December 11, 2020 -the 13th Day of Advent…

Loving Joy! That’s a double edged theme. I am loving Joyous moments of basking in God’s unlimited Eternal Love, Compassion, Mercy, and Kindness so that I might walk in humbleness and awe with God. In turn, in order for people around me to understand, I need for my actions to be the fruits of my labors, living what I believe to be the preaching rather than just preaching and sermonizing without the actions that are expressive of my beliefs and connection with God. I have to do Kindness, Love mercy, and walk humbly with my God.

In that light of Loving Joyously, let’s continue the conversation about different traditions of celebration the Loving Joys of Christmas Advent. The last time we were talking about the “flashy” giftings of the season. Now we are going to focus on the givings traditions of how people do this…in an European tradition. My middle Pennsylvania (USA) and Germany friends and relatives have an experience far different from what we casual USA folks do. They celebrate December 6-7 and the anticipation of gift giving, the getting and receiving of “stuff”. There is a local do-gooder on the loose doing these things in disguise.

The tradition in parts of Pennsylvania, close to Amish middle PA, celebrate the gifting on the night of December 6 comes in the form of the Belschnikel, or the St.Nicholas dressed in fur pelts (Peltzschnikel). In Germany it is St. Nicholas who delivers the gifts. December 6-7 is the Feast of St.Nicholas. Why celebrate gifting so early?

Tradition has it that all earthly festivities and revelry have to take place before the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ out of respect for the holiness of the Nativity. On Christmas eve, you go to church to worship and sing carols that welcome the birth of Jesus Christ. Then you go home to a late night or midnight feast of eats and treats as a prelude to Christmas Day.

So…. when does Christmas tree go up? It goes up before December 6 so you can welcome the gift giver person who travels around and knows all your business, “if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!” You know, as in that Santa Claus is Coming to Town song. The gift giver person going around town is someone you usually know, but dressed up in disguise as the Belschnickel or as St.Nicholas (who is not supposed to be seen, but just in case…). The other do-gooder gifter personality is the Christkind: the Christ Child, who goes around mysteriously leaving treats and gifts for people.

Advent 2019 Guest Author: Christine Miners DeTroy

My memories of St. Nikolaus go way back — let’s say when I was 4 or 5 years old — that would have been in the early 1930’s.

No doubt you know about the custom of children dressing up as dwarves or fairytale characters and knocking on neighbors’ doors and begging for an apple, a cookie or some chocolate. Ours was a tradition similar to Halloween, but no dress-ups as goblins or scary characters.

On St. Nikolaus evening we would put a small plate (it had to be small to show we weren’t greedy) or a shoe with some bread under the bed before we went to sleep, with the hope that St. Nikolaus would stop by and leave a sweet for us.  Oh, it was difficult to go to sleep that night, but we did.  However, we would wake up early, bend down to look under the bed and there would be the sweet surprise on a much larger St. Nikolaus Teller — a seasonally decorated fluted cardboard plate, especially made for the occasion.  Those plates are still being sold in Germany and most likely in other European countries.

When my children grew up we always celebrated St. Nikolaus and, of course, our children were surprised that not every family knew about the special day. Several of my children have continued the custom with their children and a few of my great-grand children are being introduced to it.  Loving traditions.

What is so unusual about St. Nikolaus is that, according to old tales, he went from house to house leading his bag-laden donkey* giving food to hungry people.  A message of sharing and caring and joy.  The message that is so needed in this fractious world of ours.

Peace and Thanks, Christine

[*=An explanation re: the slice of bread we put on our plate: it was to be food for the donkey during the long walks across the countryside.Everything pointed towards caring and sharing — sharing food and joy!]

Post Script: If you get a chance, read or watch the full story, though fictionally told, of Santa and Pete. Here is a vidclip, featuring some actors you know, to get you started. And yes, St. Nicholas was a real person in church history. This link might work. Or look for it in the sale bins of Christmas videos.

