Posted: 12/14/07

Happy New Year?
For Christians it began with Advent

By Jennifer Harris

Missouri Word & Way

When does the New Year begin? For Christians observing the church calendar, the new year began Dec. 2, with the start of the Advent season.

The liturgical church year is an “or-derly way to look at the full scope of Christ-ian themes in a year-long fashion,” said John Baker, pastor of First Baptist Church in Columbia, Mo.

The year begins with Advent, which starts the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Advent is a time of preparation or anticipation of the birth of Christ.

Advent: Red Letter Days • Happy New Year? For Christians it began with Advent • Christian motorcyclists and mudders bring Christmas cheer in Beaumont • Churches push Advent Conspiracy to teach real giving • Fair-trade items offer Christmas gifts with a conscience • Christmas brighter for children of military families, thanks to UMHB student project • For some, happy holidays means no gifts • International students share Christmas joy • Who were those “wise men from the East” bearing gifts? • 2nd Opinion: The two sides of advent • What if Christmas had not come? • Finding the ‘spirit of Christmas'

“If you’re going to have a party, you don’t just decide that day,” said Greg Lundberg, associate pastor of music and worship at Kirkwood Baptist Church in Kirkwood, Mo. “You put a lot of energy into the event. You prepare food, activities, decorations and gifts or favors for the guests. You want to make it special. That’s what’s so special about Advent. It’s a time set aside to prepare.”

“We try not to get to the birth too soon,” Baker said. “It is hard, but it builds the anticipation.”

First Baptist in Columbia accomplishes this, in part, with careful selection of Christmas hymns and carols. During the weeks of Advent, the songs focus more on the coming of Christ.

First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., celebrates in a similar way.

“Advent begins in darkness, with the flame of hope sputtering on its charred wick,” Pastor Jim Somerville wrote in the church newsletter.

“We sing out hymns in minor keys. We drape the church in purple. But as the other candles are lit in the weeks that follow—peace and joy and love—the sense of expectancy is heightened, and when the Christ candle is lit on Christmas Eve, the mood shifts suddenly and dramatically.

“The house lights come up. Deep purple is replaced by dazzling white and gold. The minor key modulates into the major, and suddenly it is nothing but joy to the world, for the Lord is come!”

The 12 days of Christmas begin Dec. 25 and are followed by Epiphany, the revelation of Jesus to humanity, specifically in the visit of the Magi.

After Epiphany is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day time of preparation for the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, culminating in Holy Week and, finally, Easter Sunday.

“Easter is the high holy day of the Christian year,” Baker said. “It far supercedes Christmas in importance.”

Christmas would be meaningless if not for Easter, he explains. Had Christ not risen from the dead, his birth would not be as important.

After Easter comes Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit and birthday of the church.

The remainder of the year is made up of what is called ordinary time, which lasts until the next Advent. Ordinary does not mean the time is common or plain, but refers to “ordinal” or numbered.

The season of ordinary time does have some special emphasis days, such as Trinity Sunday and All Saints Day.

Another part of the liturgical year is the use of the lectionary, a three-year cycle through most passages of the Bible. Baker likes the lectionary because it helps ensure the entire Bible is covered. “We tend to get caught in the things we like most,” he said. “The lectionary helps make sure I don’t preach my own canon.”

Somerville said the lectionary makes sure there is a lot of Scripture in each service. Each week has an Old Testament passage, a Psalm, a gospel reading and an epistle. “We try to read all four passages out loud each week,” he said. “If a person has been at the church for three years, they have heard most of the Bible.”

“Baptists are known as ‘people of the Book,’” he said. “Yet we can attend a service and hear one half of one verse. With the lectionary, the people hear four complete passages from Scripture.”

Why follow the church year? For Robin Sandbothe of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kan., incorporating the church year in worship is profoundly meaningful.

“I did not grow up observing (the church year)—other than Christmas and Easter,” she said. “I was first exposed to its fullness in seminary. The connection it provides to both the Church around the world and the Church historically has an almost mystical significance for me—no ‘almost’ about it, really. I’m drawn to the contemplative nature of the seasons’ observances.”

Somerville began implementing the church calendar into worship during an earlier pastorate. He had been following the Southern Baptist Convention’s denominational calendar. When he saw Palm Sunday labeled as “start a church commitment Sunday,” he felt it was wrong.

“Not that there is anything wrong with starting a church,” he emphasized. “It just shouldn’t be the theme of Palm Sunday.”

He began looking to the church calendar and was glad First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., had been following the calendar for “years and years.”

Somerville admitted keeping the symbols and traditions fresh can be a struggle, but he added that is a struggle regardless whether the church year is being followed.

“People know what I’m going to say on Easter,” he said. “‘Christ is risen.’ Finding new ways to say that is hard. But then, it’s hard to have a bad Easter.”

