public square? Justice? Kindness? Humility?

Did we truly expect to see those things? Or was it only a dream, something for us to continue to struggle for and work toward and pray for?

Jason Crosby

Revelation 21: 1-6

We were in the midst of pulling together dinner one Monday evening earlier this fall when Kate's phone rang. Her doctor informed her that she had tested positive for a rare, incurable, very serious, although likely treatable, liver disease.

A few weeks later, after more tests, deliberation, and prayer, Kate, Millie Lou, and I found ourselves at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. We arrived there late on a Sunday night. Early the next morning, we made our way through the underground tunnels that connected our hotel and clinic to our first appointment. Although bleary eyed and anxious, our fatigue and concern quickly dissipated when we entered the voluminous, breathtaking main lobby of the clinic that morning where hundreds of people were either passing time or passing through en route to their appointments, tests, or surgeries.

That space was a thin one. Many in that space had one foot in this world and one already in what's next. Their presence combined with the beautiful physical surroundings made that place one where the separation between this world and God's shores came so close to one another that it felt as if you were catching a peek of what awaits us on the other side of this life.

Morning sunlight poured through the glass walls that extended four stories high and stretched the length of a football field. A magnificent Chuhulily glass installation hung overhead. A woman gently played "How Great Thou Art" on a piano. Many gathered around her. Some hummed along. Others danced as she played. Everyone spoke peacefully and in a subdued manner. Everyone made sure that everyone who needed a place a rest, had a place to rest. People unreservedly embraced and cried and laughed all at the same time.

We received unexpectedly wonderful news up there. Although she previously tested positive for the condition, it was determined that Kate does not, in fact, have the rare, potentially life threatening disease. The best doctors in the country could not fully explain why the disease had disappeared, but they were confident that it had.  Thankfully, we left without a positive diagnosis and a treatment regimen, but we took away with us a glimpse of heaven on earth and a reminder of the goodness and surety of the promises of our faith.

Greg Robertson and Brian Williams

Matthew 6:33

Almost every Sunday since Brian and I joined this church in 1988 we have said these words together, "...thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...." We are so thankful that over the years our understanding and experience of these words has become larger and more inclusive.

Greg and I both remember learning the song "Jesus Loves the Little Children...Red and Yellow, Black and White..." You see, we were taught one vision of the kingdom of God but we saw another.

For young men who were beginning to come to grips with the fact that we were gay, we knew that we really did not have a place in the kingdom, which we had seen and been a part of since we were children. Yet, in our hearts we knew God had to have a place for us.

The very Sunday Brian and I joined this church, Monaei Schnur came to our home to visit and welcome us - the kingdom of God was brought to us. I began to usher and welcomed the folks as they came here for the first time with Jackie Pendergraph - the kingdom of God was coming to the stranger.

I began to assist Marcia Hemingway and Merle Ford with a worship service at St. Matthew Manor - the kingdom of God was coming to the widowed and the sick.

The AIDS crisis came and the Solidarity Sunday School class listened to our story of caring for persons living with AIDS, gave Brian and me a safe space to tell our story of being gay, and then they started preparing meals for the persons living with AIDS at Lyndon Lane Nursing Center and more importantly, sitting down with them and sharing the meals with them - the kingdom of God was coming to the outcasts.

The church began to welcome the immigrants and assisting them in beginning a new life here – the kingdom of God coming to the foreigners.

While we know there have been many wonderful and powerful sermons preached in this church, it has been the actual ministries of this church that have taught and shown us that the kingdom of God can and has come on earth as it is in Heaven. This church has helped us find our way and given us a safe place, a place in God's kingdom. This church has embraced our gifts and helped us grow in love and grace and has supported us, as we have ministered through our professions.

One Sunday last year, we watched this church gather and then come forward for communion. We saw a community of faith that was, Red and Yellow and Black and White, young and old, gay and straight, rich and poor. I started to cry thinking we are part of a church, just like that song we learned when we were children, just like God's kingdom!

I think it was the very next Sunday that the congregation gathered on the front steps for the church photo, it was like the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. This hope of God’s kingdom coming is why we gather here, this is why we give of our time, and this is why we give our money!