Movie preview trailer: https://youtu.be/BK2jey3IIm4

Watch Santa & Pete (1999) Full Movie Free Online Streaming | Tubi (tubitv.com)

Yeah-but….those are fictional accounts. What’s the real deal? Isn’t he that jolly guy in the tale The Night Before Christmas? No, that fellow was a little elf, in the fictionalized American tale of A Visit from St. Nicholas, a poem attributed to Clement C. Moore.

Well, what about the big fat Santa guy? Oh, he was modeled after Father Christmas of the British tales, versions of St. Nicholas. The real deal guy was

Who is St. Nicholas? ::: St. Nicholas Center

Here it is, December 10, -the 12th Day of Advent already!

What on earth is Unabashed Love, Unabashed Compassion, Unabashed Mercy, Unabashed Kindness?

It’s the stuff of being infected by all that love is that you just cannot hide. You can’t keep it to yourself, anymore! You know that song about “This Little Light of Mine”…. that’s what it is about!

That being said, everyone celebrates Christmas-coming in different ways. In many families that keep the European customs of the Christmas Season, celebrations are slightly different from our customs or traditions in the USA. Some celebrate the gift giving and revelry BEFORE Christmas Day. In that tradition, Christmas Day is more about celebrating the birth of the Christ child, Jesus, rather than giving and getting the gifts of the material world, flashy gifts and packaging.

We can say that in some way, Jesus was God’s flashy gift, because angels were flashing around like twinkling stars in the sky but with flapping wings. Angels landed and talked to Mary, then to Joseph. Their next flash mob was in the skies over the shepherds who were watching over those precious sheep as well as being the quasi medical personnel to help deliver the lambs in the sheep birthing time.

The next flashy thing the angels did was to move through the skies with the planets looking like what we call movement of either ufo’s or satellites, creating an effect of unusual movement of the “stars” in the skies. In earth time, those moving “stars” were getting slowly into position to give a message to those who knew how to read the “stars”. The “stars” in those days were more often referred to as the stars and heavenly bodies of the skies. That’s where the astronomers came into the picture of the Nativity.

As you can tell, I am getting all excited with Unabashed Love business while writing this piece. Well, so much for that flashy gift God has given us. In German European custom, and most countries of northern Europe, all the material world flash of giving and getting happens on December 6th this year, 2020. It’s all related to the travels of St. Nicholas of Turkey.

That’s another adventure coming right up!

….and the beat goes on…..

December 9, 2020 -the 11th Day of Advent

I have heard a lot of Advent music. Much of it is written in minor keys, including the ballads of Mary and the Annunciation. Recently there has been a move to remember approaching Advent with music in a positive light of inspirational music.

Wait, I take that back. The music world comes and goes with that anticipation of Christmas in waves of music with major and with minor keys. Handel’s Messiah is one of those exceptions that presents the Advent message with positive wonder, major keys over minor keys. The minor keys moments resolve into the major keys, the uplifting riffs.

The choral hymns have gone thru their ups and downs, too. Even the contemporary hymns and ballads… But that’s part of the Advent experience, finding the Peace through Christ, I believe. That special Agape Love.

We go through our daily lives bouncing from miseries into joys, and all that is in between. When our lives are out of balance, out of focus, we slip into that minor mode of music because it is comfortable, as in misery loves company. Then we have the “goody two shoes” people who pop into our lives trying to infect us with a joyous mood…with a little agape love that is transformative. They are willing to give up their lives at a moment’s notice on God’s command, in order that we might live differently in the Light of God.

Sometimes we catch on, sometimes we have to watch the wildlife around us, and rediscover the simplicity of Faith in rediscovering the roots of that kind of Love! At that time that Encompassing Love becomes a Divine Reality….. When our roots of the Divine Love are anchored through the Eternal Christ, whenever we celebrate His birth, no one can steal our Peace of God that surpasses all understanding. No one, no entity.