Somerville said the church year can be special and meaningful because of the layers upon layers of meaning that are applied each year.

Ultimately, it comes down to how you plan worship, he said.

“Do you plan sermons based on a denominational emphasis, the life in your community at that point or how the Spirit moves on Saturday night? The church year is at least as legitimate as those methods, and perhaps more intentional than some. I’d find it hard to go back to another method.”

Lundberg agrees.

“We follow calendars, whether we like it or not,” he said. “Most follow a Hallmark calendar. We celebrate a lot of things that we should. We should remember the important things—the incarnation of Jesus as God in this world, the resurrection.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/17/07

Missouri Baptist rift widens when leaders
restrict funding for church starts

By Vicki Brown

Associated Baptist Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP)—A decision by Missouri Baptist Convention leaders to cut off funding for certain new church starts has set off a firestorm of protest and further widened a rift among conservative Baptists in the state.

Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Board members approved a measure at their December meeting to withdraw funding and other assistance to church plants affiliated with the Acts 29 Network. The regularly scheduled board meeting was truncated due to an impending ice storm.

As presented, the motion directed convention staffers to stop working with, supporting, or endorsing the church-planting network “in any manner at any time,” effective Jan. 1. An amendment added the provision to direct “the (state convention’s) church planting department and other ministry departments to not provide Cooperative Program dollars toward those affiliated with the Acts 29 Network.” The amended motion passed 28-10.

The network has been controversial since last year, when some conservatives accused an Acts 29-affiliated church start in St. Louis of endorsing alcohol consumption by holding a Bible study night in a local pub. They later accused the network of being riddled with similar churches. Acts 29 is a non-denominational association of so-called “new paradigm” congregations.

Micah Fries, pastor of Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Mo., was “very upset” by the board’s decision. “This is further evidence that our lip service given to church planting is just that, lip service, and not representative of a significant commitment to the act of planting new congregations and pushing back lostness,” he wrote in his blog, Micahfries.com.

“We’re not talking about a liberal/conservative argument, either,” he continued. “This is a matter of differing opinions between theological conservatives. … This decision is more evidence that we, as a convention, are moving from simply being biblical and conservative to being legalistic and exclusionary over non-essential issues.”

Fries and other bloggers point out that several Southern Baptist Convention leaders participate in the Acts 29 Network, including Ed Stetzer, senior director of the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research. Stetzer is a former Acts 29 Network board member.

Some bloggers are convinced the issue has more to do with the convention’s position on alcohol, a stand against its use confirmed at its recent annual meeting. But Missouri Baptist Convention President Gerald Davidson said he believes other issues are involved.

“Just to be real truthful, I don’t know much about Acts 29,” Davidson said in a phone interview. “Alcohol was made to be the issue. … That was one of the big issues, but I don’t know if that was the real issue.”

A report by a theological study committee appointed by the convention to study the issue may have played into the board’s decision as well, Davidson said. He emphasized the board did not vote to adopt that report, but simply to “receive” it.

The board did not receive a “minority report” prepared by committee member David McAlpin.

The theological study committee labeled the Acts 29 Network part of the emerging-church movement. But network participants disagree with that characterization.

The committee called the network “the relevants” or the “right-wing” section of the emergent movement, which seeks to integrate the Christian message into post-modern culture.

The report charges the emergent movement with de-emphasizing “systematic Christian doctrine and biblical theology,” “intentional reluctance” to deal with “social, moral, ethical and political issues,” “distrust of traditional values” and “levels of immaturity and even rebellion,” among several other accusations.

In his blog, Acts 29 Network Director Scott Thomas attributed the Missouri Baptist decision primarily to alcohol and emphasized the network is conservative and holds conservative views.

The organization’s website emphasizes its Reformed theological views and notes that planted churches are asked to follow the guidelines set by their sponsoring denominational groups. If a denomination requires a pledge to abstain from alcohol, the church is asked to sign a pledge.

The site emphasizes the network’s evangelical identity and lists its basic beliefs. It also lists 18 differences between the organization and those to which it has been compared, including liberal groups and fundamentalist groups.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/13/07

Bible Studies for Life Series for December 23

Celebrating the Savior’s Birth

• Luke 2:1-20

By Steve Dominy

First Baptist Church, Gatesville

What a motley crew! Well, motley might not be the best term, but certainly an unexpected crew. The people that God chose to bring the Messiah into the world and the people to whom God first announced his birth were an unlikely lot. Joseph and Mary were an unlikely couple, not even yet married they were chosen for this task. And why in the world would God choose to announce the coming of the Messiah to the shepherds? They rarely made it to town and certainly would not have been considered a group with any influence. But those are the characters of this story and a component of this story that we cannot overlook.

