father christmas and the great polar bear.

If you could decorate any famous building for Christmas (inside and outside), which building would you choose?

I think it would be fun to decorate a cathedral, so I might choose Notre Dame.

Since so many of my updates have been pretty serious so far, I thought we could lighten the mood today. One of my recent Christmas book finds is Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien wrote a series of letters to his children under the pseudonym of Father Christmas that detail the adventures of Father Christmas and his accident-prone assistant, the Great Polar Bear.

Cliff House, Top of the World, Near the North Pole

Christmas 1925

My dear boys,

I am dreadfully busy this year – it makes my hand more shaky than ever when I think of it – and not very rich; in fact awful things have been happening, and some of the presents have got spoilt, and I haven’t got the North Polar bear to help me, and I have had to move house just before Christmas, so you can imagine what a state everything is in, and you will see why I have a new address, and why I can only write one letter between you both.

It all happened like this: one very windy day last November my hood blew off and went and stuck on the top of the North Pole. I told him not to, but the North Polar Bear climbed up to the thin top to get it down – and he did. The pole broke in the middle and fell on the roof of my house, and the North Polar Bear fell through the hole it made into the dining room with my hood over his nose, and all the snow fell off the roof into the house and melted and put out all the fires and ran down into the cellars, where I was collecting this year’s presents, and the North Polar Bear’s leg got broken.

He is well again now, but I was so cross with him that he says he won’t try to help me again – I expect his temper is hurt, and will be mended by next Christmas.

I send you a picture of the accident and of my new house on the cliffs above the North Pole (with beautiful cellars in the cliffs). If John can’t read my old shaky writing (one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five years old) he must get his father to. When is Michael going to learn to read, and write his own letters to me? Lots of love to you both and Christopher, whose name is rather like mine.

That’s all: Good Bye

Father Christmas

P.S.

Father Christmas was in a great hurry – told me to put in one of his magic wishing crackers. As you pull, wish, and see if it doesn’t come true. Excuse thick writing I have a fat paw. I help Father Christmas with his packing: I live with him I am the

GREAT (Polar) BEAR

the spirit of giving.

If you had written the story, what type of animal would be pulling Santa’s sleigh?

I think cheetahs would be good since they’re so fast.

Today I want to talk about St. Nicholas. He isn’t really an integral part of Advent, but I think his story is very encouraging. We are reminded of the true spirit in which we should give gifts when we remember his generosity.

Dear Grown-up:

Nicholas is a real historical figure who lived in the fourth century. He was Bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, Asia Minor (What is modern-day Turkey). The region is situated on the Mediterranean Sea across from Greece.

The people of Myra had already heard the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ before Nicholas came to serve them. The Apostle Paul had traveled there on his mission journey. This visit is recorded in Acts 27:5-6. As a Christian, Nicholas suffered persecution under the Roman Emperor Diocletian and was imprisoned until Constantine came into power and showed tolerance to Christians.

Tales of Nicholas’s generosity were widespread, and he became patron saint of Russia. In Europe, he was known as Father Christmas, and in America, Santa Claus. Legends about his home at the North Pole, flying reindeer, and distributing gifts all over the world on Christmas Eve were created to enhance his story, but his generosity is based in historical fact. The story of his supplying the dowries for the three girls is believed to be factual.

Nicholas’s feast day (the day he died) is December 6^th. Many families observe St. Nicholas Day by having the children in the home place their shoes by the door when they go to bed the night before. When they awaken on the morning of December 6, their shoes are filled with bags of gold foil-wrapped chocolate coins that were secretly placed there during the night.

The significance of Nicholas for us today is that his response to God’s great love for us in Jesus was to care for other people. His kindness and care for children are modeled every time we give a gift out of love.

–Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend by Julie Stiegemeyer

When Mary Love and Grace and I were little, we would set out our shoes and get gold coins in the morning.

As you give and receive gifts during this season, remember the generosity and godliness of the real St. Nicholas.

out of pure love.

