|
Friends United
Meeting |
 |
 |
Quaker Life
|
| Between Friends | Contents |
|
By Katie Terrell Wonsik, I’ve long since heard the stories of what a “hard” childhood my father had — for Christmas he only ever received one toy and a sweater or new pair of socks. How awful! Didn’t his parents love him at all?! Usually these stories were told in response to my brothers and me crafting our Christmas lists that never ended and our parents attempting to help us recognize just how lucky (spoiled!) we really were. This year I had the opportunity to sit down with my grandmother for a chat. She has reached the stage in which she realizes she must begin passing down the stories only her memory holds, and I have reached the age in which I’m an eager audience. “I made it a point to remind my children who has a birthday on December 25,” she said. “Not Tom or Pat or Charlie or Carol. December 25 is Jesus’ birthday and he should receive the gifts.” What I once thought of as a Scrooge-like Christmas was in fact a lesson we all need to remember. “Of course this meant I had to go all out on March 4 for Tom and August 8 for Carol,” Grandma added with a laugh. This lesson of whose birthday we celebrate on December 25 is one that our writers have embraced. We have an extensive “FUM News” section detailing the recent conversations in Indiana Yearly Meeting (pp. 12-17), conversations that the Holy Spirit has indeed been present for. We include some humorous tales of early Quaker rebellion against “the day called Christmas” (Rob Pierson, pp. 19-21), a closer look at Advent — the celebration of our longing for Jesus (Howard Macy, pp. 22-23) — and advice on making biblical New Year’s resolutions (William Mueller, pp. 32-33). This issue also features the tradition in Spanish-speaking countries of placing the baby Jesus beneath the Christmas tree (Jorge Luis Peña Reyes, pp. 28-29; Emma Condori-Mamani, p. 30). My grandmother’s lesson went beyond recognizing Christmas as the Lord’s Day, however, to indicating that Jesus is worthy of our gifts: “Then [the Magi] opened their treasures and presented [the baby Jesus] with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11) Our gifts to God include our faithfulness, our time and our talents. Jesus also told us, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40) Linda Brindle’s article (pp. 24-25) speaks to this gift — that by giving to others, to the Ramallah Friends Schools in this case, she (and all of you who have also given to this ministry) has blessed God and in turn Linda’s life has been blessed. May you find yourself thankful this December and a blessing to others. Whether you go “all out” for Christmas or not at all or somewhere in between, I pray that you will receive the gift of Christ into your heart on December 25 and every other “day after day after day” of the year. (Matthew 28:20, The Message) And don’t forget to include Jesus on your list of friends to buy for! |
19 Early Quaker
Top 10 Ways 22 Risking Advent 24 A Direct
Recipient of Friends' Mission Efforts 28 Under the Tree 30 A Bolivian
Christmas 32 New Year's
Resolutions
_______________________________ 7 Sacred Moments 8 News from Friends United Meeting 31 Inspirations 35 Ask Tom 36 Peace Notes 37 News 38 Reviews 42 Passages 48 Classifieds
|