Since that day when many of us gathered on the steps, Greg and I have been praying, that we, CHBC, will quit selling ourselves short and see the kingdom of God in our midst and the witness we have to share with the world.

So God's kingdom may come here to Crescent Hill, to Louisville, to Kentucky to the world and finally one day perfect in heaven.

Carolyn Posey

And the time came for her to be delivered….

Luke 2:6

‘Twas the night before Christmas – the party was over and everybody had gone home. The happy young couple had started to relax and have a cup of warm milk before settling in for a long winter’s night.

No sooner had they gotten ready for sleep when the first pain hit! "What?! It’s too soon – is this what I think it is?" After all, it was her first. And then she knew. She said, "Call your mom – and let’s go to the hospital." The phone chain got going – we all jumped into cars, cameras ready, coats on and sleep forgotten.

What a night it was. The greatest gift a family can expect was on its way – nobody thought of the stuff under the tree; something far more precious was coming. The family gathered at the hospital and were allowed to go into the room with the parents-to-be. In a short while we were ushered back into the waiting room where the rest of the night would be spent waiting, pacing, napping, eating stuff from the vending machines and clock watching. Finally, in the wee hours of Christmas morning the doctor came to say: "The wait is over – the time has come for her to be delivered – a fine baby girl – a Christmas baby." A collective sigh of relief came from all of us. We had a new baby girl – a Christmas Baby. Just like that one so long ago.

Carroll Grossman

Sirach 4: verses 1 & 3
Oxford Annotated Bible

"Can you help me," he asks from where he sits on the beach

been here three days

car won’t run

I’m hungry

I want to go home

I look at him. I see pale eyes, a pinched face, uncombed hair and rumpled clothing,

"come with me," I say

up quickly

wipes sand from his trousers

walks with me near the water’s edge

We enter a restaurant

"Prepare a sandwich for my friend," I command

The cook says, "Ma’am, we see people like him in here every day."

"Fix him lunch son," I reply.

"It’s not like I’m buying him a car."

 

Chuck Leach

God is color blind,

he said.

Here we are black

and white, and all

different races.

When we get

to heaven

he said,

it won’t be

that way.

In heaven,

he said,

we will not

be different

we will all

be white

like God.

Dorothy Poole Spurr

John 10:10

Each Fall when I drive by Crescent Court I remember the first time I actually drove through it, down the hill, all the way to Grinstead Drive. It was in early October, 2004. A few days earlier I had reminded Dr. Henlee Barnette that the flu shot clinic at church would be the following Wednesday and offered to give him a ride. So that next Wednesday, after receiving our shots we decided not to stay for supper since neither of us had made a reservation. It was one of those golden Autumn days, when the clear blue skies and the slanting rays of the sun make all of earth’s colors seem deeper and more vibrant.

As I drove up Frankfort Avenue toward Stilz, my usual route to Dr. Barnette’s house, he said, "Dorothy, don’t go up that far, turn at this next street." On entering Crescent Court I saw a scene that could have been designed for a movie set in 1904! My first response was to exclaim, "Oh, I love this!" Dr. Barnette simply said, "I thought you’d like it."

Driving slowly, I stopped the car several times to look more carefully at the large, closely spaced, middle-class, family homes. Though most were similar in style and period, each was distinctive. With just a few exceptions, they were substantial, two or three story, frame, with clapboard siding, many having scalloped or fish scale shingles on the upper levels, gables and dormers. All had a front porch with rounded columns. There were quite a few with wrap-around porches. I remember most vividly the colors of the houses. They were in pale, muted, various shades of green, blue, yellow, tan, or grey, trimmed in white. There were no two house colors exactly alike, but all seemed to be part of a perfect, harmonious whole. I thought, "These houses are cared for, even cherished." The casually parked cars and recycling bins in front told me that people do live there now.

Looking back on that day I call it my, "Crescent Court Moment," with thanks to a thoughtful servant of God who told me to take another way home.

John Arnett

Be fruitful and multiply…

Genesis 1:28

Several years ago I read this statement in a Chinese fortune cookie, "We were not put here just to survive but to create."