God uses ordinary people in his work and always has. We don’t usually compare ourselves to biblical heroes, but James says that, “Elijah was a man just like us.” So maybe the fact that the people in this story were people just like us should matter to us. It is through these people that some of our misconceptions about Christmas can be cleaned up. That was certainly the case with Mary and Joseph. They were planning a wedding, getting ready for the life that they would have together, we know their story, are familiar with it, it is not much different from ours until God intervenes. And when God steps in, everything changes.

One of the characters in the story that gets quite a bit of negative reaction this time of year is the innkeeper. The story of the innkeeper is largely fictitious, it comes to us from plays we have seen or books that we have read, but the innkeeper is not mentioned in the story at all. The only thing that Luke says is, “…there was no room for them in the inn.” One of the misconceptions that we have is that Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem the night of Jesus’ birth. We have this mental picture of Joseph leading the donkey on which Mary rides late at night, going from door to door trying to find a place for his wife who will give birth any minute. They go through Bethlehem valiantly and vainly searching in the cold night air, led only by the reflection of the moon and the light of the stars. But when we realize that Bethlehem was eighty or ninety miles from Nazareth it becomes questionable that they showed up at the last minute. In fact, Luke states, “While they were there.” And Matthew doesn’t mention the journey at all. All of it gives the impression that Joseph and Mary had been in Bethlehem for a while.

That shouldn’t really surprise us when we consider that Joseph wanted to shield Mary from the shame and scandal of an unexpected pregnancy. We know that Mary went to visit Elizabeth for three moths and it is certainly reasonable to believe that Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem for quite a while.

Luke says that there was no room for them in the inn. Our usual picture of that is of an early Palestinian version of a Motel Six. But the word used for inn is the same word used to describe the room that Jesus reserved for the Last Supper. The real difficulty did not come in finding a place to stay as much as it did in finding an undisturbed place for the birth of a child. When we take into consideration the fact that Mary would have been ceremonially unclean as well as the room in which she stayed the maybe the innkeeper wasn’t so bad after all. I would argue that the hallmarks of the innkeeper were thoughtfulness, kindness and hospitality. It is amazing whom God chooses to use in his work.

The same can be said of the shepherds. No one in Judea would ever have guessed that the angel would have made his proclamation to the shepherds. Sheep weren’t only the main source of meat, they were also the main source of fiber for clothing. Large numbers of lambs would be needed for the daily sacrifices at the Temple. In a day without fences and predator control, being a shepherd was more a lifestyle than a job. Not only did the nature of their work take a lot of time, it was one that made them ceremonially unclean. How interesting that ceremonial uncleanness should come up again in the same story. That God would use those ceremonially unclean to tell the Good News makes it even more interesting. It was to those shepherds, unclean and overlooked by their society that God announced the birth of his Son.

Luke records two responses to the birth of Jesus in this section. The first for us to look at is Mary’s response, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Mary was no different than any other parent, she loved it as much as we do when people brag on our children. But her situation was a little different, she knew who her child was and who he would be. It had to be a little overwhelming for her and definitely humbling. All that God had done in her life was worth treasuring.

The shepherds response was a little different, they went and told everyone they could find about what they had been told about the child. The praised and glorified God for what he had done and didn’t keep any of it a secret. When in comes down to it, the people in the Christmas story were no different from us. Paul says that we have this treasure in jars of clay, it is a treasure that we are to share and make known and not bury. Our response is to be the same as that of Mary and the shepherds, treasuring up all that God is and has done, and sharing the Good News of what God has done in Christ in his world. News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/14/07

Christian motorcyclists and mudders
bring Christmas cheer in Beaumont

By Analiz González

Buckner International

EAUMONT—Santa Claus on a fire truck led a parade of bikers, 4X4s and hot rods to a crowd of waiting children in front of Buckner Children’s Village.

The crowd from the residential children’s home and the Buckner foster care program rode the vehicles, voted for their favorites and then went mudding on Buckner property hosed down by the fire department with 30,000 gallons of water.

Advent: Red Letter Days • Happy New Year? For Christians it began with Advent • Christian motorcyclists and mudders bring Christmas cheer in Beaumont • Churches push Advent Conspiracy to teach real giving • Fair-trade items offer Christmas gifts with a conscience • Christmas brighter for children of military families, thanks to UMHB student project • For some, happy holidays means no gifts • International students share Christmas joy • Who were those “wise men from the East” bearing gifts? • 2nd Opinion: The two sides of advent • What if Christmas had not come? • Finding the ‘spirit of Christmas'

It’s an experience Rhonda O’Neill, community affairs coordinator for Buckner in Beaumont, called unforgettable.

“The kids look forward to this event the entire year,” O’Neill said. “They start talking about it in August. And when a new child arrives, they’ll tell them all about it, saying: ‘Just wait ’til Christmastime. You’ll think it’s amazing.’”