[https://biblehub.com/philippians/4-7.htm#:~:text=Weymouth%20New%20Testament.%20And%20then%20the%20peace%20of,your%20hearts%20and%20your%20thoughts%20in%20Christ%20Jesus.]

What on earth am I talking about? Too much soused fruitcake? Too much spiked egg nog? Don’t I know that the world has more violence in it than ever before? Nope, we still have the same amount of violence. We just have more access to the news about it. Shouldn’t we be afraid? My answer is why? When we put our faith and treasures in material things, we are afraid of losing it. But guess what, we can’t take it with us when we die. So, I find the Source of my Peaceful Love, and focus on working in that realm, that transformative Peace in God that tanscends the human mind, that form of God’s Grace.

When we cycle through the minor and major chords of living, remember the Joy that brings us inner Peace. It’s not the emptying of our minds for the nothingness. It is filling our minds with state of Peace that makes room for more joys and major chords of life. Remember, we don’t experience the major without the minor, nor the minor without the major. Oddly enough, how we choose to perceive life itself is all up to us to become infected with……Peaceful Love, Compassion, Mercy, and Kindness! All of that Goodness!

I was going to play a clip from the remake of Handel’s Messiah: Souful Messiah, but this one popped up instead…from the wayback files of the 1970’s! David Bowie and Bing Crosby: Drummer Boy/ Peace on Earth duet on the youtube! [https://youtu.be/TO1SRAG1tWU ]

What’s that line about Peace on Earth to men of good will? Or is it Peace on Earth, good will to men? (Men=mankind, humanity)….well, that’s another story to explore…maybe next time!

December 8, 2020 -the 10th Advent Day

Now that you have rested from being brain dead from Day 9’s works, here is a little more.. very interesting information…. How is the story of the Exodus related to the story of Jesus? How is the Hebrew Calendar and the calendar today affected by the birth of Jesus? The moon has a “hand” in this. The stars are part of this, too…. Isaiah 60 gives clues to….. What does the planet Jupiter have to do with all of this? Oh this will cause you to sit down and really listen. Have your Bible ready, old and New Testaments…. Here is an interesting way to connect the dots of the universe… Hallelujah!

This is a tricky youtube video to navigate. When you click on the start arrow you might get an error message about the video being removed..so click on the link that shows up to get to it. It is still on youtube, but obviously not to be shown thru another party or website…. Jonathan Cahn, presenting on this 700 club vidclip: When was Jesus Really Born? The link credits at youtube.com as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptlsXtTf6n0

Nisan 1( Nisan is a month’s name): The magi, the priestly calendar; the day in which the everything becomes new. Nisan…the first day of the new year…springtime, the new beginning, whenever we receive the newness of life through God… everyday for us is day one! The covenant of newness… These are just random thoughts I gleaned and have to go back and hear it again. Feel free to do this, too. Even Daniel’s name was in this history of the magi…

May you be blessed and see the miracles of the Incarnate Love, Compassion, Mercy, and Kindness in your life unfolding! We won’t worry about connecting the dots of our lives. Leave that to God, through Jesus Christ, our Incarnate Encompassing Love, as our guide.

December 7, 2020 -the 9th Day of Advent

Ever sit amongst folks who say they don’t celebrate Christmas because Christmas falls on a pagan holiday time? What an excuse! Really just about any celebration that didn’t get started in the 21st century is on a pagan holiday time. What is a pagan? Somebody who doesn’t believe as you do, how you do, and in the source of your belief practices.

The ancient followers of The Way called them……gentiles! And if you were from the areas of outer Gaul, living where the heather grows, you were called the heather’n or heathen people, the folks who lived out there by the heather fields.

Defense #2 …. The Romans celebrated Saturnalia on December 25, so that is a cloaked way of worshipping their deity Saturn, in the way of saying worshipping Christ. Maybe so, maybe not! But in those way back days, that’s how you got to do your own thing: look like you are going along with the crowd to fit in, but underneath it all you are working from a different purpose and cause. Covert activity. Guess what…that’s how Christianity survived.