That captures some of the meaning of the modern Christmas. I was once a part of a religious community that didn’t believe in celebrating any of the various liturgical holidays such as Christmas or Easter, because the early church didn’t do that.

But the Christmas story and even the advent of Santa Claus have inspired millions of people to create music, paintings, drama, and books, just to name a few of the creative endeavors. The giving of gifts has boosted many an economy and fed many workers’ families. There’s a lot of creative energy, and I give thanks for it.

Since we’re talking about expectations this Advent, I imagine members of the early church, which met in homes and practiced the simple commands of loving God and the neighbor, would be amazed at the extravaganzas that modern day churches promote during this season. They would have been awed by the gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages and the ever increasing repertoire of Christmas music. But they shouldn’t have been surprised. Didn’t Jesus tell them they "would perform even greater works?" (John 14:11) All of these artful creations act to glorify God and the Son, and God is at work in all these activities.

So, while we understand that the gospel is really very simple and God’s demands on us are modest (Love God, love your neighbor, act justly, love mercy), we celebrate those who thrill us with their gifts of beautiful music, writing, architecture, painting, drama, and the wide variety of worship experiences

Sharleen Birkimer

1 John 4:7

My ability to find God in the lives of immigrants and natives of various countries has deepened my faith in God. I grew up with children and grandchildren of German, Scandinavian and French fur-trader immigrants. I also knew Native Americans from Mandan and Sioux Indian tribes.

My family and community taught me God loved people from all backgrounds. The first time I had a visual lesson that not everyone worshiped as my family did was when I saw a cross near an Indian church that had four arrows stuck in it. My parents told me the Indians worshiped God in a different way than my Baptist family did. That image of the cross with arrows has influenced my idea of God’s inclusive love all my life. When I did my Ph.D. nutrition research in India, I worked with Hindu and Muslims researchers and saw their love of the God(s) they knew.

Recently, I taught a Sunday School lesson to children whose parents are Karen members, refugees from Burma. I emphasized that God loved children who had different color hair, skin, clothes and who ate different foods. After a Bible story and activities on that theme, we had a play time. One boy left his puzzle, poked me, and showed me a green goldfish cracker. I said "Yes, God loves boys who like green goldfish." Another boy pointed to the red shirt he was wearing. I said "Yes, God loves boys who wear red shirts." I like to think this is helping them know God’s love is universal.

Alice Adams

1 Corinthians 13: 11-13

It’s November –

LONG after blooms, colors, new life have faded…

Just as my Spirit, my laughter had faded.

It’s Soon to be Thanksgiving.

But how can I feel thankful - Be thankful

For the emptiness of two lives gone – Gone TOO soon.

I cry for hope, for assurance.

It’s afternoon.

Exhausted, I drag home from school –

My eyes cast downward.

Somehow – But for a split second, I gaze upward –

Maybe just to steady my step…

But there – Waving at me from old, tired hydrangeas –

I SEE- Two, new, vibrant blue hydrangeas – Side by side.

But – IT’S NOVEMBER ! !

Blooms aren’t supposed to BE in November! ?

So – like Thomas – I touch.

Yes – they ARE real - Alive. Truly present.

Such a Grace - That I actually noticed –

With my eyes, AND with my heart.

For me, a gift, an assurance – A miracle.

Life, as my soul was Crying, Dying.

Two blue hydrangeas –

Blue, the color of heaven.

Two young, blue hydrangeas Side by side

Smiling, Waving at Me – In November.

Assurance! Assurance of Faith, Hope, Love. Most of all, Love. Love that never dies.

Brittani Bair

Lamentations 3:21-24

These four verses follow twenty previous verses about how God has targeted, tormented and abandoned the writer. The book of Lamentations poetically grieves over the destruction of Jerusalem. The writer struggles to come to terms with all that has been lost. It seems that everything has been taken away from him. Yet these four verses are a statement of faith and hope.

There was a time in my life where I could quote the writer’s lament as my own: "He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is," the author writes in verses 16-17. These words bring to mind the summer of 2004.

On the night of July 13^th, during a power outage, our house caught fire and was badly damaged. Late in the afternoon on July 14^th, my best friend Jenny Goodhue and my friend Sam Adams were killed in a car accident in Kansas. So on July 15^th, I found myself cowering in the literal and figurative ashes of the life I knew, unable to come to terms with what had been lost.