And the day wasn’t over until the toys were handed out. Each resident at Buckner Children’s Village received a special gift from Santa.

Donations for the 17th annual party were put together by a number of individuals and organizations.

A Christian biker takes a Buckner child for a ride past the inflatable Christmas decorations.

“They come to our campus and provide an amazing Christmas party for our kids,” said Greg Eubanks, director of Buckner Children and Family Services of Southeast Texas.

“Their compassion is evident in all they do. It wouldn’t be Christmas at Buckner Children’s Village without the Toy Run. I’m so thankful for the generosity of these groups.”

In addition to the gifts for the children, the groups presented the residential facility with four 32-inch TVs for each of its houses, new plush towels and funding toward technology needs.

Santa readies himself to pas out toys at Buckner Children's Village.

Mary Young from the Trinity Travelers Chapter of the Christian Motorcyclists Association has been involved in the Toy Run since it was initiated 17 years ago.

“We let the children give us a list of things they want, and we select something—or some things—that are within the price range,” Young said.

“We just love the kids and enjoy doing it. We have as much fun as the children do.”

Young’s organization also hosted a present-wrapping party to get the gifts ready for the children before the event.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/14/07

Churches push Advent
Conspiracy to teach real giving

By Nancy Haught

Religion News Service

PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS)—The Christmas contradiction gives Pastor Rick McKinley a headache.

Americans will spend about $475 billion this year on gifts, decorations and parties that many won’t even remember next year. They will run themselves ragged—shopping, wrapping and celebrating. And some won’t pay off their Christmas debt until March, if they’re lucky.

Advent: Red Letter Days • Happy New Year? For Christians it began with Advent • Christian motorcyclists and mudders bring Christmas cheer in Beaumont • Churches push Advent Conspiracy to teach real giving • Fair-trade items offer Christmas gifts with a conscience • Christmas brighter for children of military families, thanks to UMHB student project • For some, happy holidays means no gifts • International students share Christmas joy • Who were those “wise men from the East” bearing gifts? • 2nd Opinion: The two sides of advent • What if Christmas had not come? • Finding the ‘spirit of Christmas'

“We celebrate Jesus’ birthday by giving ourselves presents,” McKinley said. “We don’t give him anything.”

McKinley is pastor of the Imago Dei Community, a Christian church of about 1,500 members that meets in a high school auditorium here. It dawned on McKinley as he prepared an Advent sermon last year that the call today is to resist consumerism and give gifts like God does.

“These are relational gifts,” he said. God gives himself to people, and God wants people who will give of themselves to the poor.

So, McKinley and a few pastor friends from around the country hatched what they called the Advent Conspiracy. They challenged their congregations: Spend less on Christmas, give relational gifts and donate the money saved to the poor.

Three congregations collected $430,000—Imago Dei collected $110,000 on a single Sunday—and gave most of that to Living Water International, a nonprofit project that digs wells in the Third World.

In the following few months, word of the Advent Conspiracy spread over the Internet. McKinley and like-minded people such as Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren talked about it every chance they got.

This year, about 491 churches from 10 nations joined the conspiracy, said Jeanne McKinley, who directs the program from Imago Dei Community with her husband, Rick. World Relief, an evangelical mission group, has recruited 500 more churches to participate. About 1,700 individuals joined on the Internet, she noted.

Rick McKinley asks one thing of his co-conspirators—that they donate at least 25 percent of their Christmas savings to clean water projects. The United Nations Development Program estimates $10 billion a year would help solve the shortage of clean water.

“The church needs to be on the leading edge of solving this problem,” he said.

Joining the Advent Conspiracy allowed Jan Carson to “let go of the frenzy of gift-giving and made the run-up to Christmas more peaceful,” she said. Carson wrote short stories for friends and relatives, and she created mix CDs for friends.

Clark Blakeman, another Imago Dei pastor and a conspiracy veteran, and his wife proposed it last year to their four teenagers as a first step toward a deeper understanding of Christmas.

“On Christmas morning, there were fewer gifts, but it was better than I ever would have expected,” Blakeman said. “It was so obvious that the kids took greater delight in the gifts they had made and how they would be received.”

And there was another gift that neither Blakeman nor McKinley anticipated. Families spend more time together as they plan and make gifts. It all becomes relational if people resist consumerism.

“We’re not asking that you don’t spend money on Christmas,” McKinley said, “just that you do it with the poor in mind.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/14/07

Christmas brighter for children of military
families, thanks to UMHB student project

By Laura Frase

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

Advent: Red Letter Days • Happy New Year? For Christians it began with Advent • Christian motorcyclists and mudders bring Christmas cheer in Beaumont • Churches push Advent Conspiracy to teach real giving • Fair-trade items offer Christmas gifts with a conscience • Christmas brighter for children of military families, thanks to UMHB student project • For some, happy holidays means no gifts • International students share Christmas joy • Who were those “wise men from the East” bearing gifts? • 2nd Opinion: The two sides of advent • What if Christmas had not come? • Finding the ‘spirit of Christmas'

BELTON—Globs of blue paint drip from 2-year-old Reagan Clark’s tiny hands. But before they form much of a puddle, he offers a high five to the blank canvas of his playhouse. He admires his artwork with pride and repeats his mark several times, then he immediately whirls around with a wide grin and fresh paint on his face, ready to go back for more.

