We come to the last few days of the year with an eye on New Year’s Day. Even as the world has moved on from Christmas, that is the season we are in and will be until Epiphany on January 6^th.

I know it seems odd that it is still Christmas. After all, the stores and the radio told you it was the Christmas season on the day after Thanksgiving.  But here we are.

Before the season officially ends, let’s look at where we have been in the past month.

First, we created an alternative holiday to-do list…

1. Be present in the lives of others instead of just buying presents
   
   
2. Wrap others in love instead of just wrapping presents.
   
   
3. Be the light instead of just going out to look at lights. (I really wanted this to be “eat cookies instead of making them.”)
   
   
4. Send peace to others by reaching out and contacting someone.
   

Of course, these are things we can do all year long and I personally will strive to do those things with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Although we didn’t look at all the stories of Jesus when he was an infant, let’s take a quick peek. These stories tell us something about Jesus’ identity and his future.

1. The angels announced the birth to shepherds not Kings, Caesar’s, and nobles. Jesus will spend his time with “real people” like us.
   
   
2. King Herod is threatened by the birth of Jesus. Herod’s power is threatened by the One who truly has power.
   
   
3. When Jesus was dedicated at the Temple of Jerusalem as was the custom of that day a man by the name of Simeon knew who Jesus was and what he would be about. This is what he said to Mary, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Luke 2:34
   
   
4. The Wise Men come from afar reminding us that Jesus is for all people and not just some.
   

All the stories point to who Jesus is and what he would do for us. A good reminder for us before we put Christmas back into storage until next year.

God bless you and Merry Christmas,

Pr. Ben

This past Sunday at church, I told everyone that Rachel (my wife) made an old family cookie recipe that goes back several generations. That old Swedish cookie is called “Pepparkakor.”

The house smelled wonderful as the first batch of cookies baked in the oven. The aroma took me back to when I was a child when my mother would make these cookies for the family.

As the cookies came out of the oven, I jumped up from my seat to “help” Rachel in the kitchen. OK, I went into the kitchen to have a cookie. I was promptly told that these cookies were for the church bake sale.

The irony was that I went to church to buy back the cookies Rachel made in our home! (FYI: I didn’t buy them all!)

This week, Rachel suggested I share the family recipe of Pepparkakor with the church family! What an excellent idea I thought, now everyone can make me cookies! Just kidding!

Below is that recipe… enjoy!

1 c. butter
1 egg
1⅓ c. sugar
2 T. light molasses
2½ c. flour
1½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. each of the following:
Ground cloves, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom
3 tsp. orange peel, fresh grated fine

Cream butter, egg, sugar and light molasses. Sift flour, baking soda, spices and orange peel. Combine all and blend. Roll out as thin as you can.

Use cookie cutter. Bake 375° on cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes.

Merry Christmas!

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

John weeks looked into the origins of the word Advent (the church season we are in right now) and this is what he discovered…

The word Advent comes from the Latin word, “advenire”, conjugated as “adventus” which is a combination word of “ad” meaning, “to” or “toward” and “venire”, “come” which is conjugated as ventus, which means more specifically, “coming”. Combining them gets us literally, “toward the coming.” The Latin definition is, “(a thing) about to happen.” Expectation would be an appropriate synonym here.

Funk & Wagnall’s defines the lower case version of advent as, “a coming or arrival, as of any important event or person.” So you can see that the definition has not changed significantly since it was taken from the original Latin.

We are preparing for the advent of Jesus. Not just in the Christmas story but also the advent of our King at the end of time. After all we profess in the Apostles’ Creed that, “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”

Christmas is the reminder that God comes to us! Sure, he came to us 2000 years ago in Bethlehem when Jesus was born! We also beleive that he will return one day to take us home. In the meantime, the Holy Spirit dwells within us and promises to never leave us.

If we know that Christmas is coming and that Jesus will return one day… let me ask the question, “Are you ready?”