If your birthday falls on December 25 and you celebrate it, does that mean you are celebrating some Roman deity? Put it into perspective, people. We can’t invent another daytime slot on the calendar so easily, so we just repurpose what we have to work with out of love.

Defense #3… Ok, so some might say that Jesus wasn’t really born on a December day, so we can ignore celebrating Christmas on December 25. That’s a set up by the Catholic Church, the Pope. Oops! Let’s get an extended education on this. Getting into papal history and the history of The Way that became the Catholic Church, and then the Roman Catholic Church which follows a western Catholic Calendar; then there is the Eastern Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox Churches that follow a different calendar because of someone who tried to revise the calendar and got things off by about 3 years and about by 6-7 more days when trying to make the “new” calendar work.

Then there is the Jewish calendar that has nothing to do with the set up of the Christian calendar…and that puts us into the year….5780 on the 27th day of Kislev! -that is if you want to translate December 25 into the Jewish Calendar year from 2019AD (Roman Catholic date) into the Jewish calendar date of the current year 5780. https://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/month.htm

Then there is the Eastern Orthodox calendar date of Jesus being a January baby: January 7th…or 6, depending on if the church is Coptic, Greek, Russian, etc. But the date is mostly based on the Julian Calendar (there is the Original Julian and the Revised Julian). The rest of the Christian world uses the Gregorian Calendar… I think… , and some the Julian calendar….. oh boy!

Have you gone brain dead yet? There’s more! Ok so maybe Jesus wasn’t born in December because of the pagan celebration date. When, then, do we think Jesus was born? So far, there is no archaeological evidence that says much, but there is the traditional time honored practice in the middle east of when lambs are born! No, it’s not that the sheep have formed a union and demanded their rights to do lambing in the spring. It is simply when sheep procreate earlier and deliver more often which happens to be around March and April. It’s a once a year event for all sheep, accomplished usually in the springtime in the middle east.

From what I’ve read and heard, in the old days where refrigeration was just a blip in the sky, the length of daylight of days and the availability of fresh grazing foods was the determiner for those organic flocks of animals, especially sheep. God’s calendar of meat based foods. Think of those poor shepherds back then in Jesus’ times… guarding those sheep, delivering lambs, fending off the wild life waiting for a nice young tender lamb to seize… Whew! Here’s an interesting read: http://www.discoverthebiblelands.com/the-season-of-jesus-birth-when-was-it/ .

BTW: Here’s a big secret out loud….Jesus was born in…Bethlehem…which is in Palestine…. [the land of the ancient Philistines]…. and that makes him a….. Palestinian… and if he were born today, he would be in the walled off place that the current descendents of the Hebrews don’t want to acknowledge as having rights to the land… and all that political gruff… whereas the ordinary folks who lived there for ages with each other as good neighbors and friends… now have to “take sides”, see their children undergo the politics of what Rome used to do to people… as history repeats itself…

Yep, Jesus, the Jewish Palestinian…. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/christians-celebrate-christmas-january-7-180104123505726.html

What’s love got to do with it? -as the song goes. Lots! And it is no second hand emotion, either. You see, the joys in the love of being in the spirit and practice with Jesus Christ, and remembering His life stages in human form; and the His loving guidance, compassion, mercy, and kindness He presented to us does indeed give us great Joy! Jesus Christ was born. Jesus Christ IS born…. and Jesus Christ is borne!

Advent Sunday, December 6, 2020 – the 8th Day of Advent

By now you are wondering what are the Joys of Advent. Wonder no more! The answer is that the forms of Love that Advent invites us to honor really cannot be held into separate containers of time. They are an organic composition that are Eternal, in constant motion, in constant environment embracing all of us. We just don’t realize it until 20/20 hindsight. But that’s OK, too. When we open ourselves to God’s Love, Compassion, Mercy, and Kindness that are freely given, we tend to get a little smile, and even a little chuckle.