In many ways I will never "recover" from these events. I suspect the writer of Lamentations never did either. Verse 20 says "My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me."

But I have found in the nearly ten years that have passed since that dreadful summer, that although my soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me, I have not lost my faith. I certainly have not found God to be unfaithful. I have found God to be a constant companion in these years of grief. Indeed it is not my faith that surprises me; it is the faithfulness God shows to us. God’s mercies are new every morning. I have felt God beside me and closer to me than ever before and I know that

God continues to grieve with me, ever faithfully.

Peggy Schmidt

Give us this day our daily bread… 
Matthew 6:11

…That we may share it with others…

I was 22, fresh out of college, and like every other graduate, looking for full-time work. I learned of a Social Work opening at Central State Mental Hospital in Norman, OK and decided that could give me some good experience.

Though I do not remember the name of the Director of Social Services, I clearly remember the first thing he said, glancing over my application and resume.

"I have only known one other person with that last name – Mrs. Schmidt. She owned a bakery and helped feed our family during the depression. We may not have had much to eat, but we always had bread – thanks to Mrs. Schmidt’s willingness to run an account for us."

Yes, that was my grandmother.

And, yes, I do remember calling her to thank her for the loaves of bread that helped launch my career as a Social Worker.

I did not know what to expect walking into the interview – but I can tell you –

I never expected to land my first full-time job based on a giving grandmother, who "paid it forward," baking bread for those who needed it, almost 40 years earlier!

John Arnett

Luke 1:3, 26; 2:13

Whether or not Jesus was born of a virgin is irrelevant to the Christmas story or to my faith. But the angels are real. Angels come and go throughout the Bible narrative frequently. Angels not only appear to Mary and the shepherds, but they guide Joseph’s escape to Egypt and instruct him when to return. After the period of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness the angels again "appeared and looked after him."

We talk about guardian angels and wonder where the guardian angels were when bad things happen to good people. Admittedly, the presence of these angels in our lives is a mystery, but it’s refreshing to hear the doctor Luke speak with such certainty about their appearance. Also, in the book of Acts, Luke doesn’t hesitate to speak of angels and gives them credit for freeing Peter from prison. Amy Grant’s song "Angels" describes Peter’s experience and resonates with my feelings. And who does not find inspiration from the angel Clarence in "It’s a Wonderful Life?"

Angels are another example of the spiritual aspect of our life that we often neglect because we get so wrapped up with the metrics of life – what we can measure and count.

One of the more memorable funerals I attended this past year was Nolan Howington’s during which two of his sons sang one of his favorite tunes, "Angel Band." "Oh bear me away on your snow white wings to my immortal home." It’s romanticized, but the sentiment speaks to our being surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses and the angel band.

Martha Lytle

Proverbs 3:3

The faithfulness of our Lord amazes me in my walk with him as I look at my life.  There have been many times I walked into experiences which challenged my faith - some difficult, but as I went through those times, they became invitations to respond  to the love and faithfulness of our Lord.  I realize the whole of my life is full of His surprises wrapped up with an "I told you so".  Christ has taught me that faith is action and when I doubt, I look back and remember those who taught me of God’s faithfulness in my life - a certainty of His  everlasting love and care which I want to share with others.   What then did I expect to see?  The gift of faithfulness which draws me to those who are followers of Christ who encourage one another, listen, share the gospel message and walk in faithfulness.

Quinn Chipley

Isaiah 11:6-9

These words came to me during Advent 1996, a few years after I felt I could no longer find fellowship with this church or any other. Though I have since learned I was wrong, the poem retains a place in my experience of this season of preparation.

Walking To School in Early December Dark, in Morning

You, Above All,
know I’ve lost
my former faith.
But at this time
of year I find
I’m prone
to address Your
Supreme Absence.

Well…
I do believe in deep blue.
I trust the moon.
I feel the frost.

I welcome every
child into our world.

And despite my lapse
I am quite glad
that at least one birth
caught our fancy
long enough to reveal
some hope beyond
our cruelty.

God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder the source of which is beyond all reason.