Christmas Eve Service - Five Degrees Below Zero in the Sanctuary - Ice Storm

Next conversation is with the insurance company

Our congregation has a very traditional approach to Christmas Eve. With the slight variation of the Christmas carols, the comfort of Christmas consists of about eight carols, the Bible readings and three short stories about people celebrating the coming of the Holy One. The last story is the same every year.

300,000 homes, or about 650,000 persons lost power during the ice storm, the worst ever to hit Toronto. Where we live was hit very hard. At 2:30 in the morning the sound was like that of a war - except branches were coming down, unable to hold up under the weight of the ice.

Christmas 2013 will always be remembered for this

The next day, under a deep blue sky, each tree shone as it was alive, covered with crystal glass - but it was dangerous ice. Close to our home, one family lost two cars with a tree fell down (only one car shown in the photo.

On another street, a huge branch of a tree came crashing down on the house and the car. Whole sections of the area we live in were affected for days. Temperatures kept dropping in homes. Stores were shut down and police stations also affected, as were fire stations.

The street beside our church building looked as if a war had happened there. Cars were smashed by falling limbs and today, right now, a full seven days later, the light is still not back on for these neighbors

Every tree shone with ice covers

By Christmas eve, 90 hours later, our church building, shown in the last picture, was five degrees BELOW zero. When the congregation sang the carols, each person could see their breath as a little vapor cloud. Everyone left their jackets on. No power point - no colored lights on a Christmas tree. The musicians hands were so cold that an occasional odd note sounded out. The bass player found he couldn't always curl his fingers around the strings.

But the precious truths were told and retold. Yes, it's a very traditional service - and those  three stories - the first two being new to the congregation and the last story is always the same one. Of course, the Bible readings never change.

Our pastor said, "I never cancel a service. I didn't know the auditorium would be packed out tonight."

A congregation is so much more than a building

Within the little community church we call our home, - our friends, humble men and women of God, their teens and their children - there's a re-awakened spirit. One - It was on a dark night that the angels first appeared.

Two - like us, there are thousands of congregations that meet in the dark around the world, in places where they are "under-ground" because "men love the darkness more than the light".

Three - Innumerable stories of goodwill and charity are pouring out across the city - when was there ever a Christmas in which so many neighbors reached out to one another for days with hot soup, helping with children, looking in on shut-ins. The talk of strangers at the grocery store, "How many hours were you in the dark before the Hydro crew restored your electricity?" is one of a common experience - living in very cold homes for endless hours.

And the greatest lesson of all? That our Lord Jesus Christ came into the darkness to bring his light - the Light of Life.  

"The White Ants are Coming!" (Well, yes they did come...and they ate my house.)

My friend Samuel, a year older than me, near Eldoret

It's nothing that I planned, nor could I have done so. Growing up in an area of Kenya where the Nandi language group dominated, my first African friend was called Samuel.

He was named for Samuel, in the Bible, and for the man who helped the Nandi Bible to be translated by Stuart Bryson.

Samuel, the teacher who helped Stuart Bryson to learn the Nandi language, had gone from a village near Eldoret to Kijabe. (I'll tell that story in the next blog.)

"The White ants - unwelcome visitors, ate our house

Because the Nandi languages - several dialects - demand the careful use of "tone", it was easy to Light in Darkness.
make a mistake. Bryson tells this story in his book,
"When the others had gone my African col


These walls had to be rebuilt

league Samuel said to me, 'Bwana, do you know the difference between these two Nandi words?' and he pronounced two words. 'I can hear,' I said, 'that one of them has a rising inflection and the other has a falling inflection.'

"Yes," said Samuel, "one means 'visitors' and the other means 'white ants. You have been talking to us about white ants and telling s that they will be visiting us!"

Well, that Samuel was an old man when I had my friend Samuel. I used the right inflection when I poked my finger against the wall, and all the wood inside had been eaten by the white ants - the termites. There was nothing there! The "wall", which was now just a layer of paint, was torn down. Eight Kikuyu carpenters came to rebuild the entire house.

Eight African carpenters rebuilt our house, making it larger

Those white ants (inflection falling) were certainly unwelcome visitors (inflection rising).

And we would not say "'Chamge" (Is it well? - Hello), but we gladly said "saisere" (goodbye) to them.

The house was rebuilt with a better foundation, and at that time I only remembered a little bit of the displacement - our family had to leave the walls. The wonderful African carpenters knew how to get rid of the ants, digging up their large next which was right under out house. The entire structure had to be rebuilt, and they did it by leaving the roof in place. We never knew how it was that the roof didn't fall down on us, causing distress and grief.

 

The First Christmas Sermon 386AD

John Chrysostom  - From Antioch in 386 A.D

I behold a new and wondrous mystery! My ears resound to the Shepherd's song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn.

The Angels sing!

The Archangels blend their voices in harmony!

The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise!

The Seraphim exalt His glory!
All join to praise this holy feast, beholding the Godhead here on earth, and man in heaven. He who is above, now for our redemption dwells here below; and he that was lowly is by divine mercy raised.

Bethlehem this day resembles heaven; hearing from the stars the singing of angelic voices; and in place of the sun, enfolds within itself on every side the Sun of Justice.

And ask not how: for where God wills, the order of nature yields. For He willed, he had the power, He descended, He redeemed; all things move in obedience to God.

This day He Who Is, is Born; and He Who Is becomes what He was not. For when He was God, He became man; yet not departing from the Godhead that is His. Nor yet by any loss of divinity became He man, nor through increase became he God from man; but being the Word He became flesh, His nature, because of impassibility, remaining unchanged.

And so the kings have come, and they have seen the heavenly King that has come upon the earth, not bringing with Him Angels, nor Archangels, nor Thrones, nor Dominations, nor Powers, nor Principalities, but, treading a new and solitary path, He has come forth from a spotless womb.

Yet He has not forsaken His angels, nor left them deprived of His care, nor because of His Incarnation has he departed from the Godhead.

And behold,

Kings have come, that they might adore the heavenly King of glory;
Soldiers, that they might serve the Leader of the Hosts of Heaven;
Women, that they might adore Him Who was born of a woman so that He might change the pains of child-birth into joy;
Virgins, to the Son of the Virgin, beholding with joy, that He Who is the Giver of milk, Who has decreed that the fountains of the breast pour forth in ready streams, receives from a Virgin Mother the food of infancy;
Infants, that they may adore Him Who became a little child, so that out of the mouth of infants and sucklings, He might perfect praise;
Children, to the Child Who raised up martyrs through the rage of Herod;
Men, to Him Who became man, that He might heal the miseries of His servants;
Shepherds, to the Good Shepherd Who has laid down His life for His sheep;
Priests, to Him Who has become a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedech;
Servants, to Him Who took upon Himself the form of a servant that He might bless our servitude with the reward of freedom;
Fishermen, to Him Who from amongst fishermen chose catchers of men;
Publicans, to Him Who from amongst them named a chosen Evangelist;
Sinful women, to Him Who exposed His feet to the tears of the repentant;


And that I may embrace them all together, all sinners have come, that they may look upon the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world.

Since therefore all rejoice, I too desire to rejoice. I too wish to share the choral dance, to celebrate the festival. But I take my part, not plucking the harp, not shaking the Thyrsian staff, not with the music of pipes, nor holding a torch, but holding in my arms the cradle of Christ.

For this is all my hope, this my life, this my salvation, this my pipe, my harp. And bearing it I come, and having from its power received the gift of speech, I too, with the angels, sing:
Glory to God in the Highest; and with the shepherds:
and on earth peace to men of good will




 

If you were a Syrian refugee, would you head for Greece? Christians in Crisis

Sadly, life does not get any easier for Syrian refugees who manage to enter Greece. Without legal documentation, they are detained by police and placed in woefully overcrowded detention camps. Most are released after a few months.

Less than three percent ever obtain asylum status. When we worked with refugees during our years in Istanbul, we witnessed the plight of people fleeing Syria.

Christians in Crisis is one of hundreds of organizations seeking to give aid to Syrian refugees.

Iranian Christian Mostafa Bordbar was released from prison on Nov. 3, following a successful appeal against the 10 year prison sentence he received on July 31 2013.

According to a news release from human rights organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), his release comes almost three months after he was imprisoned in Evin Prison on charges of being a member of an "anti-security organization," and "gathering with intent to commit crimes against Iranian national security."

An appeal court cleared him of all of charges on Oct. 30. Bordbar was arrested on Dec. 27 2012, along with 50 other Christian converts who had gathered to celebrate Christmas in a house in northern Tehran. They were detained, interrogated for several hours and forced to hand over personal details, including Facebook and e-mail addresses and passwords.

http://www.christiansincrisis.net/latest-news/2112-mostafa-bordbar-released-from-iranian-prison.html

What it Costs Children and Teens in South East Asia to Follow Jesus

The L. church might have been better off postponing their baptismal service to this week to take advantage of the  beautiful weather. As it was, it rained lightly during the service last week in which seven were baptized, mostly young people.

 

One of the adults was born deformed at birth with one leg largely missing but is able to hobble around standing about waist high when fully erect. She has been attending the services for over a year.

A group of youngsters— twenty one children in attendance. A few of them have been attending the A. church . There is a major problem since as soon as they are able the parents want them to work. So as a fifteen year old or even a fourteen year old they may no longer be able to go to school, but for example, may be forced to work in a restaurant seven days a week, often at less than minimum wage. One such girl manages to get off on Saturday to attend a Bible session—the only time off she has during the week.

 

Legally they are supposed to be able to go to school until age twenty or twenty one but obviously such laws are not enforced. Please pray for these children, mostly girls, that they will continue to be able to get spiritual nourishment as they grow older and grow in their knowledge of the Lord. A couple years back one student who wanted to go to Bible school was forced to get married at age fifteen and go to work to help ease the family's financial burden.  In the experience of one adult, it was years after she became a Christian that she really started to grow in the Christian faith.

When the ten nations in this region begin to co-operate in 2015, they will be using English as a common language. Some of these countries are behind a number of the other nations in its English skills. Since some of the countires that are to form the union are already scrapping, it will be interesting to see what takes place.

(Note: this news was edited before being posted.)