from Bob Windels, Youth Guy
I learned recently why it is that we are generally incapable of smelling ourselves. It turns out that the human nose has a built-in timer that limits how long we can detect smells. If you walk into a room and sniff somebody’s nice perfume or some fresh-cut flowers, or drive past a flattened skunk or a malodorous oil refinery, your brain will register the new scent— but within a couple of minutes, you will stop noticing it. The brain will put this olfactory data aside so it can be available to recognize and focus on new information.
In caveman days, I suppose this was a life-saving defense mechanism that kept Cro-Magnon Bob from being surprised and devoured by a saber-toothed predator while he was half-way through his delicious-smelling mastodon steak dinner. In the modern office, it merely saves you from enduring all day the aroma of Guy-Who-Eats-Way-Too-Much-Garlic, because your brain is naturally dulled to his scent fairly quickly. And, it means that when you are working out at the gym or industriously digging up the garden, your nose quickly adjusts to your own growing body odor so that you are the last one to know that you reek.
from Interim Senior Pastor Keith Olstad
“On entering the house, [the wise men] saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” -- Matthew 2:11 NRSV
This year, for a change, Epiphany actually falls on a Sunday, so we’ll celebrate it as part of our Sunday service. Ironically, at Gethsemane, you’ll have two opportunities to celebrate Epiphany, because we’ll also have a special Epiphany service on Saturday, January 5, at 1:30 p.m., to which all are invited. (For more information, see page 2)
The central themes of Epiphany can be broadly construed. Sages come from the East, following a star. Traditionally they represent all the people of the earth coming to honor the newborn Jesus. The star they follow signifies the light of Christ, lighting for us and for Christ’s Church the course we need to take. The gifts given by the magi—the gold, frankincense and myrrh—traditionally represent a proper response to God’s lavish gift of a baby to save us. They also provide a rationale for the exchanging of gifts.
from Gethsemane News
The Advent wreath is part of a long-standing Christian tradition. However, the actual origins are uncertain. There is evidence of pre-Christian Germanic peoples using wreathes with lit candles during the cold and dark December days as a sign of hope in the future warm and extended-sunlight days of Spring. In Scandinavia during winter, lighted candles were placed around a wheel, and prayers were offered to the god of light to turn "the wheel of the earth" back toward the sun to lengthen the days and restore warmth.
By the Middle Ages, the Christians adapted this tradition and used Advent wreathes as part of their spiritual preparation for Christmas. By 1600, both Catholics and Lutherans had more formal practices surrounding the Advent wreath.
The symbolism of the Advent wreath is beautiful. The wreath is made of various evergreens, signifying continuous life. Even these evergreens have a traditional meaning which can be adapted to our faith: The laurel signifies victory over persecution and suffering; pine and holly, immortality; and cedar, strength and healing. Holly also has a special Christian symbolism: The prickly leaves remind us of the crown of thorns, and one English legend tells of how the cross was made of holly. The circle of the wreath, which has no beginning or end, symbolizes the eternity of God, the immortality of the soul, and the everlasting life found in Christ.
The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent. A tradition is that each week represents one thousand years, to sum to the 4,000 years from Adam and Eve until the Birth of the Savior. For many churches, three candles are purple and one is rose. The present-day usage for Lutherans coming from the Swedish church is 4 blue candles -blue being the color symbolizing hope, a primary theme of Advent. The progressive lighting of the candles symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our Lord's first coming into the world and the anticipation of His second coming to judge the living and the dead. Some modern day adaptations include a white candle placed in the middle of the wreath, which represents Christ and is lit on Christmas Eve.
from Tiphanie Dirnberger, Children's Ministry Director
A couple of weeks ago my oldest son, Harris, came home from school upset because his Saxophone case had his younger brother's name "Philip" written across it. It wasn't just the standard "Philip" emblazoned in ink, but "Philip" with the i's larger than the l, sort of like "phIlIp" -– a sure sign that it was written by his younger sibling if ever there was one. When I asked Philip why he had written his name on his brother's instrument case, Philip denied doing it. Thinking I could get him to confess I pulled out the "God" card, prepared to make this situation instructive. I asked Philip "How do you think God feels about this situation?" Philip replied, "Frustrated..." And that was how I was feeling at that moment too. Instead of feeling confident that I had made my point and taught a valuable lesson of contrition and received the sought after "I'm sorry, mom", I now had an upset older son and on top of that, a younger son who was lying to add to my list of frustrations.
from Pastor Laurie Underkofler
"Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." -- Romans 15:17
This is the verse the Hospitality Team regularly uses as its touchstone for what it means to be a welcoming congregation, extending hospitality to all who enter this space. Our greeters and ushers are reminded that they become the "first face" of Gethsemane when someone visits for Sunday worship. But as children of God, baptized into Christ, it becomes the responsibility of each one of us –- whether part of the Hospitality Team or not –- to be attentive to welcoming those who are not yet part of our community. Hospitality is, then, the cornerstone of the other term that is frequently used when we speak of welcoming the stranger: Outreach.
