Grace Notes

We know from the Bible what division Zechariah was in. We know when his division served in the Temple. We know that when he went home after his division was done, his wife Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist. We know that Mary visited Elizabeth when she was six months along, right after Gabriel appeared to her and by the Holy Spirit she conceived Jesus Christ, God the Son. From this we know that Jesus was born sometime in late December. The early Church did celebrate Christmas on December 25^th before the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius invented the feast of Sol Invictus to try to compete with it.

When was Jesus born?

Astronomy plays an interesting role in this question. We know from the Bible that Mary, Joseph and the little Jesus returned from Egypt when they heard that Herod was dead. We know that Herod died in 4 B. C. We know that they had been in Egypt a little while. Church tradition says two years. A Dr. Mollnar decided to look at what sorts of planetary signs Babylonian Magi would have understood and gone by. He discovered a particular conjunction of planets that meant to them that a king was to be born in Judah. Remember that Daniel was the chief of the magi? His book tells roughly how many years it was from his time until Jesus rode into Jerusalem as king. His book would have been kept by the magi after his death. So, they were looking, as they knew a baby had to grow up before he could have a triumphal entry as king. There was the appropriate conjunction in 6 B.C., which recurred several months later, giving the magi time to debate, pack up and travel to Jerusalem, and when it occurred “the star which they had seen in the East went before them.”

Why was Herod worried? The magi had a reputation as king-makers. A number of years before, a group of magi had traveled to Rome, and told the Roman Senate that a king had been born to them. Rome had thrown off monarchy and was a republic at that time, and the Senate wanted nothing to do with a king. But they were afraid. So was Herod when the magi came to him. This sort of activity by the magi was not unknown, and was taken very seriously. And that is why there came to be weeping in Ramah.

Let’s see, though. 5 BC plus AD 33 is 38. But didn’t Luke say that Jesus was 30 when He started His ministry? Luke wrote “about thirty,” Not specifically 30.This age was important because you did not become a full man able to teach and to participate in government until you turned 30 (you became a man able to marry and be personally responsible before God to obey Him at 12-13 at bar mitzvah, or confirmation). Luke had to point out that Jesus wasn’t too young to go about preaching. Scholars believe that they see *at least* 4 passovers during Jesus’ earthly ministry, and there is nothing in the Bible that He ministered for only three years. Therefore that the crucifixion happed on Friday, April 3^rd, A. D. 33 isn’t a problem. We know it happened then, because that is when there was a total eclipse of the moon (“the moon turned red as blood”) and there was a darkness recorded during the day over the eastern Mediterranean, and there was an earthquake felt as far as Athens. So, perhaps Jesus was 37 when He was crucified in atonement for our sins. That doesn’t disagree with Luke, with history or astronomy. It all fits together. It really happened. If you want to learn more about this part of the story, join the book club during Lent and read Dr. Paul Meier’s excellent novel _Pontius Pilate_ with the rest of us. Don’t worry, he keeps the historical and archaeological goodies in the end notes, while giving us an enjoyable, and extremely historically accurate novel, that puts us right there in the midst of things in the Judean desert, back during Jesus’ earthly ministry.

So, what is this thing called Advent someone might ask you. It isn’t just the shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, though your neighbors or coworkers might possibly think that.

In the first few centuries of Christianity, the early Church started a season of fasting and prayer called St. Martin’s Lent, beginning with what we know as Armistice Day, November 11^th, which was the feast day of St. Martin. It continued until Christmas Eve, for the early Church *did* celebrate Christmas on December 25^th. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius invented the Feast of Sol Invictus to try to compete with Christmas. You might have heard that story the other way around, but historical study shows us that Christmas came first.
St. Martin’s Lent was a six-week season. This “little lent” still shows up in the repentance and end-times oriented lectionary readings in traditional churches, such as Lutherans. After some time, St. Martin’s Lent became replaced with Advent in the western church, and looked forward to Christ’s second coming and back to His first coming.

In England, the Christian New Year’s Eve - the night before the first Sunday of Advent, is called “hanging of the greens” and the parish would gather to decorate the church building with evergreen and holly, sing carols and consume Christmas goodies, kicking off looking forward to, remembering Christ’s birth.

