Lunenburg United Methodist Charge
On our walk. . . . .
December 11, 2008
Pastor’s Message –
THE CHRISTMAS STORM: as Read by Paul Harvey
"This is
about a modern man, one of us; he was not a scrooge, he was a kind, decent,
mostly good man, generous to his family, upright in his dealings with others.
But he did not believe in all that incarnation stuff that the Churches proclaim
at Christmas time. It just didn’t make sense to him and he was too honest to
pretend otherwise. He just could not swallow the Jesus story about God coming
to earth as man. I’m truly sorry to distress you, he told his wife, but I’m not
going with you to church this Christmas Eve. He said he’d feel like a
hypocrite. That he would much rather stay home, but that he would wait up for
them. He stayed, they went.
Shortly after
the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to
watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier, then went back to his fireside
chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later he was startled by a
thudding sound. Then another, and another. At first he
thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window.
Well, when he went to the front door, he found a flock of birds huddled
miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the storm and in a desperate
search for shelter they had tried to fly through his large landscape window.
Well, he
couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and freeze. He remembered the barn
where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter -- if
he could direct the birds to it. He quickly put on his coat and galoshes,
trampled through the deepening snow to the barn, opened the door wide, and
turned on a light. But the birds did not come in.
He figured food
would entice them in and he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs,
sprinkled them on the snow making a trail to the yellow lighted wide open
doorway of the stable, but to his dismay the birds ignored the bread crumbs,
and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them, he
tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms --
instead they scattered in every direction except into the warm lighted barn.
Then he realized they were afraid of him.
To them, he
reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature, if only I could think of some
way to let them know they can trust me: That I’m not trying to hurt them, but
to help them. How? Any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They
just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.
If I could only be a bird myself he thought. If only I
could be a bird and mingle with them and speak their language, and tell them
not to be afraid, and show them the way to the safe, warm barn. But I'd have to
be one of them, so they could see and hear and understand.
At that moment the church
bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sound of the wind. He
stood there listening to the bells. Adeste Fideles. Listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of
Christmas he sank to his knees in the snow. Merry Christmas —God’s Peace and Blessing,
Upcoming Events – December 11 – December 18,
2008
Saturday, December13, 2008
Williams Men Breakfast,
Meet @ 8:00 AM
Williams
Youth @ 3:00PM
Williams
Tree Decorating and Dinner@ 6:00PM
Antioch
Mission Group @BB&T Kenbridge 9:00AM
Monday, December 15, 2008
Bible Study@ Antioch’s
@ 7:00 PM
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Bible Study, Christmas Luncheon@ Audrey
Smith’s @ 10:00 AM
Wednesday, December 17,
2008
Prayer Meeting @ Williams @ 5:45 PM
William’s Celebration Choir practice @
Williams @ 6:00 PM
Worship Events—December 14, 2008,
3rd Sunday of Advent
Service
Theme: Immaculate Conception or “When God Comes to Town
This
week’s reading will be: Sermon Text Luke 1: 26-38
Hebrew Text Isaiah 7: 10-16
Pianists: Leigh
Anne Bacon
Nancy
Turner
Senior Luncheon
The
second quarterly Senior Luncheon was held on Wednesday December 10 at 12:00
noon at
Packing Food for the Food Bank
The
Missions Committee is looking for volunteers to join them on Saturday, December
13 to help box food for those less fortunate in our community. We are going to
meet at BB&T Bank at 9:00 AM if you would like to join us. The Committee
took the Missions offering of $97.00 and bought food stuffs for the food bank
and delivered it to them. They are trying to fill between 110 – 120 boxes this
weekend.
We’re Decorating Williams
On
December 13th, breakfast will be served at 8:00 am for all men.
While they are at the church they will also be standing the Chrismon
tree up. Later that afternoon the Youth Group will go caroling to the shut-ins
in our community. At 6:00 PM we will have a covered dish dinner. Everyone is invited to join us. After dinner we will all join in to decorate
the tree and sanctuary -- and then sing Christmas Carols. It will be a great time of fun and
fellowship.
Joint Services December 21
Christmas Eve Services
We
will celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ, with a special candle light
service at 6:30 PM on Christmas Eve at
Sunday
School is
available each Sunday morning. The
importance of Sunday School is that, though you may think hearing the word will
suffice for you, you really need to be in attendance at Sunday School to gather
all the information that you can in an open discussion classroom. Jesus’ word cannot be totally understood just
by listening to a sermon. You have to
interact with it and with other Christians to learn what He was saying to us. This is a life long study and you should take
part. There is a class for every age so please plan on joining us to learn more
about our Lord, Jesus Christ. Sunday
School at Williams begins at 10:45 AM and at
Evening Bible Study. Evening Bible study will continue on December 15, at
7:00PM. We will be starting to read and study Psalms with a particular look at
the interpretation and historical view of the writers in Psalms 41-72. Pick one
of these Psalms and interpret it. Our
group study is open to everyone, so if you would like to join us come on over, Monday
@ 7:00PM at
If you cannot reach Rev. Ed at the parsonage,
you may call him on his cell phone:
252-532-0952. He can also be
reached via e-mail at revedumc@yahoo.com
. If you would like to receive e-mail
messages from the pastor send an e-mail to him at revedumc@yahoo.com and we will add you to
our list.
Please keep the following families in
your prayers:
|
Marjorie Thompson |
Allen Alcock |
Bertha Arthur |
|
Dr & Mrs. Joseph Ilacqua |
Martha White |
Edith Parham |
|
Bobby & Virginia Overby |
Laura Dutzman |
Jeff Hendricks |
|
Earl "Chuckie” Barnes |
Tom Fowler |
Nathan Hendricks |
|
Edna Bagley |
Will |
Maria Kay |
|
CV & Agnes Thompson |
Sheila Cage |
Frances Hawthorne |
|
Becky Eades
& Boys |
Dorothy Irby |
Betty Lipford |
|
Dennis Chumney |
Betty Reese |
David Jones |
|
Elizabeth Biggerstaff |
Seward Family |
Tommy Cage |
|
Will Wallace |
Hillary Johnson |
Cynthia Peebles |
|
Betty Roegge |
Lisa Robinson |
Mary Conner |
|
Karen & Chris Armstrong |
Bernard Bottoms |
Our Military |
|
Elsie Pennington |
Cameron Fowler |
Dee Welch |
|
Walter B. Moseley |
Mrs. Eubanks |
Grace DiStefano |
|
Linda Darlow & Family |
Gertrude Hite |
Kathy Mc Reynolds |
|
Michelle And Kelly Sexton |
Lauren Sexton |
|
If you have anyone who is in need of
prayer, please place their names on the Prayer List and lift up their names in
prayer during worship service and throughout the week
Remember:
You can come in and pray today,
and beat the Christmas rush."
Have
a Blessed Week