Students built and painted four playhouses for four military families from First Baptist Church in Belton. All of the families have young children whose fathers won’t be home for Christmas.

“It’s just going to make it a little brighter this Christmas with Dad not at home,” said Jennifer Larkin, a UMHB freshman from Flower Mound.

The painting extravaganza was incorporated into the university’s traditional Hanging of the Wreaths event.

While students started painting the playhouses early in the day, they left enough to keep the children involved. For two hours, children were allowed to decorate the playhouses however they wanted.

As Jennifer Clark watched her children, Reagan and 5-year-old Easton, decorate their playhouse, a wave of emotion overcame her. Even though she wore a smile, tears streamed down her face.

“How do you put into words the thoughtfulness?” she said as she wiped away the tears. “The thoughtfulness that someone thinks about me. Why me? … It’s amazing.”

This is the Clark family’s second time to be stationed in Fort Hood. With fingers crossed, Clark said, she expects her husband to be home in January after a 15-month tour of duty.

“My kids are missing a whole lot with their dad, and I always wish I could do more,” Clark said. “I could’ve bought a playhouse, but I couldn’t put it together. I couldn’t paint it. … And there wouldn’t be the fellowship.”

Because military families frequently have to move, Clark said it’s hard to bring everything with them each time they relocate.

“Anything that is too big gets left behind,” she said.

But the children’s playhouse will make the move with the family when the time comes, she said. “We’ll always have it to remember Belton and UMHB.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/14/07

For some, happy holidays means no gifts

By Michele Melendez

Religion News Service

AUSTIN (RNS)—Scrap the gift lists. Trash the wrapping paper. Blow off the mall.

That’s the mind-set of Americans who can’t stomach exchanging holiday presents. They aren’t grinches or scrooges. They just reject what they consider the wastefulness and stress of the season.

“Over the years, I have watched as the gift-exchanging part of the family Christmas slowly became more and more the reason to get together and how it eventually seemed to become the showcase event of the day,” said Lora-Lee Blalock, 42, a homemaker and artist in Austin.

Blalock’s childhood memories of the holiday radiate warmth.

“We’d all travel from our homes and gather at my grandparents’ house to spend the day eating, playing games, making music together, watching Christmas specials on the TV and just spending time talking and being a family.”

Gifts were secondary.

Blalock said that in recent years she pestered her family to drop the gifts. This year, they’re trying it.

Last year, Noah and Sabrina Parsons of Eugene, Ore., were disgusted by the mounds of wrapping paper and packaging encasing their two young sons’ gifts, which required a trip to the dump. The Parsonses, who run a software company for small businesses, decided no presents this year.

“At the end of the day, you really don’t feel you’ve gained anything with all this stuff,” said Sabrina Parsons, 34.

This Christmas, the couple and their children, Timmy, 3, and Leo, 15 months, will funnel what they would have spent on gifts into a family trip to Mexico. It’s the kickoff to what they hope becomes a holiday tradition.

The parents figure they’ll start now, so when their sons are old enough to start asking questions, Mom and Dad can respond: “You’re not going to get gifts, but you’re getting to go to the beach or getting to go skiing or you’re going to this really cool place you’ve never been to before,” said Noah Parsons, 33.

Besides, the Parsons’ boys would be hard-pressed to recall what they got last year.

Gift amnesia strikes adults, too. Online polling may not be scientific, but consider this: 41 percent of Americans 18 and older polled via the Internet said they couldn’t remember their best holiday gift from last year. San Francisco-based Zoomerang conducted the survey in November for Excitations, a Sterling, Va., company specializing in experience-oriented gifts, including hang gliding.

Mary Louise Foley, campus minister at the University of Dayton, said worshippers should reflect: What is your perfect Christmas? Then try to come as close as possible. If that means no gifts, so be it.

Professing appreciation for a sense of community during the holidays, some have shaped their aversion to frenzied gift-giving into a tongue-in-cheek crusade.

Nina Paley, 39, an animator in New York, said her no-gifts awakening happened about 15 years ago, when she produced a comic strip called “Nina’s Adventures” for alternative weekly papers. One holiday season, she based one of her strips on a friend who plunged further into debt buying presents.

From this, Paley’s Christmas Resistance Movement arose. Its website—www.xmasresistance.org—proclaims: “No Shopping. No Presents. No Guilt!”