Among the Greek Orthodox, the Lenten aspect of Advent still remains somewhat (especially for those who still celebrate Christmas on the old December 25th, which in our calendar is now January 6th), but in the West, especially during the past thousand years, Advent became more and more about Jesus’ birth, especially after the dying down of the millennialist fervors around A. D. 1300-1350, when lots of people thought that the world was about to end.
I found an excellent web site that is so good about Advent,l that I would be plagiarizing to say much more. I will give you the link, and I highly recommend you read it. It not only gives you the meaning and history of Advent, but also explains the Advent candles, the Jesse Tree and has some neat traditions that you might even want to try out.

Join us Saturday night for our 5th Annual Cookie Walk from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.!

Remember to come early for the best selection as this event has become increasingly popular over the last few years.

While cookie walk may make you think ‘cake walk’ it is not quite the same, but it is certainly easy. Our cookie walk works like this:
When you arrive, you purchase a container for $10, then walk along the tables and select which treats you would like. Our able bodied and energetic youth workers will be glad to put your choice in your container. When you have completed your selections, enjoy a cup of cider or cocoa and relax, you may just have finished your Christmas baking

We ask that this year you weigh the your container on the way out; we are collecting statistical information for future reporting. All monies raised from this event will be used to fund future youth activities and servant events. We thank you for participation and hope to see you there.

“Huh?” You ask.

Yes, this past Sunday was the beginning of the Christian liturgical year.

We begin the new year with Season of Advent.

next: “What is Advent?”

After a very successful day at our work site we are ready to return home (the 24 hour bus trip aside) and have intentions to be pulled out of New Orleans earlier than expected. We completed mowing and raking the city park and everyone was amazed with the obvious improvement. It gave all of them a real sense of satisfaction. Fortunately there were no real problems while at the site…aside from a few fire ant (they were thick in the grass and went up pants legs when mowing over them) bites and some pretty red skin (for which we will be offering aloe gel on the bus trip home!). There are kids in this neighborhood that will have a place to play. It has been reported to us that the formaldehyde in the FEMA trailers is high and the benefit of the kids having a safe and clean place to play is immense. Everyone is showered and currently packing the busses. They are going to be thankful for the air conditioning as the heat index here today was near 110 degrees! We will eat supper shortly and then we are off…we will have kids phone you about a more approximate return time. Continued prayers for our safe return!

We have safely arrived in New Orleans after finishing a very powerful closing ceremony in Orlando yesterday! The youth were very pumped as we left Orlando and motivated to go into the world share the love of Christ. The mood turned a little somber last evening when we heard of the tragedy in Minneapolis. We joined as groups and prayed for the victims and survivors and their families. We spent last evening in Pensecola, FL at the Howard Johnson before driving into New Orleans this morning and getting started at Camp Restore. Some of us on the busses held our breath as we crossed many very long bridges! Our afternoon at Camp Restore was HARD work, but everyone can already see results. We have been charged with clearing a local park (2+ acres in size) with playground equipment that had grass up to our waists. The first set of youth used weed wackers to knock down the grass, the next set used mowers to cut the grass, the next set raked the grass that was there and put it in piles for some to bag up, and the final group will come in and mow the grass at the lowest setting on the mower. The project will probably take most of the day tomorrow, but the benefits to the children in the neighborhood will be priceless. There were already kids in the neighborhood driving by and smiling with excitement to see that someone was taking the time to help out their neighborhood. Another one of our priorities is staying hydrated - at least a bottle of water every half an hour. We are back at the church now, have had supper and are looking forward to a refreshing good night’s sleep so that we will be prepared to finish our project tomorrow. We will leave New Orleans tomorrow after our work and showers, and look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday. Pray for our group as we finish in New Orleans tomorrow and as we travel Friday night and Saturday. Our guess is we will not blog again before our return, but will try to post pictures for tomorrow if we get a chance!

