From the Church Records
Death:
11/5/00 Margaret N. Wilson
Lectionary for Lord's Day
December
2000
3
1st Sunday of Advent
Jer. 33:14-16; Ps. 25:1-10
I Thess. 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36
10
2nd Sunday of Advent
Mal. 3:1-4; Luke 1:68-79
Phil. 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6
17
3rd Sunday of Advent
Zeph. 3:14-20; Isa. 12:2-6
Phil. 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18
24
4th Sunday of Advent
Mic. 5:2-5a; Luke 1:47-55 or
Ps. 80:1-7; Heb. 10:5-10;
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
Christmas Eve
Isa. 9:2-7; Ps. 96; Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
31 1st Sunday after
Christmas
I Sam. 2:18-20, 26; Ps. 148
Col. 3:12-17; Luke 2:41-52
Thank You!
The Stewardship Canvass Committee expresses
its gratitude to all Westminster members
who have made financial pledges to support church programs and
operations in the year 2001.
Many pledge cards were turned in during the
morning worship service on November 19, Pledge Sunday, and others have been
mailed in or delivered since then. It
isn’t too late to make a pledge, for
those who would like to join this community of believers–and help bring many
innovative projects to fruition in the months ahead.
Taizé Services Peaceful
We are well into the routine of our Sunday
evening contemplative worship services, using the simple songs, prayers, and
liturgies of the French community of Taizé.
This Sunday evening service has become an important part of the
spiritual life of many of our members, and of many guests. We invite all to come and experience the
peace and tranquility of these services, which can help one to center one’s
life more effectively on Christ.
Note: there will be no Taizé services on
December 24 or December 31, due to the holidays. Taizé services will resume on Sunday, January 7.
‘Second Hours’ Scheduled
“The Journey of a Kit,” a Christian
Education intergenerational event, will be held on December 3 during the
“second hour” in the Assembly Room.
Everyone is invited to learn about the
“journey” and help us enter the spirit of Christmas giving. We will be putting together health kits to
fill needs outlined by Church World Service.
They will be gifts from the Westminster family to others less
fortunate. The event will include a
light lunch. Youth will be selling SERV
items, UNICEF Christmas cards and items from Lebanon.
***
To find out more about the “Signs of the
Season,” (see article by Susan Filipp) and share some of your own, please join
us for the second hour on Sunday, December 10.
Deacons to Lead Caroling
Share your holiday spirit by caroling in the
Westminster neighborhood. We will gather
at church at 7 p.m. on Sunday, December 10. Song sheets and hot chocolate will
be provided. Call Diane Bossung,
475-0169, for more information.
Mission News...
For just $5, you can help “Blanket The World
With Love” this Christmas by providing a warm, wooly blanket to someone in
need. Instead of mailing Christmas
cards to all your Westminster friends, place a single Christmas greeting card
on the Blanket Tree in the Welles Room.
Then send your check, payable to Westminster Church – CWS Blanket Fund,
to the Church Office.
***
In January, we will be working with
Westminster Outreach Workers (WOW) for a one day “blitz” at the South Mall
Towers. More information will be made available soon.
***
A heart-felt thank you for your generous
support of the Peacemaking Offering.
This offering is used in many different ways to foster peace in our
world. Also, thanks to everyone who
came to hear Bonnie Nasr and how she and her organization “work the peace” for
people with disabilities in Lebanon.
Church Youth Plan Shopping, Pageant
All high school students are invited to join
in a Christmas shopping trip to buy gifts for a family that is less fortunate
than most of us. On December 11, at
7:30 p.m., we will meet at church, go shopping, and then return to church to
wrap the presents and have a little Christmas cheer ourselves. We hope to have a large group participate in
this annual event, so please save the date now.
***
Westminster’s annual children’s Christmas pageant
will be a part of morning worship on
Sunday, Dec. 24. A rehearsal will be held on Sunday, Dec. 17, at 11:30 a.m.
Anyone who could help with costuming the children is asked to speak to Sue
Fedak.
Evangelism Conference Highlights Need for Change
Three Westminster representatives joined
several hundred church leaders from around the country, both clergy and laity,
at Evangelism Connections 2000, a conference held in St. Paul, Minnesota, on
November 4 and 5.
Interim Minister Sandra Hanna, and Tim
Gordon and Ann Treadway of our Evangelism Committee, each attended five
workshops and three general sessions during the two-day conference, and came
back with many ideas for ways to energize a congregation and expand its
outreach into the community.
While the speakers and workshop leaders
emphasized different aspects of evangelism, a few common themes emerged. A major one was that outreach must start
with “inreach”–that evangelism is not about tasks, but about relationships.
We must “come out of our comfort zones,” as
one workshop leader, Susan Smith, put it, and listen to God, and then reach out
to others, through support and focus groups, and community-based and spiritual
growth groups. She said this involves “reaching
out, not down,” and we must first change ourselves and realize that only in
giving ourselves to God can we take the risks necessary to reach other people
in meaningful ways.
A second major theme was the need for
today’s churches to communicate in ways that are meaningful to young people in
our electronic age.
“It’s a new world,” said Sally Morgenthaler,
a church consultant from Littleton, Colorado,
and one of the main speakers. She said we should all pray: “Lord, equip
us for the world today.”
She also said that while mainstream culture
says “the world is a mess” and “life is unpredictable,” the majority of people
are “looking to experience God,” and want to do it now–not according to a
five-year plan.
Ms. Morgenthaler urged us to “get real,” to
help “post-moderns” (gen-X’ers and younger) feel as if they belong in the
church, and that God can make sense of their “life stories.” To do this, she said, we must learn to
communicate in more contemporary ways.