BUT…..if we have to separate and dissect the types of God’s Love for us in this Advent season, here they are, all predetermined by tradition of the Faith in the 1600’s in Europe in the Lutheran and Scandinavian churches. Northern Europe is almost like the land of the midnight sun, so it makes sense, just like we, in Maine, have those short days of light and sunset is around 3 in the afternoon. So in the darkness comes the light, little by little, step by step:

Love, Compassion, Mercy, Kindness -There is always hope of that greater Love embodies in God’s Grace, a time of waiting and hoping…the coming towards the Event of the ages!

Loving Joy -There is Joy in anticipating the birth of Jesus

Unabashed Love, Agape, Family, Brotherly and Sisterly, etc!

Peaceful Love that surpasses all mortal understanding -Because this celebrates the anticipated birth of the Prince of Peace, King of Kings, the only Begotten Son of God!

All of these embodyments of Love in the Grace of God, and the love of the season are also represented in the 4 candles of an Advent Wreath. Hope, Love, Joy, Peace. In the center is the Christ Candle, celebrating the birth of Our Lamb of God. Ok, so what if your emotions rotate around in a circle? That’s what the wreath is about: think circle of life type organicness. Yes, Love is like that. And it can be dissected into a linear structure if that is what works best for one’s understanding. But let’s keep it simple and back to the meanings of the candles.

Then comes the 5th candle: Incarnate of Christmas ! It is the center candle, also known as the Christ candle of the Reason of the Season! It is usually lit on Christmas Eve at church, and in homes on Christmas Day.

The 6th Wonderment of Christmas Day: Incarnate Eternal Circle of Life! Because now we behold the Christ Child, ready to receive more than just the fresh air of a stable, of parental closeness and loving. Wait, there is no candle #6. You are so right. That’s the glow inside of you, inside of me, inside of all believers and inside all who have an awakening of love at Christmas whenever it is celebrated. [Yep, there is the Orthodox Christian Calendar that has a different schedule, but same sentiments!]

Ok Shepherds, time to arrive out of the fields. The cattle have done their part by “lowing”, or giving that soft hmmm that they do when contented and having their own conversations, even singing.

Back to the candles: Here is the United Methodist Church educlip to learn from. Take it away, Chuck and the umc.org! [Chuck Knows Church: 5/Advent Wreath] https://youtu.be/hPHXooW6NfI

Saturday, December 5, 2020 -The 7th Day of Advent!

The Sheep’s Story Some More….

By now you have read up to Day 7 of Advent. If not, scroll down to Day 1, which started the Advent on November 29th.

This is what I heard while sitting on guard duty by the nativity scene under the family Christmas tree. Honest, the sheep were talking about another story they heard from their great-great-way back there great ancestor. It goes like this:

“Today the stars still looked a little strange in the sky. They were moving in unusual paths. But this time the things had a faint sound and were moving in closer. Another closer look revealed some stars had wings. Again, that’s not possible.

That’s what we sheep are seeing. Stars or something with flapping wings. All day and all night! We sheep are not the only folks in the stable and the land seeing and sensing this. Something really big is going to happen, we just don’t know when. Even the cattle are a little …ummm on alert but in a calm way. The wolves are usually howling by now, but they, too, are quiet, and even sitting and laying down.”

“We sheep know how to read the skies better than the shepherds do. Even the goats are paying attention. Some goats over there, acting up, not actually paying attention…or are they? They don’t seem to be taking this spectacle too seriously.

The shepherds are on alert, still calm, but on alert. Oh boy, some of the ewes have also given birth a few weeks ago, and the shepherds are still reeling from all those baby deliveries. So they are not really paying that much attention to the skies, still. I wish they would.”