If you could somehow "jump into" any Christmas carol or song and actually experience what the lyrics say, which song would you choose?

There are a lot of good ones, but I think I would choose "Angels from the Realms of Glory."

I went to a lovely Christmas Handbell Concert last night. Accordingly, I had to have some handbells for my musical selection today.

Our incorporation into the mystery of Christ, the gift of divine life, is a pure demonstration of God’s love toward us. In this is love ‘that he hath first loved us….’ We were helpless, spiritually paralyzed, and he dwells infinitely far above us. We can never climb to him, he must descend to us. This is most important in the mystery of Advent – God’s descent to our lowliness out of pure love, not for any merit of our own. Divine mercy is most evident in tenderness with which the infinite God tempers the strength of his light to the weakness of our eyes and becomes a human being like the rest of us.

–Breakthrough to Joy by Thomas Merton

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means, “God with us.” When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 1:18-25

As I considered this section of the Christmas story in relation to the quotation from Thomas Merton, I was struck by how God tempered his light so that Joseph would no longer be spiritually paralyzed. Joseph was in the midst of the scandal of his fiancé’s pregnancy, but just one dim glimpse of the glory of God through the message of an angel gave him enough courage to brave the scandal and take Mary home as his wife. All that was needed to change a messy human situation was one faint reflection of God’s glorious light.

the promised one.

If you had a child born on Christmas Day and had to give him/her a name that related to Christmas, what name would you choose? (Example: Holly for a girl.)

If I had a boy, I think I would name him Gabriel.

God’s Word is full of examples of God keeping His promises to people. The Bible calls them ‘prophecies,’ and they are promises that God not only makes but that He Himself keeps.

He promised Abraham that he would have a son, although it looked pretty unlikely to Abraham. But he did have a son and it was when he was 100 years old! (And you thought your Mom and Dad were old!) Joseph was given promises by God. He saw that there was something great that God wanted to do with his life. Joseph’s brothers laughed at him; but God kept His promise anyway. David knew he was to be king of Israel. The Prophet Samuel had spoken a word from God! That wasn’t very much comfort when David was hiding in the wilderness from King Saul who wanted to kill him. But guess what: God kept His promise and David did become king.

God also gave many promises about the coming of the Messiah – the Promised One who would bring salvation to all people. Hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth, God told where He would be born: ‘Bethlehem…out of you shall come forth the One to be ruler in Israel’ (Micah 5:2). God promised that Jesus’ coming would free us from our sin: ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all’ (Isa. 53:6).

After Jesus was born, God kept giving promises. There were promises given to Joseph and Mary: that Jesus would bring a light to the Gentiles (Luke 2:32). He made promises to the first Christians that they would minister in Jesus’ name and He would bless them (Mark 16:15-18). Paul’s life was spared through God’s promises (Acts 27:24-25). And the Bible even ends with the promise of Jesus’ return (Rev. 22:20-21).

That’s a lot of promises! But do you know what’s just as exciting? The Lord wants to give you promises about your life! Sometimes they will be things to share with someone else to pray over, and sometimes they will be things to think about in your own heart. Either way, they will be things to give to the Lord and let Him fulfill…because He always keeps His promises.

Maybe God will put a big dream in your heart that people will laugh at, like with Joseph. Maybe it will be something that seems impossible, like with David. But 1 Kings 8:56 says, ‘Not a single word has ever failed of all God’s good promises.’ And just like God kept His promises to all of those people He will keep His promises to you too.

–The 25 Days of Christmas by Rebecca Hayford Bauer

comfort ye.

The icebreaker of the day:

What particular holiday food do you enjoy most?

