Merry Christmas!

For as long as I can remember I have been in church on Christmas Eve for a traditional candlelight service. Carols, candles, the Christmas gospel…these are some of my favorite things. As a child, this night was filled with wonder for me as the lights went dim and we raised our candles, singing Silent Night.

Christmas Eve, 1983. It was my first Christmas as a parish pastor. Can you imagine how surprised I was to learn that my new congregation didn’t even have a Christmas Eve service? Their long-standing tradition was to have the children’s Christmas program on Christmas Eve. Not knowing better, I suggested that we move the children’s pageant to the Sunday evening before Christmas so we could have a candlelight service on Christmas Eve. The congregation was kind to their young pastor and agreed to try it. Once.

The Christmas program came off without a hitch. Then I waited with Advent patience for Saturday, December 24 to arrive. Brand new candles and drip-cards were delivered. A pre-printed bulletin was ready for the ushers. The organist and pianist were well rehearsed. My sermon was set to go. I was excited…really excited.

The long awaited day arrived. But as the daylight hours progressed, my heart sank as low as the thermometer. It was snowy, windy and very, very cold. It was, in fact, dangerously cold and no one had any business being outdoors or in their car. Church cancellations were being announced throughout the day. It was after everyone else in the area had cancelled that I called the president of the congregation and we finally added our name to the list. The candles were put away, the bulletins stored, and the sermon filed away unused. I was miserable.

On the bright side, Sunday, Christmas morning, dawned brightly and 19 brave souls showed up for worship!

I do hope your celebration of Christmas is filled with whatever it is that makes it complete for you. I expect to be in church singing carols, lighting a candle and hearing the Christmas gospel. I remind you, however, even as I remind myself, that our celebration of Christmas is complete if we simply recall that our Heavenly Father gave us the gift of the Savior, Jesus. Thanks be to God!

Merry Christmas.

Bell Ringing

Each year I volunteer to ring a bell for The Salvation Army. I began many years ago while serving in Prophetstown. In those days (as may still be the case), The Salvation Army administered emergency funds for our town, so we pastors regularly referred transients in need of assistance to The Salvation Army representative. This was a convenient and prudent way of helping folks who were passing through town.

The ministerial association rang bells in an effort to support The Salvation Army and to thank it for its ministry on our behalf. Each local pastor and members of his or her congregation took shifts standing in front of the grocery store, ringing a bell and thanking friends and neighbors for their contributions.

In Rockford I don’t see many people I know during my two hour bell ringing shifts. I am fairly anonymous here in Kmart’s vestibule. It is such an interesting experience. Some people pass by me and never look up. Others apologize for not having anything to put in the kettle. Some even apologize as they struggle to push an overloaded cart into the parking lot. Children often have a look of delight in their eyes as they deposit the loose change a parent has provided. Last week I would say that more than half of the people who passed my bucket put something in.

One woman stopped to talk. She said, “I wouldn’t be alive today if it hadn’t been for you. I try to give every time I see a red bucket. I am so thankful for you.”

I was taken aback. It was odd to receive such personal thanks—real, sincere, heartfelt thanks—on behalf of someone else, for something I had not done. My giving an occasional donation and ringing a bell certainly didn’t save her life. She didn’t know how little I had really done. Besides, I’m not even a member of The Salvation Army! But I do know it does good and important work. The proof of that was standing before me.

Each and every Sunday I thank the congregation I am visiting for its support of the synod and the ELCA. I try to make it personal, but that’s hard to do when addressing a whole congregation. I try to impress upon people the good and important work that we do and how appreciated their support is. So, please hear me as I say “thank you.” Yes, you. And, if you aren’t sure if you saved someone’s life today, or if your offerings really do matter, I would beg you to find out. Ask your pastor. Explore the ELCA website. We, as a church, have an amazing story to tell.

Agur's Prayer

My wife and I had dinner with Ed Kruse last evening. Ed is the director of stewardship for the ELCA. It was a wonderful, relaxed time. Our conversation covered a lot of territory. Part of our conversation was personal as we count Ed among our friends. Another part related to my completing my work as the stewardship specialist for the Northern Illinois Synod. With Pastor Kurt Nordby beginning his work as our Director for Evangelical Mission, stewardship becomes part of his portfolio. We also spent some time talking about Proverbs 30:7-9.

I must admit that I have spent very little time studying Proverbs. I have approached the book more as a source of amusement than of something worthy of deeper consideration. This particular passage was raised by the music/worship leader of the stewardship conference we were attending. You can probably guess that I have examined many biblical texts relating to stewardship, but this one has missed my scrutiny. I am less embarrassed to report this fact since so many of the other stewardship “experts” I was with reacted in a similar fashion.

A prayer from the sayings of Agur: “Two things I ask of you; do not deny them to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God.”

What a great prayer. Keep me honest and give me enough. This stewardship seminar was held at a hotel down the street from this condominium high-rise (pictured above). The ads in the paper indicate that a cheaper condo can be had for about $1.5 million. A unit in the middle levels go for about $3.5 million and up at the top the selling price is more than $7 million.

I can certainly fantasize about what it might be like to have that kind of money and live in such a beautiful place, but I truly believe that I am better off praying Agur’s prayer.