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 Pastor Anderson's Message:

 Dear Friends in Christ, in our preparation for the celebration of Christmas, 2007,

“Charles Dickens, well known for his ‘A Christmas Carol,’ wrote for his children a less familiar work, namely, a life of Christ in which he explained the meaning of our Lord’s birth, death, and resurrection. Concerning the festival for which we are preparing, he stated, ‘Christmas is a season of greatness to some, of hilarity to many, and of importance to all.’” (quoted from an Advent devotional, 1978)

 Christmas is “OF IMPORTANCE TO ALL.” 

Christmas is “OF IMPORTANCE TO YOU!”

Christmas is God the Son coming to a spiritually helpless world!

Christmas is that TRUTH that the “WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US” (John 1:14).

Christmas is that celebration of the truth that in Christ we have a new life!

 Shepherds came to worship in humility!

Wise Men came after much weary traveling to worship and share their gifts! 

WE come, in spirit, in faith, in humility, in repentance – to receive God’s gifts, and like the Shepherds and Wise Men, to respond in praise and with our gifts!

 Lutheran Hour speaker Dr. Dale Meyer shared an article in the 1991-1992 “Lutheran Vistas” called “SOLITARY REFINEMENT!” He was referring to the time we need in PRAYER and MEDITATION with our Lord and God. And in Mark’s Gospel, in keeping with Dr. Meyer’s emphasis, we hear Jesus’ words, “COME AWAY TO SOME DESERTED PLACE WHERE YOU CAN BE ALONE, AND REST A LITTLE” (Mark 6:31).

And yes, we are busy during this season. But the ADVENT SEASON does give us the opportunity to “BE ALONE” and to “REST A LITTLE” as we prepare to celebrate again the birth of our Lord. This does not mean isolating ourselves from others, but it DOES MEAN time in PRAYER,  STUDY, and MEDITATION with our gracious God.   One of the messages of the Advent Season is “REPENT.” When we are in “SOLITARY REFINEMENT” we can go before our Lord with our guilt, with those sins that plague our consciences, with our hearts that are pleading for relief!  The great hymn-writer, Paul Gerhardt, said it this way:

I lay in fetters groaning;

You came to set me free.

I stood, my shame bemoaning;

 You came to honor me.

A glorious crown you give me,

a treasure safe on high

That will not fail or leave me as earthly treasures fly.

   (“O Lord, How Shall I Meet You,”  Lutheran Service Book, # 334, stanza 3)

 Paul Gerhardt also wrote the hymn, “O Lord, How Shall I Meet You?” Paul Gerhardt wrote out of his experience and some of the most trying of emotions. Four of Gerhardt’s five children died in early life. His wife died when the remaining child was only six years old. The political climate in Germany caused problems for Gerhardt, who was a Lutheran clergyman. Yet, how positively Gerhardt answers his own troubling questions.  Pastor Paul Gerhardt certainly experienced what Dr. Meyer called , “Solitary Refinement.”

 Christmas is of GREAT IMPORTANCE to us!! In preparation to celebrate again the birth of our Savior, TAKE TIME FOR YOUR OWN ‘SOLITARY REFINEMENT!’

 With joy, and faith in Him, our Advent King,                Pastor Anderson

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