Whatever the occasion, mandatory offerings cheapen the moment, Paley said.

Obligatory “material gifts often function as a distraction from love—or lack thereof—rather than a conduit,” Paley said. “By making material gifts representations of love, love itself becomes a commodity. How can that not make one feel empty and hollow?”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/14/07

International students share Christmas joy

By Laura Frase

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

BELTON—When Operation Christmas Child sought gifts for children in developing countries, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor international students heeded the call. For the last month, UMHB students from across the globe posted fliers, collected items and wrapped presents for children around the world.

“Children who have very little or nothing for Christmas can receive a shoebox full of surprises and often useful items,” said Katherine Graham, UMHB student co-coordinator for the project. “Not only can they see God’s love through these gifts, but also they can enjoy fun gifts on Christmas.”

Advent: Red Letter Days • Happy New Year? For Christians it began with Advent • Christian motorcyclists and mudders bring Christmas cheer in Beaumont • Churches push Advent Conspiracy to teach real giving • Fair-trade items offer Christmas gifts with a conscience • Christmas brighter for children of military families, thanks to UMHB student project • For some, happy holidays means no gifts • International students share Christmas joy • Who were those “wise men from the East” bearing gifts? • 2nd Opinion: The two sides of advent <BR. • What if Christmas had not come? • Finding the ‘spirit of Christmas'

Cross Cultural Crew, the university’s international student group, adopted the project because it offers a global outreach.

“It really hits home with these students,” said Elizabeth Tanaka, UMHB director of International Student Services.

This is the first time Graham, a freshman nursing major, has taken part in the project.

“I grew up in a third world country, Papua New Guinea, and I’ve seen poverty. I have seen these kinds of children receive presents. I’ve seen their faces light up, and the fun they can have with very simple things,” she said.

“It was good for me to catch a tiny glimpse of what love is being spread around the world, and how we can help practically.”

Through Operation Christmas Child, children receive shoeboxes filled with toys and toiletries. This year, the UMHB volunteers collected and filled more than 50 shoeboxes, ready to head overseas. The group divided items evenly—50 percent for necessities and 50 percent for the “fun stuff,” Tanaka explained.

Samaritan’s Purse adds age-appropriate booklets or coloring books that tell the story of Jesus. But occasionally, Tanaka said, students will add donated Bibles in the boxes for older children.

For Anastasia Li, wrapping Bibles, toys and other gifts for children overseas are all a first for her. Li, a UMHB student from Beijing, China, arrived to the United States in June, seeking a chance to learn of the country she had heard so much about. In her first six months, she already has learned more than she expected.

“When I come here, I was not a Christian,” Li said. “My friend helped me to know about God.”

After a taste of volunteering with her heart, Li knows Operation Christmas Child is her first step to serving God.

“I can feel how God is showing me something,” Li said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/14/07

Who were those ‘wise men
from the East’ bearing gifts?

By Benedicta Cipolla

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—They came. They saw. They gifted. That’s about all we know of the foreign visitors who traveled to Bethlehem to see the infant Jesus.

The scene ingrained in the public imagination—a stately procession of three kings in turbans, crowns, elaborate capes and fancy slippers, with an entourage of servants and camels trailing behind—isn’t from Scripture.

In fact, the Gospels offer no evidence the wise men from the East were kings, or even that there were three of them—much less that they sidled up to a manger on dromedaries exactly 12 days after Jesus’ birth.

“Legends pop up when people begin to look closely at historical events,” said Christopher Bellitto, assistant professor of history at New Jersey’s Kean University. “They want to fill in the blanks.”

Only the Gospel of Matthew mentions “wise men from the East” who follow a star to Bethlehem. In the original Greek, they were called magoi (in Latin, magi), from the same root that gives us the word “magic.” It’s been posited they were astrologers or members of a Persian priestly caste.

But what matters more than their exact number and status, historians and Bible scholars agree, is that they were not Jews.

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“For Matthew, the magic star leading the wise men to the place of Jesus’ birth is his way of saying what happened in Jesus is for the Gentile world as well,” said Marcus Borg, professor of religion and culture at Oregon State University and co-author of the new book, The First Christmas.

While Matthew doesn’t say they converted to Christianity, popular legend holds they were baptized by St. Thomas and died in Armenia in 55 A.D.

The first artistic depictions of the Magi are found in second-century Roman catacombs, but it wasn’t until the early third century, when Christian writer Tertullian referred to them as “almost kings,” that they began to cultivate a royal air.

Their kingly designation also echoes biblical passages in Isaiah and the Psalms. Prophecies foretold gifts of gold and frankincense, two of the three gifts the Magi brought. The third, myrrh, was a burial spice, which some believe foreshadowed Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Around the same time as Tertullian, Origen—a theologian in Alexandria, Egypt—set their number at three, likely because they carried three gifts, said Teresa Berger, a professor at Yale Divinity School.

