[Bslc-dist] Pastorgr@m

[Mark Bertermann]

Advent greetings!

This is Third Sunday in Advent coming up.  Take some time to look at &
ponder:
*	Isaiah 35.1-10
*	James 5.7-11
*	Matthew 11.2-11
It’s the final session of our Sunday Classes before the seasonal break; plan
now for you & yours to be there.

THANK YOU to Kimberly Shervey and the many others who worked hard to put
this year’s Create-A-Gift on.

I’d like to mention again, that if you’d like to help out with a Visitation
Ministry to our shut-ins, please reply to this and I’ll get info to you
about it.

I’ve been thinking lately of our Elders Need Fund.  This is an established
fund, separate from the annual budget, which exists to assist BSLC members
in times of extreme financial difficulty.  It is a confidential ministry
administered by designated elders.  Right now I understand that the fund is
quite low.  If you desire to make a contribution to this fund (over and
above your regular giving), you may write “Elders Need Fund” on your
envelope and designate the amount you’d like to go in to that.

Something to think about:

“If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling
lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another
decorator.  If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas
cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table
at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another cook.  If I
work at the soup kitchen, play music in the nursing home, and give all that
I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.
If I trim the tree with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a
myriad of holiday parties and sing the choir’s cantata, but do not focus on
Christ, I have missed the point.   Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.  Love is kind, though
harried and tired.  Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has coordinated
Christmas china and table linens.  Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out
of the way.  Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return,
but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.  Love bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.  Video
games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust.  But
giving the gift of love will endure.”

In His love,
Pastor Mark



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