“Strange, but this unusual stuff going on in the skies is not a frightening thing, but one that invites curiosity. They say that people in charge, like sheep, have gone astray from what they are supposed to be doing. People get lost. When they get lost, what does that leave for us sheep to do! We need to stay close together just in case these shepherds have lost their minds. Somebody’s got to tell the tale after we’re gone. I, and a few fellows have a good feeling that something wonderful is going to happen somewhere close by!”

“Just look at those stars! It’s a sign of a Divine Time about to happen!”

Back to reality of today, folks. I heard my cat parents talk about this event, too. They said it is here: Luke 2:8. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A8&version=TLV Remember that music we told you about? About not only those low places being made great, the crooked made straight… but about those sheep, those lambs….

Isaiah 40:3-11! My favorite part is where the lambs get gathered together in the arms Great Shepherd’s arms……so safe and cozy, just like Mommycat and Daddycat do for me. You really have to hear it. Opera lady Kathleen Battle sings so sweetly about it: https://youtu.be/W5oE6ZVqWJQ

Now that you have heard the story, listen to that song about the angels singing….and you hear what we heard! It ain’t all hear-say, either!

……………..to be continued………..some more……and the beat goes on……

December 4, 2020 -the 6th Day of Advent..

On the first day of Christmas, my true love [God] gave to me…. a partridge [Jesus] in a pear tree [a land ripe and ready to be fruitful in the Word]!

Did you know that the 12 Days of Christmas is a code song, developed way back in the old days of when England became a protestant nation, with it’s king as the head of the church, not a pope. The idea was that no one on the planet is above the king, and the king does not answer to any pope. Hence the song was developed by folks loyal to the Catholic Church proper to learn Bible truths.

While you are looking that one up, develop a Do-Gooder Acts of Kindness jar. Think about and write down a list 12 random acts of kindness you can do and would like done to you.

Remember, it’s the small acts that inspire other acts. Stuff like: smile at somebody at the grocery store. Hold the door open for a stranger at a store. Pay for someone’s coffee in line after you at your favorite coffee place. Bake cookies and share with your next door neighbor. Just stop by your next door neighbors and say hello, then keep going! You got the idea.

Put the strips of kindness you just sliced apart into a jar. Make a fancy label. Pick from that jar daily. As you stick your fingers into that jar, what sticks to your fingers first is what some angel is putting onto your agenda to do for that day. When the deed is done, stick the item back into the jar for next year…or next time, whichever comes first, or fish into the jar again for a new task!

Why write about this now? To get a head start on the Random Acts list that I can do, and you can do, too! Can the jar have more than 12 Random Acts in it? Of course! Hope is very infectious, like a smile! Now, to hop to it! Effective December 26-January 7 [Feast of the Epiphany or whenever Three Kings Day happens]! I hope you have fun!

December 3, 2020 -the 5th Day of Advent

All we, like sheep, have gone astray! https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+53%3A+6&version=AMPC

This is an understatement, considering today’s dilemmas. Kids vaping on those fake cigarettes. Yes, kids. Young teens who want to be cool, who want to “fit in”. There are also those who want to do other types of drugs because of various pharmaceuticals that were prescribed by well meaning doctors for pain management.

However, when the prescription runs out, the funds run out, what does that person do to continue to manage that physical pain? That person seeks out other sources that hook them into a system of needing more and more, with adulterated killer formulas. Did the person in pain plan on getting addicted? Nope. Maybe that person wasn’t on prescribed pain meds but decided to experiment in order to be cool as a teen, just to try to “fit in”. Now we have teens and adults hooked on pain meds that are now adulterated with other drugs and substances that are now killer drugs. They knew better, but didn’t do better.

Some trusted their medical provider who got swayed by the pharmaceutical sales person who was just trying to score a big sale for more income. The sales person gained more status because of the higher commission on sales, in order to get into and remain in high luxury living and travels. It gets deeper. And now for some more “sheep”.