Later, the wise men were portrayed as representatives of the three races of man as descended from Noah’s sons—Semitic, Indo-European and African.

Fast forward to the sixth century, when a Latin document recorded their names as Gaspar (or Caspar), Melchior and Balthazar, although the source is unknown, and different names exist in other languages.

By the time their relics arrived at the Cologne cathedral in 1164, after stops in Constantinople and Milan, the faithful venerated the Magi as saints, and festivals sprang up to honor them. A 14th-century report of an Epiphany play described costumed “kings” riding through Milan on horseback with a large retinue, similar to contemporary three kings parades in Latin America.

Today, Roman Catholics and some Protestants commemorate the Magi’s visit on Jan. 6 with the Feast of the Epiphany.

In Europe and Latin America, where Jan. 6 remains a holiday in some places, Epiphany folk customs abound. The elderly Befana and Babushka bring gifts to Italian and Russian children, while in Puerto Rico, the “tres reyes” are said to deposit presents in children’s shoes, often in exchange for oatmeal or hay left out overnight for their camels.

In Germany, children dress up as kings and process from house to house, collecting money for the poor, while French bakeries serve galette des rois, or kings’ cake.

In a handful of countries, people still mark their homes in chalk with the initials of the three wise men, CMB, which also stands for “Christus Mansionem Benedicat,” or “May Christ bless this house.”

The Magi may get short shrift in the United States compared to other countries, but they play an integral part in the Christmas story, cropping up in songs and often stealing the show in pageants.

William Studwell, a retired professor at Northern Illinois University and an expert on Christ-mas carols, chose “We Three Kings of Orient Are” as one of two ‘Carols of the Year’ for 2007 to mark its 150th anniversary.

He recalls his own Magi days fondly.

“It’s one of the only things I remember about third grade—being one of the kings,” he said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/14/07

What if Christmas had not come?

By BO Baker

Can you imagine anything more saddening than a Christmas without the Savior? Whether one is a believer or not, we are all involved in the season of Christmas. We purchase gifts to give away. We joy in the sound of music showering down the neighborhood where we live. Expressions of care arriving come so invitingly as we listen to choirs of angels who never seem far away. I’ll be honest with you: I like it, all of it. Our cold hearts need the lift that Christmas brings.

Think about it: What if Jesus had not come? What if he had never entered the mind and heart of the Creator-God?

Suppose the Cross-figure had been little more than a poor grandstander, a radical religionist looking for attention.

Now to be honest, one must add to the story of the birth of a baby from Bethlehem Who introduced him, the touch of miracles that pointed to him, the cross that held him as he gave himself to all mankind, the tomb that lay open because of him, the angels who clung to the battlements of heaven longing to worship the King of Kingdom Come. Yes, all of this, and more. This is the truth that makes Christmas for all of us. Our future hope rests in the fact of the person of Jesus Christ.

Let me ask one more time: What if Christmas had not come? God help! But he did come; and nothing will ever be the same. And because he came, there’ll always be a Christmas:

So long as truth remains in trust,

Conceived with promise held inviolate;

So long as faith confirms the birth

Of day spring’s glad arriving;

So long as wise men find the star,

And shepherds know where angels are;

So long as gifts are brought with care,

And joyful laughter fills the air;

So long as hope responds in kind,

To share the breathless news divine;

So long as children dream their dreams,

Of lions and lambs in single ring;

So long as streets are free from hate,

Where young and old can congregate;

So long as fields awake to green,

Long winter’s wind still welcomes spring,

So long as angel’s anthem sing.

And Virgin’s child is crowned the King—

There’ll always be a Christmas.

BO Baker, a longtime Texas Baptist pastor and evangelist, has written a Christmas reflection for the Baptist Standard 32 consecutive years.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/14/07

Finding the ‘spirit of Christmas’

By Sam Underwood

I was listening in (OK, go ahead and call it eavesdropping) on a conversation a couple of people were having in a restaurant. In my defense, it was one of those places where the tables are so crowded together, you might as well be sitting at the table with the ones next to you. I had not paid any real attention to them until one of them gave a heavy sigh and said, “I’m having a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit.”

Of course, that comment set off my radar. I wanted to hear the response of her companion, so I began to listen closely. Her reply was the sort that falls into the category of “What on earth does that mean?” But she said it anyway: “Oh, you will when the weather turns cold.” I’ve heard that one before, and I always wonder at its meaning. Is Christmas a season marker? Or does it depend on whether or not we have snow, like in the song or the movie? If that’s the case, there’s been no Christmas spirit around here in a very long time.