I have to say date-nut role.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is listening to Handel’s Messiah. Handel began writing his masterpiece on August 22, 1741 (a day that became my parents’ anniversary a couple hundred years later). Within twenty-four days, he had completed all fifty sections that are included in the oratorio. All of his spirituality and musical talents culminated in the work that he produced in these few weeks. He later wrote, “I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the good God himself.” The oratorio premiered in Dublin to immediate success. At the London premiere on March 23, 1743 (Mary Love’s and my birthday!), King George II began the tradition of rising to one’s feet during the “Hallelujah” chorus. The American premiere of the entire work didn’t occur until 1818 in Boston’s Boylston Hall. Handel’s religious fervor and sincere faith in God shines through his work. Messiah presents the fulfillment of Redemption by the Redeemer by bringing together the prophecies of the Messiah and the story of his birth, death, and resurrection.

I think the opening words of the work are particularly appropriate to consider in relation to the “coming” that is celebrated by Advent, especially because they are spoken by an Old Testament prophet who was looking forward to the coming of the Messiah.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.

These words are taken directly from Isaiah 40:1-2. The coming of Christ, the Messiah, produces this comfort of which Isaiah speaks. By coming into the world of men, Jesus created a way to accomplish his people’s warfare and pardon their iniquities. By taking on the form of a man, Jesus created the way to redeem us.

waiting and seeking.

Alright, here's the icebreaker of the day.

Regardless of your gender, which role in a live nativity scene do you think you're best cut out for, and why?

I would want to be a shepherd, because I would like having the angels sing for me.

People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait. They have received something that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow. This is very important. We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun for us…. That’s the secret. The secret of waiting is the faith that the seed has been planted, that something has begun. Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment.

How do we wait? We wait together, as did Mary and Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Mary came together and enabled each other to wait. Mary’s visit made Elizabeth aware of what she was waiting for. The child leapt for joy in her. Mary affirmed Elizabeth’s waiting. And then Elizabeth said to Mary, “Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.” And Mary responded, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord” (Luke 1:45-46). She burst into joy herself. These two women created space for each other to wait.

–Watch for the Light by Henri Nouwen

The season of Advent is our space to focus on waiting for the Messiah. We have faith in what we are waiting for because Jesus has already fulfilled the promise of a Messiah by coming into the world. Now, as we wait, we must also seek the face of God as we await his return. As we seek him and learn of him, we can wait in hopeful expectation for his second coming.

Establishing a pattern to our seeking is rather like cutting paths through the underbrush on our way through the forest to the river. We can fight our way through the underbrush to arrive infrequently at the river, or we can cut paths which lead us with relative ease to the river for refreshment, cleansing, and recreation.

–Why Not Celebrate by Sara Wenger

the light of the world.

Today it is officially the season of Advent! Just for fun, here's an icebreaker to get things started. Feel free to respond in your comments.

Besides the golden rings, which gift from "The Twelve Days of Christmas" would you be most interested in receiving, and why?

For me, I would have to say eleven pipers piping. They could follow me around and play Christmas carols.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

–John 1:1-14

In thinking about how to best start this celebration of Advent, I thought it would be best to go back to the original story. Matthew and Luke both have accounts of the birth of Jesus, but for today I want to look at John’s introduction to the life of Jesus. John calls Jesus, or the “Word,” the “light of men.” Jesus came into the world that he had created in a way that was so radical that it was as different as light is to darkness. In the utter darkness, Jesus became a light that would change the entire course of history. At the moment that he became fully man while still fully God, a light burst into flame and started to spread to each person that believes in Jesus.

At my house growing up, every year my parents created a beautiful Advent ring with 24 candles. Each night, the whole family gathered together to light one more candle each day until we finally lit all 24 on Christmas Eve and then added a Christ candle in the center on Christmas Day. The image of the slowing growing ring of candles reminds me of this passage in John. Jesus was the first candle, penetrating the heavy darkness with the most brilliant light. But soon, that light spread into the hearts of men. Just as the Advent ring becomes brighter with each day in the month, so the light of Jesus grows brighter with each new heart that it enters.

If you can, turn off all your lights and light one single candle. Consider how amazing it is that this one tiny flame is still able to break through even the thickest darkness. Nothing can withstand the light; neither can anything withstand the light that Jesus brought into the world. As you enter into this season of Advent, let your light that comes from Jesus shine out into the darkness.