Live Nativity

Come and see our 20th annual

Live Nativity

Saturday, Dec. 12

Sunday, Dec. 13

4:30-8:00 pm

St. Andrew Lutheran Church

335 Reynolds Ave, Parsippany, NJ 07054

(973) 887-6713

Come spend a few moments with us and get your holiday heart focused on the true spirit of Christmas.

15 minute continuous narratives

refreshments

an orament gift to each small group/individual

A Servant's Heart

Will you say “YES!” to God?

This is the time of year when it is so very easy to get caught up in all the trappings of holiday craziness. The desire to find the perfect gifts, make the perfect cookies, send the perfect Christmas cards, attend the right parties…all these things can easily push their way to the forefront of our minds, pushing those less tangible Christmas experiences to the recesses of our thoughts.

I imagine that Mary also thought the last thing she had time to do while planning her wedding to Joseph was to sit down and have a chat with the angel Gabriel. Yet, Mary said “Yes” to God. She risked everything … her marriage, her safety, her ties to family and community, her life. Biblical descriptions of angels, and the reaction of people to them, make me think that it would have been impossible to refuse Gabriel’s proposition anyway, but somehow Mary found the courage to say, “Yes.” Gabriel appears saying, “Do not be afraid!” Luke 1:30-31. Mary answers with, “Behold the servant of the Lord, may it be as He has proclaimed.” Luke 1:38

Keeping the things that are truly important in the front and center of our minds isn’t always easy to do when we are buffeted by worldly cares day in and day out. The thing we often fail to remember is that it is exactly those times, when we say “Yes” to God, that our lives become full of meaning, and our hearts and minds are filled with peace. This is what God desires from us, that we say “Yes” to Him and allow His love to fill our lives. God’s love is limitless and a free gift for those who accept it. When we welcome God into our lives, we can not help but share his abundant love with others. It is the nature God’s love that it should not end with us.

This Christmas, take a moment to reflect upon the ways God is asking you to say “Yes” to Him. Instead of grumbling about picking up a gift for a donation, try to shift your thoughts to the joy you will bring to a child. Instead of grousing about paying a holiday visit to your in-laws, adopt an attitude of gratitude that you have family with which to share the holiday and do not have to spend it alone. Worship. Fellowship. Relax. Enjoy each other. Share God’s love. Say “Yes” to God.

End Times

End Times?

There has been a lot of talk lately about the “end times” and especially about the year 2012. The new movie “2012” has fueled many discussions and news articles about the Mayan calendar and the end of the world as we know it. Does this mean the end of the world, as some fatalists and fear-mongers are proposing?

Biblical people of ancient days also feared and anticipated the “end times” as well. The Wise Men who traveled from the East to worship the newborn king, studied the stars and the prophecies and came to King Herod in search of the new king, born in Bethlehem. This new king was promised to usher in a new reign of peace for the Israelites, his very prospect a threat to the established order of power. His arrival was a portent of the end of things as Herod knew them.

Some 30 years later, John the Baptist would call followers to repent and change their ways because the Messiah was coming…they world as people knew it was going to end. Jesus’ resurrection from death did indeed bring an end to the world as people knew it. It was a cataclysmic event with soul-wrenching seismic ripples that spanned centuries, and will continue to impact the human race for an eternity to come... victory over death, salvation – bought and paid for by the sacrifice of One.

As we enter a new season of Advent, the Sunday Bible readings call us also to get ready. The shortened days and longer nights of darkness crash against our desire for light. The world awaits the coming of a new Light of the World, a new Prince of Peace, and King of Kings…one who will end the world as we know it and usher in a new world of peace and love. Advent promises the prospect of light and victory of hope. Each Christmas, we are reminded of the boundless love of a God that would send His only Son into our midst to die…God enrobed in human flesh and frailties…so that we might gain EVERYTHING and join our creator in eternal love and relationship. What God would do this? Turn everything upside down so that we might be saved from ourselves and brought into eternity with Him? This is not the world as we know it…this is the world as God knows it. What we can glimpse of the Master’s plan is but a pin prick of light when God himself IS the light.

