Stewardship For Kids

STEWARDSHIP FOR KIDS

Just a reminder to thumb tack up your STEWARSDSHIP PUZZLES and PICTURES on the "APC KIDS CARE" Bulletin Board in the Mill Creek Room. Don't forget to wrtie your name on them. I'll be hoping to get Pledge Cards in the Offering Plate in Sunday School, too.

With Care,

STU Bear (and Mrs. Foote)

Christmas Joy Offering Appeal Letter 2011

STILLMAN COLLEGE

Office of the President

November 25,2011

Dear Pastor,

In this season of giving thanks, I am writing to thank you for your support of the Christmas Joy

Offering and to affirm that your leadership as a pastor is more crucial than ever.

As you know, half of the Christmas Joy Offering supports the historic Presbyterian-related racial

ethnic schools and colleges. Those of us at these institutions are grateful for your ongoing support and for the generations of Presbyterians who have helped us carry out our mission. Presbyterians have embraced the notion that it is essential not only to feed the...hungry and clothe the naked but to provide them with skills and habits of mind to so for others. Many of our students go on to become vital leaders in the church. Consider the Rev. Lemuel Garcia, associate presbyter for Salem Presbytery, for example, who says "All that I am or have accomplished I owe in large part to Presbyterian Pan American School."

The transformative power of these Presbyterian institutions is remarkable. Colleges in North

Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama continue to preserve their rich African-American heritage while welcoming a diverse faculty and student body. Cook Native American Ministries in Arizona is nurturing the next generation of Native American church leaders. Thriving secondary schools in Texas and New Mexico enable HispaniclLatino-a and Native students to successfully prepare for college. OurPresbyterian schools have been at the forefront of building a just and equitable society and since their inception have been creating countless good-Samaritan physicians, teachers, nurses and clergy. Even in our secular culture, each school retains a strong Christianidentity-Stillman is still often referred to as "that Presbyterian school."

The other half of the Offering supports the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions which

offers assistance to active and retired pastors and church workers who encounter challenges

beyond their financial means. The Rev. Leonard Elmore was a pastor for over thirty years, serving wherever he heard God calling him. After his death, his widow, Wardine, is able to maintain her independence, living a simple life with the help from the Assistance Program.

The Christmas Joy Offering offers ways to touch the lives of both those who are our greatest hope and those who have the greatest need. Since your congregation may have recently received

a shipment of materials for the Offering, I would like to thank you again for your leadership

in our beloved church in promoting its support. We are honored and humbled that you will

continue to support our ministries-both the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions and

the Presbyterian-related racial ethnic schools and colleges-with your gifts to the Christmas Joy

Offering. If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Margaret Hall

Boone at (800) 728-7228, x5l83, or margaret.boone@pcusa.org.

Yours in Christ,

Ernest McNealey, Ph.D.

President

Pastor's Pen: Love Came Down at Christmas

‘Tis the season, and the music of the season is already in the air. You certainly hear it in worship, but you might also hear it on the radio and in the mall. The Christian carols compete these days with Frosty and Rudolf, but if you listen carefully, you still can hear what happened in Bethlehem so long ago.

Interestingly, those carols shape how we hear the story even more than the Scriptures do. According to the gospel of Luke, the angels responded to Jesus’ birth by proclaiming their praise of God. However, most of us, remembering the carol, believe that the herald angels did not only speak but sang their announcement. According to the gospel of Matthew, an unspecified number of magi came from the East to offer presents to the newborn.  From the carol, we know that there were three, and moreover, they were kings. I am not personally bothered by such discrepancies. For the most part, they are trivia that you can share at your next Christmas party. However, there is one carol that I sing under protest or at least with a caveat.

In the third verse of “Away in a Manger,” we sing

“The cattle are lowing
The poor Baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes”

The gospels do not mention whether or not Jesus as a baby cried. I assume that the author of the carol wanted to emphasize that Jesus was somehow different from other babies, and the assumption is that “good” little babies don’t cry.

Unfortunately, I disagree. I believe that Jesus was fully divine. However, Jesus was not like Clark Kent waiting for the right moment to become Superman. He was fully human. He got hungry like other babies. He wet himself like other babies. He cried like other babies. The Scriptures say that Jesus “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself…” (Philippians 2:6‐7).

Frankly, I am grateful that Jesus knows my humanity in its fullness, especially my weakness. At the death of his friend Lazarus, we read, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). In order to face the challenges that come, I want to know that even my hunger, pain, and sorrow has been redeemed by what Jesus Christ has done.

“Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.”

Merry Christmas,
James Hodsden