Another workshop leader advocated “the
servant empowering organization,” with teams created in the church to
accomplish specific goals. His main
theme was that organizational change will not precipitate transformation, but
transformation will eventually demand organizational change.
The pastor of the youthful Spirit Garage
congregation in Minneapolis stressed in another workshop that evangelism today
requires knowledge of many subcultures, and we have to decide where to put our
focus.
One of the main speakers, Tex Sample of
Kansas City, Missouri, urged us to become “culturally competent in a wired
world,” and to “reinstate emotion as part of cognition.” He pointed out the
importance of music and art and light as ways to appeal to people in today’s
multi-sensory culture.
Another workshop led by two media
consultants provided expert information on effective uses of various media
outlets to advertise church programs.
The committee plans to follow up by
discussing some of the conference themes with others at Westminster, and
putting into practice the best ideas and strategies that can be applied here.
Ann
Treadway
Join Church Friends For Decorating Party
Help decorate the church halls on Saturday,
December 16, at 10 a.m. Breakfast
breads, coffee and juice will “fuel” us as we put up wreaths, roping and other
decorations of the season. So
put the date on your calendar now, and join the holiday fun.
Christmas Flowers
Requests are now being taken for Christmas
memorial flowers. The names of those to
be memorialized will be listed in the bulletin on Sunday, December 17. Please call the church office by Wed.,
December 13.
Session Affirms Policy
The Session recently affirmed the following
policy of the Albany Presbytery, consistent with the Book of Order: “When a
pastor resigns from a pastorate, retires from service, or becomes pastor
emeritus, that minister shall cease to perform pastoral functions such as
weddings, baptisms, funerals, hospital visitation or counseling...” (Certain exceptions may occur when the
current pastor is not available.)
The Session realizes that this policy was
not made known earlier to Westminster members, and Dr. Newman has graciously
participated in some special occasions here since his retirement. But it was the consensus of the Session that
this is a good time for us to make the commitment to start anew, and we have
the blessing of Dr. Newman to adhere to this policy.
Advent and Christmas Portrayed in Many Symbols
By
Susan Filipp
|
|
If any time of year is represented by symbols,
it is certainly Advent and Christmas.
The essence and mood of these Christian seasons is captured in color,
images, songs, foods, and even plants.
As non-written renderings of beliefs and
ideas, symbols originated thousands of years ago when the general population
was illiterate. Now, despite a
better-educated citizenry, sights, sounds, and tastes (even smells—balsam,
cinnamon, peppermint) proclaim the season.
“Advent” means “arrival” with emphasis on
watching and waiting for the long-promised Messiah. Originally a time of somber preparation, Advent was also called
“little Lent.” Christians fasted and
made ready their spiritual lives to welcome the Savior.
The color of Advent is purple, symbolizing
penitence. Advent songs, “Watchmen Tell
Us of the Night,” Bach’s “Wachet Auf” (literally “Wake Up”), “Come, Thou
Long-Expected Jesus,” and of course, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” all carry the
theme of anticipation.
The Advent wreath emphasizes the growing
light of the approaching Savior. On
each of the four Sundays before Christmas, a candle, generally purple, is
added. On Christmas Eve, the Christ
candle, white and in the center, is lighted.
The true season of Christmas, literally
“Christ’s Mass,” is actually very short—only the twelve days (does that ring
any bells?) from December 25 to Epiphany on January 6. The liturgical color of the season is white,
symbolizing purity. The unofficial, but
widespread, colors are red and green.
Why? Green, as in the evergreen
tree, for eternity, and red for the passion and eventual sacrifice of God’s son
for us.
Many hymns and carols of Christmas recreate
the story of the first Christmas. The
setting: “Once in Royal David’s City,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “The First
Noel.” The characters: “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “We Three Kings”
(although they really didn’t arrive until January 6), “The Friendly
Beasts.” The holy family: “Silent
Night,” and “Away in a Manger.”
Some songs of the season invite us to
witness and participate in Christ’s coming: “O, Come All Ye Faithful,” “God
Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.” Others
rearrange and retell the traditional story to include the customs or times of a
particular country: “I Saw Three Ships,” “Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella,” to
name but two.
Over the centuries, non-religious symbols
have been embraced by Christians in many lands as extensions of the Christmas
spirit. On December 6, Dutch children
put out their wooden shoes for St. Nicholas (a real historic
person
who shared his wealth with the poor) to fill with treats. On December 13, Scandinavian girls, wearing
headpieces of lighted candles, serve saffron-flavored rolls to their families
in celebration of Santa Lucia (an early Christian martyr). In England, balls of mistletoe are hung and
Yule logs burned to ensure love and good luck.
On Christmas Eve, German families (and many others) bring a live
evergreen into their
homes and decorate it with
bright and shiny objects. On December
26, many people give presents to the workers who serve them throughout the year
in remembrance of Good King Wenceslas who spread the bounty of his Christmas
feast to the poor.
In the beginning of the 21st
Century it is easy to feel that the “true” symbols of the season are drowned
out by the blare of “Frosty the Snowman,” the ubiquitous image of Santa and his
reindeer, or the deluge of catalogues.
Just remember as we enter this most special of times, the spirit of
hope, of joy, of love, of fulfillment is still there. Take a closer look around you.
As long as you “keep the Christ in Christmas,” the true spirit of
Christmas lives! Find it! Celebrate it! Share it!
Dinner
Recipes Available
The fellowship dinner cooked and hosted by
Lee and Jean Waldron in early November was so delicious, according to those
attending, that many asked for the recipes used–and thought others might like
them as well. Space limitations make it
impossible to print them here, but copies have been made of the Waldron’s
recipes for Rosemary roasted potatoes, Vermont apple soup with curry, and
winter salad, and are available in the church office.