Well, we’re at the end of another activity-filled day!  Today’s theme was Chosen in Christ.  This morning we again started off with our family group Bible study before heading to the convention center for the “big” Bible study.  Today’s was led by Pastor Lehenbauer and the band Fusebox.  It was an energetic look at the difference between making choices based on ourselves versus what it means to be chosen in Christ and how that helps us discover who we are.  After Bible study we had a chance to visit the Live It area and the ChoZone again before our sessions started.  The kids also enjoyed more concerts this afternoon - “Lost and Found” is still a favorite - and most of our backpacks are now covered with autographs from their favorites.  In the afternoon we all took in another Fusebox concert, which was followed by the speaker Bob Lenz, who had a great presentation about what God’s unconditional love really means.  This evening’s mass event was a worship and communion service.  In the words of one of our youth, “God did it again - it’s the feeding of the 25,000!”  This evening the kids are packing their suitcases, cleaning up their rooms (I hope :)), and visiting with new and old friends.  Following the mass event tomorrow morning, we’ll take off for Pensacola.  We should arrive around 9pm, and then on Thursday we head to New Orleans.  We’re not sure when we’ll be able to update again, but will do so when we can.  Please pray for our closing events, safe travel, our work in New Orleans, and our youth. 

Greetings from HOT and MUGGY Floriday! Today was another day filled with lots of activites.The morning began with our “Chosen Frozen” attire in an attempt to blend in with the other 1000+ participants from the Minnesota South District. With that many bright blue shirts, it wasn’t nearly as easy to identify our youth! Our morning began with our family group Bible study time followed by a large group Bible study focusing on how God continues to save sinful people through the use of his CHOSEN children. God has chosen us through baptism to proclaim his love. The sessions are motivating our youth to make a difference, so we continue to pray that the flame that has been ignited in their soul will burn strong once we return to Rochester. After the large group session our youth were once again free to explore different small group sessions, on-site servant events (i.e. donate blood), booths representing areas supported by the LCMS, and concerts. Our youth have enjoyed The Katinas and Lost and Found in the concert area. They have experienced many different small group sessions that they are excited to share upon our return. This evening was another large group session featuring Micah Parker, the founder of Trust Guys, who used sports analogies to symbolize our relationship with Christ and shared personal life stories. The Jesus Painter and liturgical dancers also performed. The variety of things shared is immense and powerful. Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We know the kids are worn out, but are taking in all possible opportunities. We have one full day left before the closing on Wednesday morning. Tomorrow evening will be spent in worship where the youth are excited to experience the body and blood of Christ with 25,000 other Lutherans.  

What a day. The morning started out early for the counselors with a 7:15 meeting for updates. The morning started even earlier for several of our youth participating in the 5K run. Twelve hundred people showed up for the run, and we are proud to report that Shane took 4th place. Andrew Weckwerth and Stacie also finished in the top 50. We had “family” time with our small groups and discussed the meaning of Community! We quickly moved on to the topic of the day…Chosen with Others. It began with a large group (only 8000) Bible study focusing on how God walks with us in our daily life, and four youth shared their experiences about how they were chosen to carry out God’s plan in their lives. Then the youth had the opportunity to do small group sessions, take in concerts, visit vendor booths, and meet new friends from across the nation. The youth were very excited to take in the session provided by the Jesus Painter. We spent some time explaining our RAuschestertin t-shirts, but looked great as a group carrying our Minnesota Twins dressed Spiderman. This evening highlighted another “mass” event with awesome music, inspiring stories, and intriguing topics to dialogue in our small groups. The evening was energetic and provided never ending Hope in the lives of our youth. Currently our youth are participating in a rousing game of Ultimate Chicken. Any guesses on what Ultimate Chicken is? Continued blessings from Florida.  Please keep the youth and the chaperones in your prayers.

What a day…Have you ever wondered what 25,000 backpacks look like in 5 different piles? We are able to tell you and have pictures to show you. Have you ever wondered what a waitress carrying a necklace made up of 18 receipts looks like? We are able to tell you and have pictures to show you. Have you ever wondered what it looks like to see 25,000 people get into a mass event? We are able to tell you and have pictures to show you. We have had another wonderful day. Unfortunately our first organized gathering event (the pool party) got rained out by what some youth seemed to think was a hurricane. We had the opportunity to walk down International Drive and eat as a group at TGIF prior to the mass event. We were able to get fairly decent seats for the opening event, considering the amount of people racing for them. They have an excellent sound system and screens set up so everyone can see without difficulty. The opening event was filled with excellent music, inspiring speakers, and a LOT of ENERGY. We look forward to several more fun filled days. Thanks for your continued support and prayers. Blessings from Florida.