If you don’t know the answer to the question I am asking, let me tell you by turning to one of our favorite Christmas hymns, “Joy to the World.” The first verse tells us everything we need to know. “Let every heart, prepare him (Jesus) room.”

It is that simple. Make room for Jesus in your heart. Not just once, but each and every day. By the way, you might need to push out some other stuff to create more room for Jesus but I will leave that to you to figure out.

Let your heart be a manger to lay the Christ child in.

The promise of Advent is real, don’t be the inn, be the stable. Make room for Jesus today.

Happy Advent,

Pr. Ben

By the time I write my next article, it will be the season of Advent. We will be getting ready for the advent of our King.

Before we get to that next season of the church, I want to take a moment to wish you, your family and your friends a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.

Whether you will be alone or in a crowded house next Thursday, it is always a good time to thank God.

Since our children grew up, we have had many Thanksgivings where it was Rachel and me. We didn’t dwell on who wasn’t at our table, we gave thanks to God for each other.

This year our house will be full, and it will be the first time since 2015 that we will have the entire family around the Thanksgiving table. We will take time to give thanks in between the lively conversations.

Whatever season or situation I find myself in, I know that that there is always a reason to give thanks to God for the blessings in my life.

No, my life isn’t perfect and I could tick off a list of things that I wish I were different or better in my life, but I choose to be thankful.

I know that Jesus loves me and I know that he loves you. That is more than enough for me.

If you are unsure of your blessings, join us at Community Lutheran Church at 6pm pst this coming Wednesday as we worship the God who gives and gives and gives. If you live in the Las Vegas Valley, join us in person! If you live out of state, join us online. We will be waiting.

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

If you worshipped with us over the past two weeks, we’ve been spending time talking about core values.

These values aren’t things we aspire to be, they are things we do right now and our goal is to do them well.

Our mission statement and our core values are clearly described on our website: https://communitylv.org/what-we-believe.

You will even see them as you come up the stairs to church!

In past week we have shown clearly how we embrace and live into every core value we named as a congregation.

Welcome: A week ago Thursday we welcomed over 200 people to our church parking lot for our 23^rd annual Trunk or Treat Halloween Party. Many families from the neighborhood came and enjoyed a fun evening where they were welcomed and made to feel “at home.”

We couldn’t do this year after year without the tremendous support of our church family who came out to serve our community with warm smiles and piles of candy.

Worship: As a church this is the primary activity of Community Lutheran Church! We worship Jesus who died and rose again from the dead. In doing so, we know that nothing can separate us from God’s love, not even death itself! We gather as a church family to praise Jesus and give thanks for all God has done in our lives.

Learning: We recognize the importance and commitment to be “lifelong learners.” There is always an opportunity to learn at CLC. Just this week 70 people gathered on Wednesday to share dinner and then engage in learning about the life of King David. This coming Sunday, I will be teaching a class on what it means to be a Lutheran Christian. There are other opportunities to learn as well, including Sunday School and Youth Group!

Service: We are a church that serves all the time! Not ourselves, but each other and the community. Why? There is an inescapable conclusion found in the teachings of Jesus that we show our love for one another by how we serve. We learn from the Bible that points us towards serving the way Jesus served us by dying for our sins.

You can see the signs of service everywhere at CLC! From our kitchen to our welcome desk, to ushers, greeters and Communion assistants, the Glitter Team, landscaping, the gift store. When the larger community needs our help we are ready to jump in with our senior feeding program, peanut butter, Operation Christmas Child, quilters, knitters, Carolyn’s Closet, Angel Tree and even Halloween candy. And we do even more than these things listed here!

Generosity: If we live into the first four core values of: Welcome, Worship, Learning and Service the inevitable result is a “lifestyle of generosity.” Simply put we give because God gave. We give of our time, our money and even our expertise/passion. We most look like Jesus when we give to others or to the church.

Living into our core values as individuals will lead us on a path of Inspired Growth… closer to God and closer to each other.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben