Pastoral newsletter

I don't usually blog in this manner, but today it seemed appropriate.... so
TUESDAY AM PASTORAL WANDERINGS!
With great anticipation I listened to the youtube video that Tom Gibbons forwarded
us 'Where's the Line for Jesus?' and thoroughly enjoyed it - many times.

It reminded me of this past Sun.PM's message on the beloved carol 'O Little Town of
Bethlehem and the first verse that says, 'above thy deep and dreamless sleep.' No one
in that tiny town, or in all Israel was even dreaming about the possibility the Messiah
could come - how like them we are today.

Then early yesterday morning my sciatic nerve decided to begin an early Christmas journey down my left leg, gathering for some holiday cheer in the bottom of my left foot. Eventually I succumbed to the advice of my good wife and visited the doctor. He gave one of those wonderful shoots and the sciatic celebrations were put on hold, now only minimally allowed to remind me its still there. This story is getting way tooo long; so doc told me to go home yesterday afternoon and go to bed until Wed. .........so as always, since I'm paying for the visit/shot I figured that gives me the right to compromise ...and so here I am writing to youfrom the office, and feeling good. Aren't feelings wonderful when they are dis-illusions [I'm fairly sure that not a word]. This medical advice about compromise I would not advise you to follow.

So my end of the compromise was I went to bed early and not sleepy at all decided to read. I picked up a book I hadn't read for years, "Angels Don't Die" by Patti Davis, Ronald Reagan's daughter. The book is about her journey of faith that was so heavily influenced by her father, and still is today. Its a small book, 122 pages, concluding with Pres.Reagan's address to the nation about his beginning days of Alzheimer's. It was a great read and this time I made list of pages that impressed me ..........and one of them was,
#33 "The ancient Hindu scriptures say, 'deep within each of us is a God embryo. It
has only one desire - it wants to be born."
And I thought wow, that's not new with Hindu, that scriptural ... we are all born in the image of God, its our responsibility to allow that image to blossom and flourish in our lives so that others might know.

Somehow this passage in this book brought the carol, the youtube video and book all together for a great blessing yesterday .... and then this morning Sherry told me that she had been given the story behind the youtube video by a work acquaintance and would email it to me ... I'll share it with you this Sunday AM!! In the meantime here is another youtube video we received this morning from an old friend of ours back in Champaign, Ill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWrrvQ_3-40

Our ADVENT meditation for today, p.#35 'We are invited to journey deep within the
love of God by giving all of ourselves to loving God and our neighbor!'

HIS Peace
pt.