Even more, I have continued to think about what the first woman meant. What is “the Christmas spirit” she was asking about? Perhaps she meant she had not yet begun her annual shopping that supports the well-being of the economy. You know that siren song: You’re not a good American unless you’ve spent more than you can afford, and you’re not in the Christmas spirit until you’ve worked up the courage to brave mall crowds. Maybe her comment was nothing more than an expression of the dread she had for an unpleasant task.

I suspect it was more than either of those possibilities. I heard in her sigh a longing for something more than she was experiencing. And as I have continued to think about it, I have decided she was more in the Christmas spirit than she realized. What is the Christmas spirit if it is not, in some sense, a dissatisfaction with the way things are? If all had been perfect, if there were no sin and brokenness, no sorrow and pain, would there have been any need for God to invade this world in the life of Jesus? The spirit of Christmas is a spirit of dissatisfaction, a deep-seated, beyond words knowing there is more to life than what we have. But it is not merely a dissatisfaction; there is a longing at the heart of the frustration, a desire to experience “more.” The Apostle Paul says it eloquently in Romans 8 when he declares the whole creation “groans, longing for the redemption of mankind.”

The spirit of Christmas is a dissatisfaction and a desire. But it is more than either of these. At its heart, the spirit of Christmas is a confession that what we really need is beyond our power to buy, as much as we may try to do so. The spirit of Christmas is a gift given by God to those who wait, who sigh, who want God to work, to do something.

Even though she didn’t know it, that woman in the restaurant was much closer to Christmas than she thought. All she really needed was the gift of God’s grace in response to her longing sigh. Of course, that’s all any of us need. And, in Jesus, at Christmas, that is exactly what we have been given.

Sam Underwood is pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmers Branch.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 12/14/07

Miles cannot diminish connection between
Texas volunteer and Moldovan orphan

By George Henson

Staff Writer

CHISNAU, Moldova —Initially, Clay Palmer didn’t know why God led him to Moldova. But looking back, he can see two reasons—so God could work in his life and so he could meet a little girl named Tanya.

Palmer traveled to Moldova with Children’s Emergency Relief International, the international arm of Baptist Child & Family Services, to put shoes on the feet of Moldovan orphans.

When Palmer met Tanya and her mother at a missionary guesthouse, they immediately connected.

“I believe meeting Tanya and her mother was one of the purposes God brought me here. The first was to break me down and make me not so harsh in my life,” said Palmer, a member to Bethel Baptist Church in New Caney.

Tanya’s mother’s bubbly spirit made an impression on him immediately.

“We hit it off, and by the end of the week, her mama would give me a big hug when we came back to the house at the end of the day and tell me how she had been praying for us, that we would be safe and see God work,” he recalled.

At the end of that first week, Tanya left a note for him saying she needed a backpack for school.

“I didn’t have a backpack, but Dearing (Garner, executive director of CERI) did,” Palmer said. “So, I went to him and said, ‘How much will you take for your backpack?’”

Whether the backpack was sold or given by Garner, Palmer no longer remembers, but that’s when he and Tanya bonded.

The next year when Palmer returned to Moldova, he immediately rekindled his relationship with Tanya and her mother.

“But her mother just didn’t look well, and I wrote in my diary, ‘Tanya’s mother doesn’t look well, and if anything ever happens to her, I think God wants me to take care of her,’” he recalled.

The next summer, Palmer learned Tanya’s mother had suffered a stroke and died.

Palmer and his wife began supporting Tanya financially through CERI’s foster care program.

They wanted to adopt Tanya and bring her to the United States, but one roadblock after another prevented that.

First, Moldova’s laws stipulate a parentless child must be declared an orphan by age 16 or the child is considered too old for adoption. Tanya’s father left when she was an infant, but he had not legally relinquished his parental rights. He eventually was found and through an intermediary officially terminated the relationship, but not before Tanya turned 16.

Attempts to secure a student visa or summer visa for Tanya to visit the United States also proved unsuccessful.

“I’m beginning to think this is where she’s supposed to be,” Palmer said on yet another trip to Moldova.

“What she has experienced is common here, and she has a support group that understands her and her culture. Later, she might still come to the States, but spiritually and emotionally right now, she’s better off here.”

Last year, Tanya joined the CERI team of volunteers as they traveled to Moldovan orphanages delivering winter boots.

“That’s when we really got to know each other well. Just getting to spend that extra time together each day was great,” he said with a beaming smile.

When Tanya wanted to improve her English skills, Palmer paid $100 for private English lessons. This year, she served as interpreter for the CERI team Palmer led as they ministered in churches, orphanages and juvenile detention centers throughout the Transniestrian region of Moldova.

“This week has been great,” Palmer said as he again delivered boots, hats and scarves to keep impoverished people a little warmer. “I’ve learned how spiritually mature she is, and that pleases me more than anything.

“And I don’t know—maybe that’s why God led me here again this year, to see how she is maturing.”

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