Each one of us will face our own “end time” as we stand before our God and are judged for how well we used the gifts and talents we were given to share Christ’s love with the world. Living in fear of whether or not the world will end in a cataclysmic event is foolishness if you forget to answer God’s call and mission for your life, or if you fail to love your neighbor as yourself.

Just lay aside your fears, enter the stable, look into the manger and see the life God has promised for you…full of love, mercy, joy and the promise of the future.

St. Andrew’s 20th Annual Live Nativity
Dec. 12 & 13, 2009
4:30 – 8:00 pm
Continuous 15-minute readings of the Nativity story and how a servant’s heart can change the world. Admission is FREE. Refreshments will be served. Receive an ornament gift.

Veterans' Day

Veterans’ Day, Nov. 11, 2009

Today is a day set aside for remembering those who have served this United States of America and those who are serving yet today.

Both my children are scouts, and within each of their respective pledges they promise to serve “God and my country.” While some people argue that God and government should not be intertwined, I believe that within this promise to serve both God and country, we find the makings of the most dedicated citizenry. We are called to serve God by serving our neighbors, being Christ in our communities. We can also serve our neighbors by serving our country. By protecting the rights, lifestyle and religious freedoms we enjoy as Americans, our veterans have chosen to live lives of service. They show us by their example how we can serve both God and country.

My son’s Boy Scout troop has a Flag Program, whereby subscribers to the program will have a U.S. flag posted on their front lawn on each of the five “flag” holidays, Veterans’ Day being one of those holidays. I love this program, because it forces us to remember to honor our fallen heroes (Memorial Day), our flag (Flag Day), our country and our independence (July 4th), those who work (Labor Day) and our soldiers (Veterans’ Day). Hopefully it also reminds the other neighbors on the street to post their flag. How many of us would otherwise forget to post our flag in remembrance or respect?

Our veterans have felt a call to duty to protect the values and rights we take for granted everyday, among them freedom to worship. Our Bill of Rights “prohibits Congress from making any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Let us not take for granted the value of their service. Did you post your flag today?

Celebrating All Saints

Nov. 1, 2009
(This post is dedicated to Stani Burchartz, 1991-2006)

Today is the Festival of All Saints. All Saint’s Day is Nov. 1, the day after Halloween, or All Hallow’s Eve, but is traditionally celebrated in worship on the first Sunday in November. All Hallow’s Eve is linked to a Celtic celebration of Samhain, which recognized the end of longer days and the beginning of shorter days. It is said that the Celts believed that the boundaries between this world and the world of the dead became blurred at this time of the year, and the spirits of the dead might pass more easily between the two realms. Dressing in costume was done to ward off the bad spirits by appearing to BE an evil spirit. Historically, the Church chose this time to remember the saints.

As Lutherans, we believe we are ALL saints AND sinners. We believe in a community of saints; that as we partake in Holy Communion, our table extends beyond the concrete and physical walls of our present church out into time and space, where we are joined together with all of the living and departed family of God in an unending banquet feast hosted by Jesus Christ.

On the Festival of All Saints, we have a tradition of reading the names of those members of Saint Andrew who have died. When Pastor Fred accepted the call to pastor our congregation, he added the practice of ringing a handbell with the reading of each name. This year, we added the practice of lighting a tealight candle for each name read and then allowing the congregation to come forward and light a tealight candle for anyone they wanted to remember as a saint of God. This gives us all the opportunity to recognize those people in our lives, living or dead, who shine with the light of Jesus Christ as a saint among us.

While many of those names read each year are of people I do not know, I know some of them through the stories of their faithful ministry to this congregation. In recent years, a few names very near and dear to me have been added to this list. I find it comforting to know they will be remembered here always. The day-to-day world may move on and forget, but the Church will remember its saints.

While this act of remembrance is important, it can also be painful. Some years it is easier to hear the names of those I love and miss. Other years, like this one, I am overcome with loss and the tears well up and spill over against all my attempts to remain composed. However, it is exactly here, in this family of St. Andrew, where I am then comforted by those around me…and I am allowed to lovingly remember the beauty and faithfulness of children of God taken from us too soon. But it is also through the wonder and beauty of this Festival of All Saints, that we are reminded that our feelings of loss are but temporary, as we will one day be joined together again with our loved ones in an eternal celebration of the life and abundance of the love of God, through our Savior Jesus Christ.