Another group has seen so much nastiness in this world on how people treat each other they decide if there was a real God, God would stop all this nonsense and set people straight. Since that God doesn’t do it, there is no God and we are all just blips on the map of the universe. And then some decide “whatever”. Fine if God is, fine if God isn’t. Jesus isn’t new to the scene, his personage of wisdom includes wisdoms gleaned and learned from tracings through ancient African traditions and Persia’s Zorastrian traditions, so what! My yeah-but: so what are your core values that you live out and expect to be lived in you? What’s the moral compass basis of your right from wrong?

Why is this page called Infectious Hope? Christmas is so commercial and gaudy now. The so called Christians are battling with each other to exterminate each other as to who has the right to be called Christian and to yell it out loud. There are Christians who are battling to exterminate anybody who doesn’t look like them or worship like they do.

Then there is the bunch who is still looking for the original Messiah to rescue Israel, not to mention groups who claim to be the New Israel, and groups claiming to be the of the original diaspora of Israel that the current day Israel disavows because those people are dark skinned. Religious groups praying that the world end soon so that Jesus can come back and wipe it all out, taking only them to the new Heaven.

Locally we have people who are homeless, freezing in the winter streets. Locally we have people who can barely afford to keep up with their rent or even mortgage and end up on the streets, trying to survive. Men beating up their wives, killing their children. Wives killing their husbands in self defense of domestic violence against them.

Women being sexually assaulted as a common expectation of walking alone on the streets. Children being molested in live streaming online views and on the “dark web”. Elderly people who can’t afford their medications anymore…and some being put out of their homes because they can’t afford the taxes… People now with broken dreams already fighting the influx of immigrants who are coming from worse situations that what we can imagine, but the folks who want to help them are judged negatively because as a country we have not yet helped our own people [because we are waiting for someone else to do it…in politics]..etc..

And then there is the pandemic of 2020: The corona virus known as covid-19. We have people battling with each other about wearing protective face masks in public places, in gatherings. There is the “please do it” bunch, and the “you can’t make me” bunch. Those who win out are those who don’t end up in the hospital going in alive, coming out dead from the virus attacking their system to the utmost. Somehow we expect all emergency care workers to be immune all the time, especially when we don’t want to wear our masks for general public protection, and when we don’t want to space ourselves appropriately in crowds. “You can’t make me. I know my rights!”

“All we, like sheep, have gone astray”….. the lessons that repeat themselves….

This is is not anything new. The prophet Isaiah reported on it long ago in the Old Testament writings… However, there’s the good news from Isaiah. https://biblehub.com/context/isaiah/40-1.htm

Isaiah also gave the good news for that situation of the times: Comfort ye, my people! Saith Your God! (Now I am singing Handel’s Messiah portion of music in my head… How about you!)

Yes, the infectious Hope, the Hope is always there and is always with us, but we have to focus on that Hope. You know that old hymn: “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus Christ and righteousness.” When we build our hope on less than that, we get what we get, limited to just what our limitations are. There are some of us enjoying that Infectious Hope because we know on whom our Hope is grounded. But it is up to us to continue to infect others with that Hope…. Are you still one of those sheep gone astray or have you found the Good Shepherd, the Hope of the World, yet? Yes, Advent is the anticipation of that Infectious Hopeful that only God can provide, did provide and is still providing…

And the beat goes on…..

December 2, 2020 -the 4th Day of Advent

Another Huron/Wyandot (Wendot) work. But you have to read this one for yourself in the English!

The Huron Carol, was written by St. Jean de Brebeuf in Quebec, while the father recuperated from a broken clavicle. He wrote the words to the music of a sixteenth cenury Carol called “Une Jeune Pucelle” ( A Young Maid). Fortunatly one of the last Jesuit Missionaries to the Huron, Fr. de Villeneuve, wrote the old Huron words to the carol and later translated it into simple French.  -Click on the arrow or the link for carol! Enjoy!

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