L E B A N O N creating a place at the table for everyone

UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Through the Red Doors

This is a difficult time of year forme. Piles of wetleaves, dead flower stalks, bedraggled plants, androtting pumpkins all remindme of the promises ofspring and summer that were not fulfilled. And Iknow it’s going to get worse. The nights will getlongerandcolder.Snow.Sleet.Ice.Freezingrain.Allenlivenedbytheholidays.

Thanksgiving–familytraditionsthatno-onelikesbutwithoutwhich themeal isn’t complete. Awful rolls.Thepiethattasteslikecardboard.IwantaNormanRockwell dinner, but his family doesn’t show up.Minedoes.Ilovethesepeople.Butastimegoesby,Ihavelessandlessincommonwiththem.

But Thanksgiving’s challenge to my social skills isnothing to what Christmas does to my serenity.

HolyHolidays?ReflectionsontheSeasonbyCallyL.

CHRISTMASEVENTSAdventCelebration

Friday,12/8,5:30pm

ChristmasPageantSunday,December17

LongestNight(BlueChristmas)Service,Wed.December20,7pm

ChristmasEveFamilyService:12/24,7pm

ChristmasEvecom-munionservice:11pm

To any young, unmarried, peasant woman, thecomingofGod’spresenceonearthinthelifeofahumanchildwouldbe life-changing.But forhismother,thatchangeissomuchmore.CouldMaryhavepossiblygraspedhowherlife,andthelifeofalltheworld,wasabouttochange?TheGodwholiftsupthelowlyandbringsjusticefor the oppressed also draws the weary andoutcastintotheclosestcircleofblessing.Godalsousesthelowly,theweary,theoppressedandtheoutcasttoaccomplishGod’sverypresenceintheworld.NooneknowsthisbetterthanMary.ThisAdvent,wewillwalkinhersandalsforawhile,pondering what God’s coming might mean,exalting that God lifts up and transforms theworld,andwonderingathowthatmeansGodcanuseus.DidMaryknow thatGodcoulduseevenher inpowerful ways? Did she know that Jesus wasmorethanaremarkablechild?Didsheknowthatgraceandlovewouldconquerthesocialstigmasofherlife,andwouldovercomethegreatestpainandlossshewouldeverknow?Ithinkshehadaninkling.Dowe?

What’s happening inside, outside, and through Lebanon UMC

DECEMBER 2017

Setting aside thosehuge snowman ball-oonsthatIwanttostabwith a knitting needleand send into thestratosphere, and thewretched little drum-mer boy, and all the“goodwill”proclaimedbymerchantswhojustwant me to buy, buy,buy,Adventisdifficultfor me as a historianandabiologist.continuedp.2

Adventseries:Mary’sperspectiveonthebirthofJesus

18 School St., Lebanon NH 03766 – 603-448-5478 – www.lebanonumc.net

So what’s going on with thecamp program you ask? Sincewe are coming into the winterseasonthingshavesloweddowna bit. We do have fundraisingopportunitiescomingupinDec-emberand January.We receive10% of the food sales, this

money goes toward churchcamp scholarships. We wouldlove to have your help at ourDartmouth hockey concessionsonDecember 9th and January26th. 8 people are needed pergame,itisafun,fastpacedtime.Please let me know if you canhelpout,especiallyinJanuary.Wanakee Methodist Camp inMeredith has scheduled a highSchool (9th -12th grade) retreatfor February 2-4, 2018. Reg-istrationisopenatwanakee.org.Many outdoor activities aswellas indooractivitiesareplannedfor theweekend!Tell theyouthinyourlifeaboutthisretreat!

NewsfromtheCampBooster

There are so many questions.Questions that don’t affect myfaith, but seriously disturb me.The census requiringMary andJoseph to go to Bethlehem butwhich left no record in Romanrecords – and if therewas onething the Romans were goodabout, it was record keeping.How many wise men? Whathappened to the gold frankin-cense and myrrh? Certainly apoor Jewish family could haveusedthem!Andthatstarbusin-ess. The slaughter of the inno-cents?Whyonly inonegospel?And how did Herodmanage tomisstheangelicchoirssinginginfieldsonlya fewmiles fromhispalace? And why do we cele-brateChrist’sbirthinDecember,when the shepherds were cer-tainlyNOTinthefieldwatchingover their flocks, butwhen theRomanswere engaging in their

rowdiest festival (Saturnalia in-volved lots of wine, lots ofnakedness, and lots of what wewouldcall–atbest–badbehave-ior.MyCeltic ancestors, dancingaroundafireonthelongestnight,clad only in blue paint, wouldhavebeenscandalized)?

Thesearemyissues.I’msureyoueach have your own list. Withonly minor variations, mine atleastwillbebacknextyear.

When I think about the mostmemorableeventsoftheholidayseasonsofmylife,however,theyshare a common trait: they arelow key and simple. My fatherreadingtheChristmasstoryfromLuke.Acandlelighting.Watchingthe snow fall. The one time theturkey really did come out ontime,lookinglikeaNormanRock-well turkey. My aunt’s quietapprovalofmyfirstpumpkinpie.

ReflectionsontheSeasonThenewpuppycurledupinmylap. Finally finding the perfectpresent for my son-in-law. Thegrandsons asleep in the boxestheir presents came in. Left-overs.Awalk.

Weallknowwhereandhowthelife whose beginning we cele-brate so cheerfully and extra-vagantlywillend.Andit’snotapretty picture. But I need toremember the cross, becausewithoutthecrossandtheresur-rection, there would be noChristianity. I, at least, need tolet go of all my complaints inordertofocusonthejoyofbeingin on a wonderful secret, thebirthofababywhochangedthecourseofhumanhistoryinwayshis contemporaries couldneverhave imagined, and who ischangingitstill,bothinwayswecan see and in ways which wecannotimagine.

The Hedstrom Camp Scholar-shipFundisavailableforahighschool student interested in asummer camp scholarship atWanakee. Anyone can con-tributeto this fund, it’sanotherway to financially support ouryoungcampers.Donationstothefund can be made directly thr-oughthechurch.

Please letmeknow if youhaveanyquestionsaboutWanakeeorour other camps in the NewEnglandConference.

Seeyaroundthecampfire,

AmyN.CampBooster